[KKM] Nothing Is Certain But... (2/2)
Title: Nothing Is Certain But... (2/2)
Fandom: Kyou Kara Maou
Rating: PG-13
Words: This chapter: 5700+; the whole fic: 12200+
Summary: Shin Makoku's administration needs to raise the taxes, but the measure finds some strong opposition.
Spoilers: Not really.
Notes: Gen
First part here
II
Gwendal was at his office analyzing the information his men had gotten on the streets. He was still waiting news from Yozak; knowing him, he surely was the pedicurist of the conspiracy's head already. Therefore, whatever data he might send in could be critical for their next movement. But since Yozak hadn't sent a word to him directly-instead, he had requested for a low-profile meeting with Conrad-, the emergency level on his front was certainly minimum.
All of that, Gwendal thought, would allow him enough time to think with relative calm.
Then, someone knocked at his door.
“Come in,” Gwendal said.
Dorcas peered in. “Your Excellency, I have important news!”
Gwendal raised an eyebrow and waited.
“Her Majesty the former Maou arrived to the castle five minutes ago.”
“What? Mother is here?” Gwendal stood up. “Does she know...?”
“As far as I know, she doesn't; I came here to tell you as soon as I saw her.”
“Where's Günther?”
“He was in one of the bathrooms of the left wing, with His Majesty and-”
His Majesty, right.
The mention of the Maou was enough to bring back to Gwendal some sense of perspective. His mother finding out about Anissina's latest failed experiment wasn't as important as to ensure the safety of his king.
“Dorcas, go find Günther and tell him about mother. Do try to avoid been seen, and tell him to act like me if he can't help meeting her. Go, now!”
“Yes, Your Excellency.” Dorcas made a quick bow and left the room.
Gwendal went back to his work, but he realized he couldn't focus. Cursing all of his back luck, he grabbed yarn, needles, paper, quill, and ink and went to lock himself to a small and secret room behind his bookshelf.
He needed to think. He needed to be able to concentrate. In relative calm, since he couldn't have the real thing.
Gwendal felt he could use a hug from Greta right at that moment.
----
Conrad knew Yuuri would be safe for as long as he was with Wolfram and Günther, though he was aware Yuuri wasn't exactly comfortable with their methods. Conrad made a promise to himself to make it up for him-as soon as the danger was dispelled, of course.
Right now, nevertheless, he had received a note from Yozak asking for a meeting. Thus, covered with a cape and a hood, Conrad crossed the City avoiding to call attention upon himself.
He got to the Wriggling Pig uneventfully.
In a table near a dark corner there was a man, asleep and drunk. Following the custom, Conrad pushed him away to take his place. No soul batted an eye.
After a short while, he saw Yozak coming down from the second floor and going into the kitchen. Next, Yozak got out again with a pot on his hands. Right then, Yozak saw Conrad; he winked and grinned and raised the pot a little. All of that, translated, meant: "I'll be with you in a moment." Though the way Yozak had bent his head was part of the not-everything-is-as-good-as-we-would-want code.
Conrad began to feel-even more-unease.
In his time on Earth, Conrad had learnt about some laws supposedly proposed by a man named Murphy, and on his time as a whole, he had come to realize that they were, indeed, universal.
Conrad could feel it in his blood, anything could go wrong at anytime-if it wasn't going wrong already.
Finally, Yozak returned. As he walked by, some of the customers tried to grab his ass but he, skillfully and giggly, slapped their hands away.
"How are you today, handsome?" Yozak said, loudly, when he arrived to Conrad's table.
"I was free, so I thought of coming to see you, my pretty. D'you have any good kind of beer today?" Conrad said.
Yozak held up two fingers. "I have this many. You might find one of them somewhat bitter, though."
Here goes Murphy, Conrad thought.
"Do tell which one, m'dear!"
Yozak tapped his cheek with his finger. "It'll cost you a kiss!"
"Come 'ere, pretty!"
Yozak bent down and whispered, "The Maou and the Sage are upstairs."
It was a good thing Conrad was already sitting down.
"Are they-" Conrad interrupted himself and sighed deeply. He had just seen them both near the stairs, dressed up as servants and with a very weird hair color. "They're right there," he said, pointing discretely at them.
-----
Günther and Anissina had been looking for Gwendal all over the castle without success; not even Anissina's web of spies had been able to give them a lead. Last anyone knew, Gwendal had been in his office-his own, not Günther's-and no-one had seen him to leave it. But, though it seemed that someone had been there, judging by the state of the desk, the place was empty.
Günther was a little disappointed; he wanted to go back to normal as soon as possible, but there wasn't any point on stay there and mourn until Gwendal came back from whenever he was-probably after those evil conspirators. There were other things far more important Günther had to take care of.
“I think it'll be better if I go back to His Majesty's side,” Günther said to Anissina, who was trying to figure out if one of the stuffed animals on the shelves was a beebear or a dragon. “Find me if Gwendal returns.”
Anissina nodded. "Fine. I'll keep trying to figure out where he is.”
Günther bowed his head and left the room. On his way back to the bathroom, he wondered if His Majesty-and Wolfram-would still be there. He also wanted to know what His Majesty had been doing in there for that long.
His nose began to bleed.
Günther took out a couple of the emergency napkins he used to carry with him and put them up his nostrils. Then, he reprimanded himself for having such unclean thoughts.
Fortunately, by the time he got to the bathroom, his nose had stopped bleeding. Unfortunately, there was no-one there.
Carefully, Günther pressed his ear to the door.
It wasn't that he distrusted Wolfram and had thought that the boy would leave His Majesty alone; it was that at the current time Günther distrusted practically everyone else.
Behind the door there was no noise.
After he told himself that it was the best choice, Günther opened the door.
The bathroom was empty.
Günther forced himself to think before falling into panic. His Majesty had surely finished his business there and, thus, he and Wolfram were surely somewhere else.
But where exactly?
Now-a little-calmed down, Günther realized that it was the time of the day when Wolfram liked to relax either painting or reading a book in the library, and when His Majesty liked to relax sunbathing under the trees of the southern garden. Knowing that gave Günther two places where to begin his search.
The garden was closest, so he went there first.
-----
Back in room 202, Conrad was put up to date with Yuuri's plan while both Yuuri and the Sage got their hair back to normal.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything, Conrad," Yuuri said. "I sort of decided on the spot."
"Don't worry about it," Conrad said. At least, Yuuri had brought the Sage along with him instead of embarking in his plan all by himself. "And you think it can work, don't you?" Conrad asked to Yozak.
"Yup! All kiddo has to do is to introduce himself to Reynald with Billy on his shoulder."
"Fine. I think that if we're going to do this, we have to do it right now," Conrad said. "Where's this Reynald?"
"In a cave deep down the forest," Yozak said.
"I should've bet..." the Sage said. "But we were told we'd find Reynald here."
"They were surely talking about Bertrand Reynald, the son; he's usually the first step to get into the organization."
“I see,” the Sage said. “But right now now we can't get through him...” he added, looking at the roof and scratching his nose.
"Bertrand is still unconscious,” Yozak said. “If we hurry, we can get there with enough time to solve the problem and have a toast before he can leave his bed.”
"Let's hurry up, then!" Yuuri walked towards the door, but Yozak's hand on his shoulder stopped him
"Are you sure you want to go dressed like this, kiddo?" he asked, calling attention to his own dress.
Yuuri blushed. "I-"
The Sage took Yuuri's clothes from the closet. "Here, Shibuya!"
"T-thank you."
While Yuuri changed, the Sage went back to rummaging through the closet. "I'll change clothes too; I think I saw something more fitting over here..."
"Just don't wear the red shirt, Your Highness," Conrad said.
The Sage snickered. "Don't worry, Lord Weller, I won't."
-----
Günther hadn't found His Majesty neither in the garden nor in the library, and he was starting to feel a little helpless. Still, Blood Pledge Castle was huge in size and he hadn't exactly asked anyone if they had seen His Majesty-they were all busy looking for Gwendal, anyway, under Anissina's orders.
He knew in his heart that there wouldn't be anything to worry about as long as His Majesty were within the castle, but... but... but of course His Majesty was still in the castle! Given the circumstances, Wolfram would never allow him to go outside.
Suddenly, Günther heard someone calling behind him.
“Gwendal! Hi, darling, how are you?”
Günther froze when he recognized the voice. A couple of seconds later, he turned around, just in time to find his face pressed against the former Maou's chest.
That was a situation he hadn't expected at all, and he didn't know what to do.
He could confess, but the real Gwendal's reaction to that was predictable enough for Günther to doubt if that was actually a good idea.
Either way, what Günther had to do above all, was to find a way to breath again.
“I-I'm sorry,” he gasped when he managed to break her grasp. “We-we weren't expecting you this soon...”
“Of course not, you silly!” she said. “There's this social gathering next month and I remembered I'd left some fitting jewelery back here. Since I was nearby, I thought why not and-” she took Günther's arm, twisted it to his back, and pushed him against the wall, where she held him still, all with a speed Günther never knew the former Maou was capable of. “Who are you and what did you do with my son?”
-----
Yozak lead the walk through the forest. The Sage and Yuuri (and Billy) followed, and Conrad watched the end.
There was enough light to see and to be seen, so they had to be extremely cautious.
Conrad was still learning to trust Yuuri's unorthodox plans; he defied Murphy's law on daily basis and came out victorious somehow, but Conrad was afraid that luck could be over someday.
"It's good none of us breaths as heavily as a dwarf," the Sage mumbled, all of a sudden.
"And let's hope this forest's wardens don't have the ears of an elf," Conrad answered.
"For how long did you live on Earth exactly, Conrad?" Yuuri asked.
Conrad smiled. "Not more than necessary, but I confess that I did find myself with a lot of free time in my hands, Your Majesty."
Yozak stopped. "We're almost there," he said. "It's just behind that hill."
Conrad nodded. "Your Majesty, Your Highness, wait here with Yozak. I'll go first-"
Yuuri turned around and grasped Conrad's wrist. "No. We'll all go. Together."
Conrad felt a wave of warmth spreading through his chest as he heard Yuuri's words, but they were already at the wolf's mouth; he wasn't going to let Yuuri get near that people until he was sure it was completely safe. And he wasn't going to look at Yuuri's big, determined eyes either.
Only that he had to, when he took him away from the path of that huge fireball.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, WIMP?" was the question that followed a blond boy who jumped right in front of Yuuri.
"W-Wolfram! How did you find us?"
"I followed you! What do you think I am? Stupid?"
"Of course not, but-"
"I've been worried sick about you, Yuuri, and you can't think of anything better than to leave me behind?!"
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"So, it was you what we heard in the tunnel?" the Sage asked. He was also trying to comfort Billy; the poor animal had been scared to his shoulder by Wolfram's fireball.
Wolfram growled a last time to Yuuri before turning around to answer to the Sage. "Yes," he said, arms folded. "And because you closed it, I had to take a detour; that delayed me."
"Is Günther coming with you?" Yuuri asked.
"No; last I knew he and Anissina were looking for Gwendal. It seems she finally fixed her machine." Wolfram looked around. "What exactly are you doing here, anyway?"
"We're going to meet Reynald, the rebels' leader, and we're going to talk some sense into him," Yuuri said, solemnly.
Wolfram remained quiet for a few seconds; his face showed a succession of contradictory feelings. One of them finally came up victorious. "Why am I not surprised this would happen? Well, what are we waiting for?"
-----
By the time the tale was over, Celi was convinced that the one she was holding up against the wall was Günhter.
She relaxed her grip and, trying not to laugh out loud, she asked him if he had looked for Gwendal at his office and for Wolfram-and the Maou-in the orchard.
“We've been all over Gwendal's office, but I haven't been in the orchard, Your Majesty,” Günther said, his eyes shinning with hope when he said the second part of the phrase-that alone could've been the final confirmation that it was really him in Gwendal's body if Celi hadn't been sure of it already.
Anyway, if no servant in the castle had seen Gwendal after he went into his office, and no-one had seen him leave it, then that could only mean one thing.
“Leave Gwendal to me, Günther,” Celi said. “You go find the Maou.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Günther bowed and left-he was almost prancing.
Celi giggled; she had always wanted Gwendal to be a little more vivacious, but that was just a bit too much.
-----
"There it is," Yozak said, pointing at a pile of stones right at the side of a hill.
"I don't see anything..." Yuuri said.
"If you saw it, then it wouldn't be a good hiding place, now, would it?"
"...you're right..."
The group walked to the cave. Yozak leaded again, though this time as the Maou's herald. Next, the Sage, then the Maou himself with Wolfram-and Billy, on the ground-just slightly behind. The march was closed by Conrad, who was very alert and had his hand-even though apparently relaxed-ready to grab his sword at the first sight of trouble.
In the cave's hidden entrance they met a hidden guard.
"Who are you?" he asked, pointing at them with a home-made spear.
"The Maou and his court are here to talk to Reynald!" Yozak said, his voice full with dignity, gesturing towards Yuuri with his right arm.
Yuuri straightened-stiffened-up and closed his fists.
It was obvious to Conrad that Yuuri was nervous, and that he was more determined than ever as well.
The cave's guard gaped. "I-I-"
The Sage smiled. "You weren't trained for a situation like this, huh? Why don't you go to tell Reynald we're here?"
The man nodded and walked into the cave without giving his back to the newcomers.
"Now what?" Yuuri asked.
"Now we wait," Conrad said.
-----
Günther was about to cross the flower archway that lead to the orchard when he heard Dorcas coming up to him.
“Your Excellency! Your Excellency!”
“What is it, Dorcas?” Günther asked.
“There's an emergency!”
Günther's heart began racing like a wild horse. Could have something happened to His Majesty while he wasn't at his side? “What is it?”
“The former Maou is here!”
Günther slapped his face with his hand, half in relief, half in annoyance. “I know that! I've already met her!”
“You have?”
“Yes. Is there something else?”
“Lord von Voltaire told me to tell you to act like him if you saw her... Uh, did you, Your Excellency?”
Günther grimaced. “I told her everything,” he said. “She's looking for him right now.”
Dorcas took a step backwards. “She-He-I-”
“There's only one thing to do now, Dorcas! Let us go to find His Majesty; he will put us under his wing!”
“Yes, sir!”
With that, Günter and Dorcas went into the orchard and called for the Maou like if their lives depended on it-which was probably the case.
-----
Less than ten minutes later, about a dozen persons came out from the cave. They were led by a stern-faced matronly woman. She stopped two meters away from the Maou's court and folded her arms. "I understand the Maou is here to see me."
"We're here to see Reynald," Yuuri said.
The woman pointed at her own, generous chest. "I am Gretchen Reynald!"
Yuuri tilted his head a little and looked at Yozak. From behind, Conrad could imagine Yuuri's wide-open eyes and slightly-open mouth.
Yozak nodded and said, "I didn't mention that?"
Yuuri sighed. “Well, Mrs. Reynald I came here to talk to you about...uh, the tax problem."
The woman raised and eyebrow. “You came here to really talk or to impose your will?”
Billy chose that moment to climb up to Yuuri's shoulder, stand up on his rear legs and meowl to gain attention to himself.
“Billy? What are you doing there?” Mrs. Reynald asked.
Conrad was nearly expecting her to call Billy a traitor, but that didn't happen. Instead, she just folded her arms when Yuuri patted the animal's head and said they were friends.
Suspicion and curiosity showed at Mrs. Reynald's face when she said, “Well, Your Majesty, speak up.”
But before Yuuri could answer, from the woods came loud screams calling treason.
About seven men were approaching, one of them mounting a mule and holding a compress against his swollen, bald head, which would make him-most probably-Bertrand Reynald.
Murphy strikes back, Conrad sighed to himself and he prepared himself for whatever that may come.
Bertrand frowned when he saw them in front of the cave and pressed his companions to hurry up towards them.
At the same time, Conrad and Wolfram moved to each side of Yuuri, and Yozak took to himself to protect the Sage.
“Who are this people, Mother?” Bertram asked.
“They're the Maou and his ministers,” Mrs. Reynald answered.
“What? What are they doing here?”
“We're here to fix everything,” Wolfram said.
“Oh, yeah?” Bertrand said while dismounting-a little clumsily-from his mule. “Why did you attacked me at the Pig then?”
“Are you really sure it was us?” the Sage asked, grinning broadly and innocently.
“Of course it was you! You changed your hair, but I'd recognize your faces with my eyes closed! And if I had known you were the Maou-” without separating the compress from his head, Bertrand took a big knife from his belt “-I would've put my knife through your guts instead of just kicking you out, you king of shit!”
It was right then that Conrad lost track of what he was doing.
-----
Gwendal was planning a third course of action, just in case the other two strategies didn't work. At the same time, he had been preparing himself mentally whatever that could happen. Just about everything-except hearing his mother's voice on the other side of his secret room's door at that precise moment.
“Gwendal, come out! I know you're there. It was me who told you about that place, remember?”
Gwendal sighed and then proceeded to curse himself.
She was right; she was the one who had suggested him to make his headquarters in office because precisely of that room, because she knew he needed some absolute isolation once or twice a month in order to function properly among all of that crazy, idiotic people.
“Günther and Anissina are looking for you,” his mother continued. “It seems she fixed her machine.”
Good news at last!
Gwendal stood up and walked towards the door to find out more about that fixing when he realized that if his mother knew of the machine, then she also knew of...
“I forced Günther to tell me everything,” she said, as if she was reading his mind. “I saw you-him-and I thought you were acting too strange. So I attacked him!”
“You attacked Günther?” Gwendal said, finally opening the door. Günther was a fierce warrior when the need arose, and if he had been attacked from behind, the consequences could have been...
Celi, who was sitting down in a chair she had dragged from his desk to near the bookshelf, laughed openly. “Yes, I did! I smashed his face against the wall!”
Gwendal felt his eyebrow tremble. “You-smashed him?”
“I'm sorry about that, but you won't even have a bruise in a couple of days, so don't worry about it.”
Gwendal sighed again, this time in total relief. His mother had never stopped surprising him, and it seemed she would continue to do that for a while.
“Never make a mother worry that way about her sons. By the way, you do look better when you're not frowning all the time, you know? And now you're doing it to Günther.” Celi walked to Gwendal and pushed his wrinkles up with a finger. “There. Shall we go find Anissina?”
“That probably is a good idea,” he said. Gwendal felt a lot better than ten minutes ago; the real meeting with his mother had gone a lot better than he had thought it would be. It was like if the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders, and now, he knew, he'd be able to truly and fully concentrate on the much more important matter of preventing the plot for the assassination of the Maou.
Talking of which, one of the pigeons Yozak used to communicate with him had come through the window and was looking at him from a pile of books on the desk.
Gwendal hurried to read the letter attached to the bird.
All the stress that had been lift from him came back with full force.
“Is there something wrong?” his mother asked.
He gave her the letter. It was in a code, but she knew how to translate it.
“Oh, dear!” she said when she finished it. “But if the Maou and the Sage are with Conrad and Yozak, where is Wolfram?”
“Probably wandering around the castle, looking for the Maou. I'll send someone to get him and Günther while I get ready to go to that cave.”
“I'll go get Günther. I know where he is.”
“Fine, but you're not coming with us. It's could be dangerous.”
“We'll see about that,” she said right before leaving the room.
-----
Lord Weller was calm and gentle, patient, restrained in everything he did. That Wolfram knew-and admired-of him. Still, since no-one is perfect, it has to be pointed out that there were some circumstances that could enrage Weller to the point of making him go berserk.
And that foolish man had just invoked the most delicate one.
Of course, Wolfram had felt anger when he heard those words directed to Yuuri-to Yuuri, of all people!-, but Weller's sudden stiffness called his full attention.
Now the bald man-imprudent enough to wield a knife while insulting and death-threatening his king-was in an imminent risk of disembowelment and that would truly upset Yuuri.
“Weller!” Wolfram put his hand on his brother's arm, but he shook him out violently and didn't even look at the blond.
Weller raised his hand and pointed at the man. “You will take that back!”
The man sneered. “D'you want to fight, pretty boy?”
“Take it back!” Weller repeated so slowly that Wolfram shivered.
“Make me.”
“Bertrand!” Mrs. Reynald called.
“Conrad!” Yuuri claimed, but it was useless; Weller had already moved his hand to his sword's handle.
There has to be a way to stop this, Wolfram thought. He didn't want to attack Weller; it'd give a wrong impression of Yuuri if they were to fight each other.
He looked to Yozak to ask for help. He nodded in understanding.
But then, the Sage put a hand on Yozak's arm, looked at Wolfram right to his eyes and shook his head. He was saying that stopping Weller with force would talk ill of the Maou. And he was right; inner fights never meant a solid, trust-able team.
There was one thing left to do, then.
Wolfram turned to Yuuri. “Do something!”
“I'm trying, but he doesn't listen!”
“Transform yourself and stop him!”
“It doesn't work like that!”
“Are you going to wait until Weller kills that man?”
“Conrad's not going to kill anyone!”
“Tell that to him!” Wolfram grabbed Yuuri's head made him look at Weller. He had drawn his sword already and seemed to be very willing to strike.
Bertrand, on the other hand, despite his swelling, was quite obviously enjoying the situation. He was licking his lips and his eyes shined like a those of a child with a new toy.
“Come here, pretty boy!” Bertrand said. “Come here and try to stop me from beheading your worthless king!”
That worked like a trigger.
Before Wolfram could react, his brother was already on his way.
“Conrad! No! He's hurt!” Yuuri began to run towards Weller.
Wolfram tried to stop Yuuri, but his fingers barely touched the other boy's hand.
Wolfram expected Yuuri to tackle Weller to stop him but, instead, it seemed that his fiance's intention was to put himself in the middle.
In any other circumstances, that could have been a good idea, but right at that moment, Wolfram knew Weller was well beyond normal anger.
What would happen was that Yuuri would be shoved aside and that Bertrand could be saying his goodbye to this world.
If Yuuri would only transform, everything would be so easy...
Then, when the disaster seemed imminent and Weller was a couple of feet from hitting Bertrand, the earth moved.
It moved and roused and the shock of it all was enough to startle some sense into Weller, given that he spun around to catch Yuuri, who had stumbled and was about to fall.
Bertrand did fall. On his butt and he didn't receive any damage.
“What happened?” Wolfram asked.
“The cavalry arrived!” the Sage said. He was pointing to his left, where, not far away, Günther, Gwendal, Celi, and some soldiers could be seen.
-----
Conrad apologized immediately for what he had nearly done, but Bertrand had to be convinced to do it by his mother. He also had to swore that he wouldn't say a word until she and Yuuri finished their business.
"I want to know why's that you think that the new taxes are horribly high” Yuuri said. “There was only a small raise to repair a damaged dam in the northern part of the kingdom. They'll go back to what they were once that's done."
"Small?" Gretchen frowned and pointed at the Maou with a finger. "You call that small? With the money you are asking for, you could build a new fucking dam every day!"
Yuuri's eyes widened. "What?"
Gretchen made a hand gesture; one of her men took out a piece of parchment from his vest and gave it to Yozak, who, in turn, gave it to Yuuri.
Yuuri-and Wolfram and Murata and Günther, the three of them over Yuuri's shoulder-read it, but before he could say anything, Wolfram took the parchment from his fiance's hands.
"You gave the taxes a three thousand percent raise?" Wolfram exclaimed.
Yuuri sought support on Conrad's arm to avoid falling down. "I did what? I-I have never-"
"It surely seems you have, Shibuya," Murata said after taking the parchment from Wolfram's hands and pointing at the relevant part. "Or more like someone made a mistake with the zeroes before you signed it."
Yuuri exchanged looks with everyone present. After a couple of seconds, they all said, "Günther?!"
"Günther did write the new taxes proclaim," Murata said.
"But he's so reliable!" Yuuri said.
"Um. This proclaim is one week old, isn't it?" Conrad said. "And you remember what happened a week ago, don't you, Your Majesty? The incident with...you know?"
Wolfram slapped his head with his hand. "Of course!"
"So Günther was so stressed out that he added extra zeroes?" Yuuri asked.
"That was most probably the case, Your Majesty," Conrad said.
Yuuri sighed deeply. "Well, since that's what happened-" he teared the parchment, "-I hereby declare this proclaim null and void starting now."
"Wait!" Bertrand said. "That was all?"
Yuuri nodded. "Yes. It was a terrible mistake, and I apologize for all of the annoyances it caused."
"We should make Günther apologize," Wolfram muttered.
"I think he has enough with what he's going through," Yuuri said. He looked around to tell Günther he shouldn't worry about what happened, but his advisor was no-where to be seen. “Where is Günther?”
“He seemed to have suffered some sort of crisis when he realized what he did,” Murata said. He was pointing at the floor. “He fainted.”
“He's going to need a lot of sweets and cuddles to get over this,” Celi said. She bent over the fallen Günther “You know? I'd never thought I'd see my son like that. He looks so cute~!”
Gwendal growled “Mother...!”
“Weren't you to, you know, going back?” Murata whispered to Gwendal.
“We didn't have time, Your Highness. We came here as soon as we got Yozak's message.”
“I see. Well, at least this is going to be over soon, isn't it?”
“I hope so, your Highness.”
"I do have one request for you, though," Yuuri said to Gretchen.
"What is it?" she asked, suspiciously.
"The next time something like this happens, come to me and let me know, okay?"
Gretchen scratched her chin. "I think that can be arranged."
"Still," Murata said, "about the dam, if it isn't fixed..."
"What was the original tax raise going to be?" Gretchen asked.
"Three percent."
"I think we can live with that," Gretchen said, smiling for once. "Besides, it's for the greater good. And have my most sincere apology for all we've done, Your Majesty," she said, bowing down.
"You don't have to do that," Yuuri said. "It was my fault to begin with; this experience will teach me to read everything before I sign it."
“Everything is settled, so let's have a toast!” Yozak said.
“Let's go to the Pig!” Gretchen laughed. “It's all on the house!”
And so, they all went to what would be the first royal party in the history of the Wriggling Pig.
-----
Two days later, Yuuri was walking down the hall, happy for being able to do it all by himself at last. Günther, who was enjoying being back in his own body again, had given Yuuri the whole afternoon free.
When Yuuri turned around a corner, he saw Conrad and Wolfram, the first of which was leaned against a window and the second one was quite agitated.
“I can't believe it!” Wolfram said. “She just didn't do that!”
“I know it's unfair, but that's the way it goes,” Conrad said.
“It's terrible! That bitch!”
Conrad smiled apologetically. “Either way, people don't live forever.”
“I know, but-I mean, with all the things he did for his people, just leaving him to bleed to death... It's just too awful.” Wolfram sighed deeply and raised his hand to point upwards. “I have taken a decision! Lord Weller, please, pass the voice that I'd be busy this afternoon; I don't want to be disturbed.”
Conrad seemed really amused. “What are you going to do?”
“I'm going to write the whole legend and I will give it a better ending. Besides, that way I'll have something nice to read to Greta when she gets back-with better role models than the ones in Anissina's books, anyway...” Wolfram muttered as he walked away.
“What's going on?” Yuuri asked, finally approaching to Conrad.
“I told him the legend of Robin Hood,” Conrad said.
“I see...”
Conrad lowered his voice. “And now I'm really tempted to tell him about Oedipus.”
“You wouldn't!” Yuuri had never read the play itself; he had read a summary at the school's library, and that had been traumatizing enough.
Conrad grinned sheepishly. “No, but I needed to tell someone. I wonder how Wolfram's ending is going to be..:” he added after a pause.
“Me too. But I think I better read it first before he reads it to Greta.”
“When is she coming back, by the way?”
“In about four more days. Oh, yes! Do you think you could help me with a surprise party?”
“Huh?”
“I got a letter from Niccola this morning; she said Greta thinks we sent her over there because we're planning a surprise party for her. I don't know where she got that idea, but I sort of have a glasses-wearing suspect in mind...”
Conrad chuckled. “It's been a while since we've had a party in the castle. What do you think of a masquerade?”
“That sounds great!”
“And since it was my idea, I get to be Mr. Spock.”
Yuuri laughed; he still couldn't believe his bodyguard was that much of a geek, but it was rather nice to know there was someone in Blood Pledge Castle he could share his comic books with-if he ever managed to bring them along, that is.
-----
The End.
Fandom: Kyou Kara Maou
Rating: PG-13
Words: This chapter: 5700+; the whole fic: 12200+
Summary: Shin Makoku's administration needs to raise the taxes, but the measure finds some strong opposition.
Spoilers: Not really.
Notes: Gen
First part here
II
Gwendal was at his office analyzing the information his men had gotten on the streets. He was still waiting news from Yozak; knowing him, he surely was the pedicurist of the conspiracy's head already. Therefore, whatever data he might send in could be critical for their next movement. But since Yozak hadn't sent a word to him directly-instead, he had requested for a low-profile meeting with Conrad-, the emergency level on his front was certainly minimum.
All of that, Gwendal thought, would allow him enough time to think with relative calm.
Then, someone knocked at his door.
“Come in,” Gwendal said.
Dorcas peered in. “Your Excellency, I have important news!”
Gwendal raised an eyebrow and waited.
“Her Majesty the former Maou arrived to the castle five minutes ago.”
“What? Mother is here?” Gwendal stood up. “Does she know...?”
“As far as I know, she doesn't; I came here to tell you as soon as I saw her.”
“Where's Günther?”
“He was in one of the bathrooms of the left wing, with His Majesty and-”
His Majesty, right.
The mention of the Maou was enough to bring back to Gwendal some sense of perspective. His mother finding out about Anissina's latest failed experiment wasn't as important as to ensure the safety of his king.
“Dorcas, go find Günther and tell him about mother. Do try to avoid been seen, and tell him to act like me if he can't help meeting her. Go, now!”
“Yes, Your Excellency.” Dorcas made a quick bow and left the room.
Gwendal went back to his work, but he realized he couldn't focus. Cursing all of his back luck, he grabbed yarn, needles, paper, quill, and ink and went to lock himself to a small and secret room behind his bookshelf.
He needed to think. He needed to be able to concentrate. In relative calm, since he couldn't have the real thing.
Gwendal felt he could use a hug from Greta right at that moment.
----
Conrad knew Yuuri would be safe for as long as he was with Wolfram and Günther, though he was aware Yuuri wasn't exactly comfortable with their methods. Conrad made a promise to himself to make it up for him-as soon as the danger was dispelled, of course.
Right now, nevertheless, he had received a note from Yozak asking for a meeting. Thus, covered with a cape and a hood, Conrad crossed the City avoiding to call attention upon himself.
He got to the Wriggling Pig uneventfully.
In a table near a dark corner there was a man, asleep and drunk. Following the custom, Conrad pushed him away to take his place. No soul batted an eye.
After a short while, he saw Yozak coming down from the second floor and going into the kitchen. Next, Yozak got out again with a pot on his hands. Right then, Yozak saw Conrad; he winked and grinned and raised the pot a little. All of that, translated, meant: "I'll be with you in a moment." Though the way Yozak had bent his head was part of the not-everything-is-as-good-as-we-would-want code.
Conrad began to feel-even more-unease.
In his time on Earth, Conrad had learnt about some laws supposedly proposed by a man named Murphy, and on his time as a whole, he had come to realize that they were, indeed, universal.
Conrad could feel it in his blood, anything could go wrong at anytime-if it wasn't going wrong already.
Finally, Yozak returned. As he walked by, some of the customers tried to grab his ass but he, skillfully and giggly, slapped their hands away.
"How are you today, handsome?" Yozak said, loudly, when he arrived to Conrad's table.
"I was free, so I thought of coming to see you, my pretty. D'you have any good kind of beer today?" Conrad said.
Yozak held up two fingers. "I have this many. You might find one of them somewhat bitter, though."
Here goes Murphy, Conrad thought.
"Do tell which one, m'dear!"
Yozak tapped his cheek with his finger. "It'll cost you a kiss!"
"Come 'ere, pretty!"
Yozak bent down and whispered, "The Maou and the Sage are upstairs."
It was a good thing Conrad was already sitting down.
"Are they-" Conrad interrupted himself and sighed deeply. He had just seen them both near the stairs, dressed up as servants and with a very weird hair color. "They're right there," he said, pointing discretely at them.
-----
Günther and Anissina had been looking for Gwendal all over the castle without success; not even Anissina's web of spies had been able to give them a lead. Last anyone knew, Gwendal had been in his office-his own, not Günther's-and no-one had seen him to leave it. But, though it seemed that someone had been there, judging by the state of the desk, the place was empty.
Günther was a little disappointed; he wanted to go back to normal as soon as possible, but there wasn't any point on stay there and mourn until Gwendal came back from whenever he was-probably after those evil conspirators. There were other things far more important Günther had to take care of.
“I think it'll be better if I go back to His Majesty's side,” Günther said to Anissina, who was trying to figure out if one of the stuffed animals on the shelves was a beebear or a dragon. “Find me if Gwendal returns.”
Anissina nodded. "Fine. I'll keep trying to figure out where he is.”
Günther bowed his head and left the room. On his way back to the bathroom, he wondered if His Majesty-and Wolfram-would still be there. He also wanted to know what His Majesty had been doing in there for that long.
His nose began to bleed.
Günther took out a couple of the emergency napkins he used to carry with him and put them up his nostrils. Then, he reprimanded himself for having such unclean thoughts.
Fortunately, by the time he got to the bathroom, his nose had stopped bleeding. Unfortunately, there was no-one there.
Carefully, Günther pressed his ear to the door.
It wasn't that he distrusted Wolfram and had thought that the boy would leave His Majesty alone; it was that at the current time Günther distrusted practically everyone else.
Behind the door there was no noise.
After he told himself that it was the best choice, Günther opened the door.
The bathroom was empty.
Günther forced himself to think before falling into panic. His Majesty had surely finished his business there and, thus, he and Wolfram were surely somewhere else.
But where exactly?
Now-a little-calmed down, Günther realized that it was the time of the day when Wolfram liked to relax either painting or reading a book in the library, and when His Majesty liked to relax sunbathing under the trees of the southern garden. Knowing that gave Günther two places where to begin his search.
The garden was closest, so he went there first.
-----
Back in room 202, Conrad was put up to date with Yuuri's plan while both Yuuri and the Sage got their hair back to normal.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything, Conrad," Yuuri said. "I sort of decided on the spot."
"Don't worry about it," Conrad said. At least, Yuuri had brought the Sage along with him instead of embarking in his plan all by himself. "And you think it can work, don't you?" Conrad asked to Yozak.
"Yup! All kiddo has to do is to introduce himself to Reynald with Billy on his shoulder."
"Fine. I think that if we're going to do this, we have to do it right now," Conrad said. "Where's this Reynald?"
"In a cave deep down the forest," Yozak said.
"I should've bet..." the Sage said. "But we were told we'd find Reynald here."
"They were surely talking about Bertrand Reynald, the son; he's usually the first step to get into the organization."
“I see,” the Sage said. “But right now now we can't get through him...” he added, looking at the roof and scratching his nose.
"Bertrand is still unconscious,” Yozak said. “If we hurry, we can get there with enough time to solve the problem and have a toast before he can leave his bed.”
"Let's hurry up, then!" Yuuri walked towards the door, but Yozak's hand on his shoulder stopped him
"Are you sure you want to go dressed like this, kiddo?" he asked, calling attention to his own dress.
Yuuri blushed. "I-"
The Sage took Yuuri's clothes from the closet. "Here, Shibuya!"
"T-thank you."
While Yuuri changed, the Sage went back to rummaging through the closet. "I'll change clothes too; I think I saw something more fitting over here..."
"Just don't wear the red shirt, Your Highness," Conrad said.
The Sage snickered. "Don't worry, Lord Weller, I won't."
-----
Günther hadn't found His Majesty neither in the garden nor in the library, and he was starting to feel a little helpless. Still, Blood Pledge Castle was huge in size and he hadn't exactly asked anyone if they had seen His Majesty-they were all busy looking for Gwendal, anyway, under Anissina's orders.
He knew in his heart that there wouldn't be anything to worry about as long as His Majesty were within the castle, but... but... but of course His Majesty was still in the castle! Given the circumstances, Wolfram would never allow him to go outside.
Suddenly, Günther heard someone calling behind him.
“Gwendal! Hi, darling, how are you?”
Günther froze when he recognized the voice. A couple of seconds later, he turned around, just in time to find his face pressed against the former Maou's chest.
That was a situation he hadn't expected at all, and he didn't know what to do.
He could confess, but the real Gwendal's reaction to that was predictable enough for Günther to doubt if that was actually a good idea.
Either way, what Günther had to do above all, was to find a way to breath again.
“I-I'm sorry,” he gasped when he managed to break her grasp. “We-we weren't expecting you this soon...”
“Of course not, you silly!” she said. “There's this social gathering next month and I remembered I'd left some fitting jewelery back here. Since I was nearby, I thought why not and-” she took Günther's arm, twisted it to his back, and pushed him against the wall, where she held him still, all with a speed Günther never knew the former Maou was capable of. “Who are you and what did you do with my son?”
-----
Yozak lead the walk through the forest. The Sage and Yuuri (and Billy) followed, and Conrad watched the end.
There was enough light to see and to be seen, so they had to be extremely cautious.
Conrad was still learning to trust Yuuri's unorthodox plans; he defied Murphy's law on daily basis and came out victorious somehow, but Conrad was afraid that luck could be over someday.
"It's good none of us breaths as heavily as a dwarf," the Sage mumbled, all of a sudden.
"And let's hope this forest's wardens don't have the ears of an elf," Conrad answered.
"For how long did you live on Earth exactly, Conrad?" Yuuri asked.
Conrad smiled. "Not more than necessary, but I confess that I did find myself with a lot of free time in my hands, Your Majesty."
Yozak stopped. "We're almost there," he said. "It's just behind that hill."
Conrad nodded. "Your Majesty, Your Highness, wait here with Yozak. I'll go first-"
Yuuri turned around and grasped Conrad's wrist. "No. We'll all go. Together."
Conrad felt a wave of warmth spreading through his chest as he heard Yuuri's words, but they were already at the wolf's mouth; he wasn't going to let Yuuri get near that people until he was sure it was completely safe. And he wasn't going to look at Yuuri's big, determined eyes either.
Only that he had to, when he took him away from the path of that huge fireball.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, WIMP?" was the question that followed a blond boy who jumped right in front of Yuuri.
"W-Wolfram! How did you find us?"
"I followed you! What do you think I am? Stupid?"
"Of course not, but-"
"I've been worried sick about you, Yuuri, and you can't think of anything better than to leave me behind?!"
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"So, it was you what we heard in the tunnel?" the Sage asked. He was also trying to comfort Billy; the poor animal had been scared to his shoulder by Wolfram's fireball.
Wolfram growled a last time to Yuuri before turning around to answer to the Sage. "Yes," he said, arms folded. "And because you closed it, I had to take a detour; that delayed me."
"Is Günther coming with you?" Yuuri asked.
"No; last I knew he and Anissina were looking for Gwendal. It seems she finally fixed her machine." Wolfram looked around. "What exactly are you doing here, anyway?"
"We're going to meet Reynald, the rebels' leader, and we're going to talk some sense into him," Yuuri said, solemnly.
Wolfram remained quiet for a few seconds; his face showed a succession of contradictory feelings. One of them finally came up victorious. "Why am I not surprised this would happen? Well, what are we waiting for?"
-----
By the time the tale was over, Celi was convinced that the one she was holding up against the wall was Günhter.
She relaxed her grip and, trying not to laugh out loud, she asked him if he had looked for Gwendal at his office and for Wolfram-and the Maou-in the orchard.
“We've been all over Gwendal's office, but I haven't been in the orchard, Your Majesty,” Günther said, his eyes shinning with hope when he said the second part of the phrase-that alone could've been the final confirmation that it was really him in Gwendal's body if Celi hadn't been sure of it already.
Anyway, if no servant in the castle had seen Gwendal after he went into his office, and no-one had seen him leave it, then that could only mean one thing.
“Leave Gwendal to me, Günther,” Celi said. “You go find the Maou.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Günther bowed and left-he was almost prancing.
Celi giggled; she had always wanted Gwendal to be a little more vivacious, but that was just a bit too much.
-----
"There it is," Yozak said, pointing at a pile of stones right at the side of a hill.
"I don't see anything..." Yuuri said.
"If you saw it, then it wouldn't be a good hiding place, now, would it?"
"...you're right..."
The group walked to the cave. Yozak leaded again, though this time as the Maou's herald. Next, the Sage, then the Maou himself with Wolfram-and Billy, on the ground-just slightly behind. The march was closed by Conrad, who was very alert and had his hand-even though apparently relaxed-ready to grab his sword at the first sight of trouble.
In the cave's hidden entrance they met a hidden guard.
"Who are you?" he asked, pointing at them with a home-made spear.
"The Maou and his court are here to talk to Reynald!" Yozak said, his voice full with dignity, gesturing towards Yuuri with his right arm.
Yuuri straightened-stiffened-up and closed his fists.
It was obvious to Conrad that Yuuri was nervous, and that he was more determined than ever as well.
The cave's guard gaped. "I-I-"
The Sage smiled. "You weren't trained for a situation like this, huh? Why don't you go to tell Reynald we're here?"
The man nodded and walked into the cave without giving his back to the newcomers.
"Now what?" Yuuri asked.
"Now we wait," Conrad said.
-----
Günther was about to cross the flower archway that lead to the orchard when he heard Dorcas coming up to him.
“Your Excellency! Your Excellency!”
“What is it, Dorcas?” Günther asked.
“There's an emergency!”
Günther's heart began racing like a wild horse. Could have something happened to His Majesty while he wasn't at his side? “What is it?”
“The former Maou is here!”
Günther slapped his face with his hand, half in relief, half in annoyance. “I know that! I've already met her!”
“You have?”
“Yes. Is there something else?”
“Lord von Voltaire told me to tell you to act like him if you saw her... Uh, did you, Your Excellency?”
Günther grimaced. “I told her everything,” he said. “She's looking for him right now.”
Dorcas took a step backwards. “She-He-I-”
“There's only one thing to do now, Dorcas! Let us go to find His Majesty; he will put us under his wing!”
“Yes, sir!”
With that, Günter and Dorcas went into the orchard and called for the Maou like if their lives depended on it-which was probably the case.
-----
Less than ten minutes later, about a dozen persons came out from the cave. They were led by a stern-faced matronly woman. She stopped two meters away from the Maou's court and folded her arms. "I understand the Maou is here to see me."
"We're here to see Reynald," Yuuri said.
The woman pointed at her own, generous chest. "I am Gretchen Reynald!"
Yuuri tilted his head a little and looked at Yozak. From behind, Conrad could imagine Yuuri's wide-open eyes and slightly-open mouth.
Yozak nodded and said, "I didn't mention that?"
Yuuri sighed. “Well, Mrs. Reynald I came here to talk to you about...uh, the tax problem."
The woman raised and eyebrow. “You came here to really talk or to impose your will?”
Billy chose that moment to climb up to Yuuri's shoulder, stand up on his rear legs and meowl to gain attention to himself.
“Billy? What are you doing there?” Mrs. Reynald asked.
Conrad was nearly expecting her to call Billy a traitor, but that didn't happen. Instead, she just folded her arms when Yuuri patted the animal's head and said they were friends.
Suspicion and curiosity showed at Mrs. Reynald's face when she said, “Well, Your Majesty, speak up.”
But before Yuuri could answer, from the woods came loud screams calling treason.
About seven men were approaching, one of them mounting a mule and holding a compress against his swollen, bald head, which would make him-most probably-Bertrand Reynald.
Murphy strikes back, Conrad sighed to himself and he prepared himself for whatever that may come.
Bertrand frowned when he saw them in front of the cave and pressed his companions to hurry up towards them.
At the same time, Conrad and Wolfram moved to each side of Yuuri, and Yozak took to himself to protect the Sage.
“Who are this people, Mother?” Bertram asked.
“They're the Maou and his ministers,” Mrs. Reynald answered.
“What? What are they doing here?”
“We're here to fix everything,” Wolfram said.
“Oh, yeah?” Bertrand said while dismounting-a little clumsily-from his mule. “Why did you attacked me at the Pig then?”
“Are you really sure it was us?” the Sage asked, grinning broadly and innocently.
“Of course it was you! You changed your hair, but I'd recognize your faces with my eyes closed! And if I had known you were the Maou-” without separating the compress from his head, Bertrand took a big knife from his belt “-I would've put my knife through your guts instead of just kicking you out, you king of shit!”
It was right then that Conrad lost track of what he was doing.
-----
Gwendal was planning a third course of action, just in case the other two strategies didn't work. At the same time, he had been preparing himself mentally whatever that could happen. Just about everything-except hearing his mother's voice on the other side of his secret room's door at that precise moment.
“Gwendal, come out! I know you're there. It was me who told you about that place, remember?”
Gwendal sighed and then proceeded to curse himself.
She was right; she was the one who had suggested him to make his headquarters in office because precisely of that room, because she knew he needed some absolute isolation once or twice a month in order to function properly among all of that crazy, idiotic people.
“Günther and Anissina are looking for you,” his mother continued. “It seems she fixed her machine.”
Good news at last!
Gwendal stood up and walked towards the door to find out more about that fixing when he realized that if his mother knew of the machine, then she also knew of...
“I forced Günther to tell me everything,” she said, as if she was reading his mind. “I saw you-him-and I thought you were acting too strange. So I attacked him!”
“You attacked Günther?” Gwendal said, finally opening the door. Günther was a fierce warrior when the need arose, and if he had been attacked from behind, the consequences could have been...
Celi, who was sitting down in a chair she had dragged from his desk to near the bookshelf, laughed openly. “Yes, I did! I smashed his face against the wall!”
Gwendal felt his eyebrow tremble. “You-smashed him?”
“I'm sorry about that, but you won't even have a bruise in a couple of days, so don't worry about it.”
Gwendal sighed again, this time in total relief. His mother had never stopped surprising him, and it seemed she would continue to do that for a while.
“Never make a mother worry that way about her sons. By the way, you do look better when you're not frowning all the time, you know? And now you're doing it to Günther.” Celi walked to Gwendal and pushed his wrinkles up with a finger. “There. Shall we go find Anissina?”
“That probably is a good idea,” he said. Gwendal felt a lot better than ten minutes ago; the real meeting with his mother had gone a lot better than he had thought it would be. It was like if the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders, and now, he knew, he'd be able to truly and fully concentrate on the much more important matter of preventing the plot for the assassination of the Maou.
Talking of which, one of the pigeons Yozak used to communicate with him had come through the window and was looking at him from a pile of books on the desk.
Gwendal hurried to read the letter attached to the bird.
All the stress that had been lift from him came back with full force.
“Is there something wrong?” his mother asked.
He gave her the letter. It was in a code, but she knew how to translate it.
“Oh, dear!” she said when she finished it. “But if the Maou and the Sage are with Conrad and Yozak, where is Wolfram?”
“Probably wandering around the castle, looking for the Maou. I'll send someone to get him and Günther while I get ready to go to that cave.”
“I'll go get Günther. I know where he is.”
“Fine, but you're not coming with us. It's could be dangerous.”
“We'll see about that,” she said right before leaving the room.
-----
Lord Weller was calm and gentle, patient, restrained in everything he did. That Wolfram knew-and admired-of him. Still, since no-one is perfect, it has to be pointed out that there were some circumstances that could enrage Weller to the point of making him go berserk.
And that foolish man had just invoked the most delicate one.
Of course, Wolfram had felt anger when he heard those words directed to Yuuri-to Yuuri, of all people!-, but Weller's sudden stiffness called his full attention.
Now the bald man-imprudent enough to wield a knife while insulting and death-threatening his king-was in an imminent risk of disembowelment and that would truly upset Yuuri.
“Weller!” Wolfram put his hand on his brother's arm, but he shook him out violently and didn't even look at the blond.
Weller raised his hand and pointed at the man. “You will take that back!”
The man sneered. “D'you want to fight, pretty boy?”
“Take it back!” Weller repeated so slowly that Wolfram shivered.
“Make me.”
“Bertrand!” Mrs. Reynald called.
“Conrad!” Yuuri claimed, but it was useless; Weller had already moved his hand to his sword's handle.
There has to be a way to stop this, Wolfram thought. He didn't want to attack Weller; it'd give a wrong impression of Yuuri if they were to fight each other.
He looked to Yozak to ask for help. He nodded in understanding.
But then, the Sage put a hand on Yozak's arm, looked at Wolfram right to his eyes and shook his head. He was saying that stopping Weller with force would talk ill of the Maou. And he was right; inner fights never meant a solid, trust-able team.
There was one thing left to do, then.
Wolfram turned to Yuuri. “Do something!”
“I'm trying, but he doesn't listen!”
“Transform yourself and stop him!”
“It doesn't work like that!”
“Are you going to wait until Weller kills that man?”
“Conrad's not going to kill anyone!”
“Tell that to him!” Wolfram grabbed Yuuri's head made him look at Weller. He had drawn his sword already and seemed to be very willing to strike.
Bertrand, on the other hand, despite his swelling, was quite obviously enjoying the situation. He was licking his lips and his eyes shined like a those of a child with a new toy.
“Come here, pretty boy!” Bertrand said. “Come here and try to stop me from beheading your worthless king!”
That worked like a trigger.
Before Wolfram could react, his brother was already on his way.
“Conrad! No! He's hurt!” Yuuri began to run towards Weller.
Wolfram tried to stop Yuuri, but his fingers barely touched the other boy's hand.
Wolfram expected Yuuri to tackle Weller to stop him but, instead, it seemed that his fiance's intention was to put himself in the middle.
In any other circumstances, that could have been a good idea, but right at that moment, Wolfram knew Weller was well beyond normal anger.
What would happen was that Yuuri would be shoved aside and that Bertrand could be saying his goodbye to this world.
If Yuuri would only transform, everything would be so easy...
Then, when the disaster seemed imminent and Weller was a couple of feet from hitting Bertrand, the earth moved.
It moved and roused and the shock of it all was enough to startle some sense into Weller, given that he spun around to catch Yuuri, who had stumbled and was about to fall.
Bertrand did fall. On his butt and he didn't receive any damage.
“What happened?” Wolfram asked.
“The cavalry arrived!” the Sage said. He was pointing to his left, where, not far away, Günther, Gwendal, Celi, and some soldiers could be seen.
-----
Conrad apologized immediately for what he had nearly done, but Bertrand had to be convinced to do it by his mother. He also had to swore that he wouldn't say a word until she and Yuuri finished their business.
"I want to know why's that you think that the new taxes are horribly high” Yuuri said. “There was only a small raise to repair a damaged dam in the northern part of the kingdom. They'll go back to what they were once that's done."
"Small?" Gretchen frowned and pointed at the Maou with a finger. "You call that small? With the money you are asking for, you could build a new fucking dam every day!"
Yuuri's eyes widened. "What?"
Gretchen made a hand gesture; one of her men took out a piece of parchment from his vest and gave it to Yozak, who, in turn, gave it to Yuuri.
Yuuri-and Wolfram and Murata and Günther, the three of them over Yuuri's shoulder-read it, but before he could say anything, Wolfram took the parchment from his fiance's hands.
"You gave the taxes a three thousand percent raise?" Wolfram exclaimed.
Yuuri sought support on Conrad's arm to avoid falling down. "I did what? I-I have never-"
"It surely seems you have, Shibuya," Murata said after taking the parchment from Wolfram's hands and pointing at the relevant part. "Or more like someone made a mistake with the zeroes before you signed it."
Yuuri exchanged looks with everyone present. After a couple of seconds, they all said, "Günther?!"
"Günther did write the new taxes proclaim," Murata said.
"But he's so reliable!" Yuuri said.
"Um. This proclaim is one week old, isn't it?" Conrad said. "And you remember what happened a week ago, don't you, Your Majesty? The incident with...you know?"
Wolfram slapped his head with his hand. "Of course!"
"So Günther was so stressed out that he added extra zeroes?" Yuuri asked.
"That was most probably the case, Your Majesty," Conrad said.
Yuuri sighed deeply. "Well, since that's what happened-" he teared the parchment, "-I hereby declare this proclaim null and void starting now."
"Wait!" Bertrand said. "That was all?"
Yuuri nodded. "Yes. It was a terrible mistake, and I apologize for all of the annoyances it caused."
"We should make Günther apologize," Wolfram muttered.
"I think he has enough with what he's going through," Yuuri said. He looked around to tell Günther he shouldn't worry about what happened, but his advisor was no-where to be seen. “Where is Günther?”
“He seemed to have suffered some sort of crisis when he realized what he did,” Murata said. He was pointing at the floor. “He fainted.”
“He's going to need a lot of sweets and cuddles to get over this,” Celi said. She bent over the fallen Günther “You know? I'd never thought I'd see my son like that. He looks so cute~!”
Gwendal growled “Mother...!”
“Weren't you to, you know, going back?” Murata whispered to Gwendal.
“We didn't have time, Your Highness. We came here as soon as we got Yozak's message.”
“I see. Well, at least this is going to be over soon, isn't it?”
“I hope so, your Highness.”
"I do have one request for you, though," Yuuri said to Gretchen.
"What is it?" she asked, suspiciously.
"The next time something like this happens, come to me and let me know, okay?"
Gretchen scratched her chin. "I think that can be arranged."
"Still," Murata said, "about the dam, if it isn't fixed..."
"What was the original tax raise going to be?" Gretchen asked.
"Three percent."
"I think we can live with that," Gretchen said, smiling for once. "Besides, it's for the greater good. And have my most sincere apology for all we've done, Your Majesty," she said, bowing down.
"You don't have to do that," Yuuri said. "It was my fault to begin with; this experience will teach me to read everything before I sign it."
“Everything is settled, so let's have a toast!” Yozak said.
“Let's go to the Pig!” Gretchen laughed. “It's all on the house!”
And so, they all went to what would be the first royal party in the history of the Wriggling Pig.
-----
Two days later, Yuuri was walking down the hall, happy for being able to do it all by himself at last. Günther, who was enjoying being back in his own body again, had given Yuuri the whole afternoon free.
When Yuuri turned around a corner, he saw Conrad and Wolfram, the first of which was leaned against a window and the second one was quite agitated.
“I can't believe it!” Wolfram said. “She just didn't do that!”
“I know it's unfair, but that's the way it goes,” Conrad said.
“It's terrible! That bitch!”
Conrad smiled apologetically. “Either way, people don't live forever.”
“I know, but-I mean, with all the things he did for his people, just leaving him to bleed to death... It's just too awful.” Wolfram sighed deeply and raised his hand to point upwards. “I have taken a decision! Lord Weller, please, pass the voice that I'd be busy this afternoon; I don't want to be disturbed.”
Conrad seemed really amused. “What are you going to do?”
“I'm going to write the whole legend and I will give it a better ending. Besides, that way I'll have something nice to read to Greta when she gets back-with better role models than the ones in Anissina's books, anyway...” Wolfram muttered as he walked away.
“What's going on?” Yuuri asked, finally approaching to Conrad.
“I told him the legend of Robin Hood,” Conrad said.
“I see...”
Conrad lowered his voice. “And now I'm really tempted to tell him about Oedipus.”
“You wouldn't!” Yuuri had never read the play itself; he had read a summary at the school's library, and that had been traumatizing enough.
Conrad grinned sheepishly. “No, but I needed to tell someone. I wonder how Wolfram's ending is going to be..:” he added after a pause.
“Me too. But I think I better read it first before he reads it to Greta.”
“When is she coming back, by the way?”
“In about four more days. Oh, yes! Do you think you could help me with a surprise party?”
“Huh?”
“I got a letter from Niccola this morning; she said Greta thinks we sent her over there because we're planning a surprise party for her. I don't know where she got that idea, but I sort of have a glasses-wearing suspect in mind...”
Conrad chuckled. “It's been a while since we've had a party in the castle. What do you think of a masquerade?”
“That sounds great!”
“And since it was my idea, I get to be Mr. Spock.”
Yuuri laughed; he still couldn't believe his bodyguard was that much of a geek, but it was rather nice to know there was someone in Blood Pledge Castle he could share his comic books with-if he ever managed to bring them along, that is.
-----
The End.