Novel 14 chapter 5
Got some comments recently with people asking to translate more, so here it is ^_____^
I skipped chapter 4 though because it fried my brain halfway through. It's about Shouri's adventures in Switzerland :D I promise I will finish it before chapter 6, but I need some help. Does anyone know what DTJ is and what does it have to do with Top Gun (the movie I suppose, KKM is really killing me with all its references to pop culture >_<)???
Anyway, if you read chapter 5 first you're not gonna spoil yourself, coz there are almost no direct references to the previous untranslated chapter in there. So don't be afraid.
One technical thing, there are words at the very end of this chapter spoken by a woman, using pronouns and particles women usually use. Since there is no way to indicate that in English, I am gonna use italics for her entire speech.
Having escaped the dining hall me, Wolfram and Saralegui were following Hazel along the shore. To avoid being noticed by the tribe members we had to proceed crouching down or crawling all together in places where there were no buildings.
If there were houses we knocked on windows or doors and persuaded those inside to escape with us, helping children to climb out of the windows. Since we thought that Saralegui wouldn’t cooperate and neither me nor Wolfram spoke the language of Holy Sand the responsibility of talking was left to Hazel. When some families refused to evacuate her ability to convince worked amazingly. That power is not something ordinary. She definitely had a lot of real life experience. Being left locked in the royal family catacombs, attacked by both crocodiles and tigers in the jungle at the same time, surrounded by armed military forces and being held at the gunpoint - the remarkable adventurer and treasure hunter, Hazel Graves, has seen it all. As they were informed of the dangers of staying in houses surrounded by soldiers most families fled their houses leaving all their possessions behind.
While North-northwestern and Northeastern tribes were fighting in confusion we were happy that most of the doors were not facing the lake shore but back alleys. As some of the enemies might have already broken into and threatened the people living inside, there was no telling where we could run straight into the them. That would mean that we’d have to defeat the enemy inside first and only then think about saving helpless people. In the houses doors of which didn’t face the lake, we called people through the window and instructed them to escape to the south part of the city, opposite of the water side. The chances of encountering the tribes on that route were minimal.
As there was no moon or stars that night it was difficult to get around in darkness without lighting lamps to avoid being spotted by the enemy. Especially for me who couldn’t see anything without light, it was only natural if somehow I was left behind in the darkness, but to my own amazement help came from the “boy from the shiny magazine spread”. Saralegui’s eyes can see several times better in the darkness than any normal ones.
“Oh, yeah, shame Yuri can’t see this.”
“Oh yeah? I can see! Just now could!”
“No need to be so jealous.”
A small laugh came out of his throat like a tiny bird.
“If you say you can, why do you keep holding my hand then?”
“Fine! If you say so, then I’m not going to!”
“Discount for men?” (there's a play on words here, Yuri says okotowari お断り, which means I refuse (to hold your hand) and Sara says otokowari 男割 which is not really a legit word but can be translated as discount for men :D)
Are you talking about a theater play or performance that is cheaper to see on certain days if you’re a guy? Well, I’d be much happier to simply get a nice and comfortable seat than a discounted ticket. Although right now it doesn’t look like a good time for theater-going anyway. Oh Yuri, don’t be shy...”
Before Saralegui finished speaking he grabbed my left hand forcefully. Immediately pain shot through it like it was being cut.
“... eck.”
Under the piece of cloth that served as a bandage the wound throbbed. I tried to not let my voice escape through the clenched teeth. My pride wouldn’t let me start screaming at Saralegui, my opponent. Behind our back I heard Wolfram groan quietly. If it was peaceful time Wolfram would have definitely beaten Sara(?) to a pulp. Even now it seems that he’d like to do just that, but at the moment he doesn’t have any other choice but to keep his temper under control.
Even though we have allied ourselves with Saralegui and Conrad (or rather, Big Shimaron’s emissary) he doesn’t try to disguise his real feelings in conversations.
Surely he knows that Small Shimaron’s king has a wicked personality, but it would be reckless to think that canceling the deal with him would increase our safety.
Even though he (Wolfram) used to be easily influenced by his emotions, lately he has began to demonstrate incredible courage, really putting himself on the line at critical moments.
By all rights he is much more fit to be the King of Mazoku than me.
“Yuri, stop!”
“Hey, wait!”
Almost at the same time as Sara pulled me back Hazel, who was in front of us, made us stop and smacked her lips in annoyance.
“There is a sword fight happening nearby. Seven or eight people are involved. If we stop by a house now they’ll definitely notice us.”
“What are we gonna do?”
“We are gonna make a little detour. Let’s proceed with care. Soon we should reach Lord Weller’s group.”
Having walked very close around the building Hazel found a place at the back that would be hard to see from the outside and called us. Since the distance between buildings is very narrow even if we are noticed they won’t be able to come at us straight away.
“They said there were gonna be not more than fifty.” /Yuri/
“Yeah.”
“Why then there are a hundred of them fighting?... How did it turn to this?”
“Northwestern tribes got impatient. They probably decided to use this opportunity to seize control over the lake and quickly sent their troops here. We’re lucky that was just their patrol. If it was their real army we wouldn’t have gotten out of this with a little skirmish like that.”
“If you call this one a little skirmish...” I could only rely on my ears now, but the air around was full of screams, shouts and sounds of metal colliding with metal in sword fights. It was hard to hear what was going on when my ears were too close, but separated from the shore by the row of houses, from this far I could pick up quite a bit. Works the same way as when you have to step away to look over something rather than looking at it closely. When you’re listening to everything at once you have this feeling like you’re being surrounded.
Or rather like your body is not there and everything is turning 360° around you like a doughnut. Even thought in reality nothing is moving. Somewhere in the middle of all this there was a painful scream. Not a quiet sob, but a desperate scream for help. Must be from one of the nearest houses.
“...Someone is crying.. It’s a child. A child is crying.”
“That’s what they always do.”
“I don’t mean it like that!”
People getting used to things like that was annoying, I got to Hazel’s back and grabbed her shoulder to stop her.
“It’s not crying just because it’s scared. It’s dangerous... and.. Ahh, I don’t know how to explain! It needs help. It’s calling for someone older.”
“Listen, Your Majesty. This place is not an orphanage. Children are not left all by them selves. They have parents.”
“But maybe its mother has collapsed and is unconscious?”
I’m gonna explain it to Wolfram. A child is crying, we have to help, have to..
Hazel said something nasty and Wolfram patted me on the neck twice as though trying to soothe in a manner of someone who’s used to their friend’s selfishness.
“I’ll go check.”
“I am going too!”
“No! You stay here! If something happens to you His Majesty Shin Ou will never forgive me.”
He broke the window and got inside and for a while there was no response. It was so quiet that I could hear my own heart beating loud in my chest and suddenly there was a sound of explosion. Not only my eyes but also my ears went numb. The darkness around me became bright in an instant. The only thing I could see was orange glow. The cold shiver I’d had before disappeared as my cheeks and arms were hit by a hot wave. Something’s happened.
“Wolf, Wolfram!”
“I’m here!”
He jumped out of the window, his body heavier than usual. He must be holding the child. After that one more person appeared, a woman who was sobbing.
“Was is the only baby, Wolfram? They weren’t twins, were they?”
“Well, this one is saf...”
And then the second explosion happened. This time it wasn’t just the heat, pieces of sand and soil went up.
“The flame...”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to say! Those bastards are setting the town on fire. And it’s spreading with horrible power! The nearby houses are all burning and soon will be completely consumed by flames.”
“But those are brick houses, they can’t just burn...”
“Oh, that’s right you can’t see.” Suddenly his voice became quieter, “Maybe it’s better that way.”
“What? What’s happening?” I grasped Wolfram’s arm waiting for the answer. There was a warm body in there, he was still holding the child, which was shivering quietly.
“Tell me what happened. It was not an ordinary fire, was it?”
“Fire is fire. We have to get going and leave the town already. If we don’t we’ll be driven into the boiling waters of the lake.”
Even though Wolfram didn’t say anything I could feel it on my skin and hear with my ears, the flames were not normal.
Cries and shouts became louder and I could feel the strong heat wave on my cheeks and neck, it was similar to the one of the sun in midsummer.
Because of continuous roar of explosions I knew the fire was spreading around the town.
“The place is ablaze,” Saralegui said with delight. “Well, since Yuri can’t see I will explain. The center of the town is burning. And it’s spreading with tremendous speed. Snakes of the flames are going round and round as though drawing circles and fire moves from building to building. Amazing, it’s the first time I've seen fires like that. These definitely are not some ordinary flames.”
“What do you mean not ordinary?..”
Saralegui’s voice grew twice as loud and bounced off my eardrums.
“Meaning it can’t be easily put out. You’ve seen some of it yourself. The nature of fire created with majutsu and houjutsu is different from your ordinary flame. The strength, heat and even the way they should be extinguished are different. Get it? A little bit of water won’t put it out.”
I’ve heard something like that from Gwendal and Wolfram when woods at Shin Makoku’s border were on fire. You can't stop a fire started with jutsu by pouring water on it.
“Who knows what kind of shinzoku those tribes employed and what kind of attacking hojutsu they can use. It must have been them who did this. They’re using dirty methods.” The last of words Hazel was spitting out angrily disappeared silenced by a woman’s painful scream.
Saralegui clasped his hands and with a voice of someone who’s just found a rare flower said, “Ah, people are burning too.”
“WHAT?”
“I said people are burning too.”
“People...”
Astounded Wolfram tried to grab my arm. Maybe he didn’t measure the distance well but he only managed to brush the tips of my fingers as my body got out of reach.
Immediately a woman ran past me so close that I could feel it on my skin. I heard a sound of feet sloshing through water and then right after there was a shriek and a horrible smell of burning hair. Awful smell of burning protein. Before I was aware of what I was doing my feet started moving and I ran after her. The woman submerged her body into the lake’s water to stop the fire blazing on her hair. She was already waist deep but by her undying screams I could tell that the fire didn’t go away. Didn’t stop.
The orange glow around me became red and my nose started to burn inside as though I inhaled some salty water. My head began to swim.
It seemed someone was calling my name, a voice so far away, I couldn’t understand who it belonged to. That’s why I couldn’t answer. And then I heard whispering.
The red around me slowly dissolved until there was no color left at all, as though I was wrapped in white shadow, in a world without light or darkness.
The whispering started to reverberate and turned into words. Slowly white darkness transformed into a human silhouette.
That person is always angry.
Or maybe just very sad.
So what are you gonna do now? Stop?
No, I will not stop. I will do what needs to be done at the time when it needs to be done. No matter what the consequences might be.
It is my will, see?... Please, understand.
It is my life, isn't it? and I am the one to choose what to do with it.
Yes, it is my life and I am the one to choose what to do with it.
That's it for now ^___^
I remember someone asking why fans liked Wolfram a couple of days ago in one of the communities... well, if Wolf rescuing kids from burning houses is not an answer good enough for you, then I don't know what else to say XDDD
Sara's words are priceless :D me loves the little sadist.
Also, does it bother anyone else that Suzanna Julia (I'm assuming it's her in Yuri's head) is taking such liberties and throwing his life in danger without caring about consequences?
I skipped chapter 4 though because it fried my brain halfway through. It's about Shouri's adventures in Switzerland :D I promise I will finish it before chapter 6, but I need some help. Does anyone know what DTJ is and what does it have to do with Top Gun (the movie I suppose, KKM is really killing me with all its references to pop culture >_<)???
Anyway, if you read chapter 5 first you're not gonna spoil yourself, coz there are almost no direct references to the previous untranslated chapter in there. So don't be afraid.
One technical thing, there are words at the very end of this chapter spoken by a woman, using pronouns and particles women usually use. Since there is no way to indicate that in English, I am gonna use italics for her entire speech.
Having escaped the dining hall me, Wolfram and Saralegui were following Hazel along the shore. To avoid being noticed by the tribe members we had to proceed crouching down or crawling all together in places where there were no buildings.
If there were houses we knocked on windows or doors and persuaded those inside to escape with us, helping children to climb out of the windows. Since we thought that Saralegui wouldn’t cooperate and neither me nor Wolfram spoke the language of Holy Sand the responsibility of talking was left to Hazel. When some families refused to evacuate her ability to convince worked amazingly. That power is not something ordinary. She definitely had a lot of real life experience. Being left locked in the royal family catacombs, attacked by both crocodiles and tigers in the jungle at the same time, surrounded by armed military forces and being held at the gunpoint - the remarkable adventurer and treasure hunter, Hazel Graves, has seen it all. As they were informed of the dangers of staying in houses surrounded by soldiers most families fled their houses leaving all their possessions behind.
While North-northwestern and Northeastern tribes were fighting in confusion we were happy that most of the doors were not facing the lake shore but back alleys. As some of the enemies might have already broken into and threatened the people living inside, there was no telling where we could run straight into the them. That would mean that we’d have to defeat the enemy inside first and only then think about saving helpless people. In the houses doors of which didn’t face the lake, we called people through the window and instructed them to escape to the south part of the city, opposite of the water side. The chances of encountering the tribes on that route were minimal.
As there was no moon or stars that night it was difficult to get around in darkness without lighting lamps to avoid being spotted by the enemy. Especially for me who couldn’t see anything without light, it was only natural if somehow I was left behind in the darkness, but to my own amazement help came from the “boy from the shiny magazine spread”. Saralegui’s eyes can see several times better in the darkness than any normal ones.
“Oh, yeah, shame Yuri can’t see this.”
“Oh yeah? I can see! Just now could!”
“No need to be so jealous.”
A small laugh came out of his throat like a tiny bird.
“If you say you can, why do you keep holding my hand then?”
“Fine! If you say so, then I’m not going to!”
“Discount for men?” (there's a play on words here, Yuri says okotowari お断り, which means I refuse (to hold your hand) and Sara says otokowari 男割 which is not really a legit word but can be translated as discount for men :D)
Are you talking about a theater play or performance that is cheaper to see on certain days if you’re a guy? Well, I’d be much happier to simply get a nice and comfortable seat than a discounted ticket. Although right now it doesn’t look like a good time for theater-going anyway. Oh Yuri, don’t be shy...”
Before Saralegui finished speaking he grabbed my left hand forcefully. Immediately pain shot through it like it was being cut.
“... eck.”
Under the piece of cloth that served as a bandage the wound throbbed. I tried to not let my voice escape through the clenched teeth. My pride wouldn’t let me start screaming at Saralegui, my opponent. Behind our back I heard Wolfram groan quietly. If it was peaceful time Wolfram would have definitely beaten Sara(?) to a pulp. Even now it seems that he’d like to do just that, but at the moment he doesn’t have any other choice but to keep his temper under control.
Even though we have allied ourselves with Saralegui and Conrad (or rather, Big Shimaron’s emissary) he doesn’t try to disguise his real feelings in conversations.
Surely he knows that Small Shimaron’s king has a wicked personality, but it would be reckless to think that canceling the deal with him would increase our safety.
Even though he (Wolfram) used to be easily influenced by his emotions, lately he has began to demonstrate incredible courage, really putting himself on the line at critical moments.
By all rights he is much more fit to be the King of Mazoku than me.
“Yuri, stop!”
“Hey, wait!”
Almost at the same time as Sara pulled me back Hazel, who was in front of us, made us stop and smacked her lips in annoyance.
“There is a sword fight happening nearby. Seven or eight people are involved. If we stop by a house now they’ll definitely notice us.”
“What are we gonna do?”
“We are gonna make a little detour. Let’s proceed with care. Soon we should reach Lord Weller’s group.”
Having walked very close around the building Hazel found a place at the back that would be hard to see from the outside and called us. Since the distance between buildings is very narrow even if we are noticed they won’t be able to come at us straight away.
“They said there were gonna be not more than fifty.” /Yuri/
“Yeah.”
“Why then there are a hundred of them fighting?... How did it turn to this?”
“Northwestern tribes got impatient. They probably decided to use this opportunity to seize control over the lake and quickly sent their troops here. We’re lucky that was just their patrol. If it was their real army we wouldn’t have gotten out of this with a little skirmish like that.”
“If you call this one a little skirmish...” I could only rely on my ears now, but the air around was full of screams, shouts and sounds of metal colliding with metal in sword fights. It was hard to hear what was going on when my ears were too close, but separated from the shore by the row of houses, from this far I could pick up quite a bit. Works the same way as when you have to step away to look over something rather than looking at it closely. When you’re listening to everything at once you have this feeling like you’re being surrounded.
Or rather like your body is not there and everything is turning 360° around you like a doughnut. Even thought in reality nothing is moving. Somewhere in the middle of all this there was a painful scream. Not a quiet sob, but a desperate scream for help. Must be from one of the nearest houses.
“...Someone is crying.. It’s a child. A child is crying.”
“That’s what they always do.”
“I don’t mean it like that!”
People getting used to things like that was annoying, I got to Hazel’s back and grabbed her shoulder to stop her.
“It’s not crying just because it’s scared. It’s dangerous... and.. Ahh, I don’t know how to explain! It needs help. It’s calling for someone older.”
“Listen, Your Majesty. This place is not an orphanage. Children are not left all by them selves. They have parents.”
“But maybe its mother has collapsed and is unconscious?”
I’m gonna explain it to Wolfram. A child is crying, we have to help, have to..
Hazel said something nasty and Wolfram patted me on the neck twice as though trying to soothe in a manner of someone who’s used to their friend’s selfishness.
“I’ll go check.”
“I am going too!”
“No! You stay here! If something happens to you His Majesty Shin Ou will never forgive me.”
He broke the window and got inside and for a while there was no response. It was so quiet that I could hear my own heart beating loud in my chest and suddenly there was a sound of explosion. Not only my eyes but also my ears went numb. The darkness around me became bright in an instant. The only thing I could see was orange glow. The cold shiver I’d had before disappeared as my cheeks and arms were hit by a hot wave. Something’s happened.
“Wolf, Wolfram!”
“I’m here!”
He jumped out of the window, his body heavier than usual. He must be holding the child. After that one more person appeared, a woman who was sobbing.
“Was is the only baby, Wolfram? They weren’t twins, were they?”
“Well, this one is saf...”
And then the second explosion happened. This time it wasn’t just the heat, pieces of sand and soil went up.
“The flame...”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to say! Those bastards are setting the town on fire. And it’s spreading with horrible power! The nearby houses are all burning and soon will be completely consumed by flames.”
“But those are brick houses, they can’t just burn...”
“Oh, that’s right you can’t see.” Suddenly his voice became quieter, “Maybe it’s better that way.”
“What? What’s happening?” I grasped Wolfram’s arm waiting for the answer. There was a warm body in there, he was still holding the child, which was shivering quietly.
“Tell me what happened. It was not an ordinary fire, was it?”
“Fire is fire. We have to get going and leave the town already. If we don’t we’ll be driven into the boiling waters of the lake.”
Even though Wolfram didn’t say anything I could feel it on my skin and hear with my ears, the flames were not normal.
Cries and shouts became louder and I could feel the strong heat wave on my cheeks and neck, it was similar to the one of the sun in midsummer.
Because of continuous roar of explosions I knew the fire was spreading around the town.
“The place is ablaze,” Saralegui said with delight. “Well, since Yuri can’t see I will explain. The center of the town is burning. And it’s spreading with tremendous speed. Snakes of the flames are going round and round as though drawing circles and fire moves from building to building. Amazing, it’s the first time I've seen fires like that. These definitely are not some ordinary flames.”
“What do you mean not ordinary?..”
Saralegui’s voice grew twice as loud and bounced off my eardrums.
“Meaning it can’t be easily put out. You’ve seen some of it yourself. The nature of fire created with majutsu and houjutsu is different from your ordinary flame. The strength, heat and even the way they should be extinguished are different. Get it? A little bit of water won’t put it out.”
I’ve heard something like that from Gwendal and Wolfram when woods at Shin Makoku’s border were on fire. You can't stop a fire started with jutsu by pouring water on it.
“Who knows what kind of shinzoku those tribes employed and what kind of attacking hojutsu they can use. It must have been them who did this. They’re using dirty methods.” The last of words Hazel was spitting out angrily disappeared silenced by a woman’s painful scream.
Saralegui clasped his hands and with a voice of someone who’s just found a rare flower said, “Ah, people are burning too.”
“WHAT?”
“I said people are burning too.”
“People...”
Astounded Wolfram tried to grab my arm. Maybe he didn’t measure the distance well but he only managed to brush the tips of my fingers as my body got out of reach.
Immediately a woman ran past me so close that I could feel it on my skin. I heard a sound of feet sloshing through water and then right after there was a shriek and a horrible smell of burning hair. Awful smell of burning protein. Before I was aware of what I was doing my feet started moving and I ran after her. The woman submerged her body into the lake’s water to stop the fire blazing on her hair. She was already waist deep but by her undying screams I could tell that the fire didn’t go away. Didn’t stop.
The orange glow around me became red and my nose started to burn inside as though I inhaled some salty water. My head began to swim.
It seemed someone was calling my name, a voice so far away, I couldn’t understand who it belonged to. That’s why I couldn’t answer. And then I heard whispering.
The red around me slowly dissolved until there was no color left at all, as though I was wrapped in white shadow, in a world without light or darkness.
The whispering started to reverberate and turned into words. Slowly white darkness transformed into a human silhouette.
That person is always angry.
Or maybe just very sad.
So what are you gonna do now? Stop?
No, I will not stop. I will do what needs to be done at the time when it needs to be done. No matter what the consequences might be.
It is my will, see?... Please, understand.
It is my life, isn't it? and I am the one to choose what to do with it.
Yes, it is my life and I am the one to choose what to do with it.
That's it for now ^___^
I remember someone asking why fans liked Wolfram a couple of days ago in one of the communities... well, if Wolf rescuing kids from burning houses is not an answer good enough for you, then I don't know what else to say XDDD
Sara's words are priceless :D me loves the little sadist.
Also, does it bother anyone else that Suzanna Julia (I'm assuming it's her in Yuri's head) is taking such liberties and throwing his life in danger without caring about consequences?