mission report for astrangerenters
Mission report for astrangerenters
Delivered by: rockthecliche
Title: 'Warlock' is Just Another Word for 'Dude With Sparkly Fingers'.
Groups/Pairings: Kanjani8 gen; cameos by KAT-TUN, NEWS, Nino and Takki.
Rating: PG
Warnings: butchering of the medieval period.
Summary: Ryo has shitty self-esteem, Hina loves the color purple, and Maru is an angel with kids. All in a day.
Notes: I think this might have been the silliest thing I have ever tried to write but once I saw this in your list of prompts, astrangerenters, I knew I had to do it. I tried to make sure that prior medieval knowledge wasn't too necessary, so I hope it came out all right! This was largely influenced by The Sims 3: Medieval and Shige’s Shounen Club Premium episode. The riddle is taken from this website. A hearty thank you to my betas A and L for overseeing the process and, ahem, smoothing things out where they needed to be. ♥ You guys are the best!
"While I understand that the color is arguably expensive to mix, I really do think this new shade of purple will give Tako-machi the boost it needs right now." King Hina stated, a spool of fabric spilling from his hands. The fabric was a rich, vibrant purple, one that the king had been taken with since seeing it worn by the prince of a neighboring ally. Just ordering a few tunics in the color wasn't all Hina had in mind, however; purple has always been associated with images of royalty and grandeur, and while his quaint little realm was far from ready to be heralded as a force to be reckoned with, it was always in a king's best interest to be prepared. This was merely step one in the ultimate plan.
"I've had my adviser draw up the color scheme for the new flags, and a seamstress is already making them. We should be getting them within the week, upon which I expect all the old flags be replaced with new ones, both in the castle and around town." Hina continued, rolling the fabric back up.
"A word, my liege?" Takki, Hina's longtime friend and royal adviser, murmured. Hina let him pull him aside as the court erupted in small whispers and mumblings at his diverted attention.
"What is it?" Hina asked.
"Are you sure you don't want to reconsider having your rangers dress in uniform?" Takki gestured to the aforementioned group of rangers milling about, each in their own specific color. "As of right now, they're..."
"Motley?" Hina filled in, and the royal adviser made a scrunched up face, trying to resist calling them 'an unfocused bunch of morons'.
"The specific colors work." Hina continued, lifting his crown and rubbing at the indentation it left on his forehead. "This way, if the hypothetical townswoman Ryo bit last night is looking for him, the yellow gives it away. Men should face their problems head on, after all, and I will not let my elite guard be bogged down by trivial affairs in the face of a catastrophe."
Hina, knowing his logic was sound, turned and walked back to stand in front of his throne. There was no reason to actually go there to address the court, but standing in front of it made him feel powerful. Plus, everyone could see him better that way.
"Lastly, we'll be playing host to a very important ally of ours next week. Lord Shige of the Kato Kingdom will be coming to renegotiate diplomatic relations. Kamenashi, I'm leaving the preparations up to you." Kamenashi was Hina's trusted bookkeeper with a careful eye on all the expenses their modest little realm used. He was good at his job and seemed to live his life to please other people, which was one of the reasons why Hina also gave him the job of organizing festivities whenever they entertained guests. There was no one else in the land that could throw a party quite like Kamenashi could -- and get twitchy about the mess at the same time.
"I've already sent Ohkura with the latest food caravan to secure the finest of grain from abroad. I'll have more details for the rest of you in the coming days. You're all dismissed. Yasu, I need to speak with you." Hina ordered. Maids scurried in every which way, his rangers dispersed to go about their training -- all of them except Yasuda, a ranger just a little on the small side but better at everything than everyone.
"Hi, Hina-chan." Yasu chirped. Hina's eyebrow twitched; no matter how he looked at it, 'Hina-chan' just sounded undignified, but he reconciled it with the fact that Yasu was and would probably always be his best ranger, so he could make a small concession.
"How is my doublet coming along?" To prepare for their esteemed guests' arrival, Hina had given Yasu the task of designing and making a new set of clothing to wear upon their arrival; most people thought he was crazy to wear something containing Yasu's rather eclectic tastes, but he had faith. Besides, none of the rangers minded the small changes he made on their tunics -- except Ryo, but he was a nitpicky bastard.
"I had sent Akito to town to fetch me some extra yellow thread as I ran out last night, but he came back in good timing and all I've left is to hem the bottom a bit." Yasu grinned and plopped down on one of the arms of the throne. "I will have it for Your Majesty as soon as time may allow."
"Off the throne. And I'll be waiting. I never thought purple and yellow would be a good combination..." Hina took a few seconds to carefully study Yasu, merely dressed in a tunic of a deep blue color, although a number of colorful designs were carefully embroidered on, probably by his own hand. "...but I trust you to come up with something decently regal. I'd like to see it, though, so lead the way.”
"Decently preposterous." Takki muttered as Hina swept by.
“Takki, you’re dismissed. Subaru, come.”
"Are you sure you want to go with what Yasu has for your feasting gown?" Subaru asked as they walked down the hallway. While Hina appreciated the fact that his ranger was simply looking out for him, Hina was feeling pretty confident about his choices. Still, he knew that Subaru always looked out for him, and for that, Hina was always grateful. "You know how Yasu gets when you let him run free."
"Look, the only way it could be so bad is if he puts rainbows and pots of gold and leprechauns on it."
"Ahh..." was all Subaru said after that, which Hina took as conceding to his infallible logic -- there was no way Yasu would put rainbows and pots of gold and leprechauns on his doublet.
He watched as Yasu pushed the door of his chambers open, babbling incessantly about how proud he was of the garment, holding the door open for his majesty in the process. Hina was about to thank him when his eyes caught sight of the doublet, laying neatly on his bed.
“Well…it’s a wonderful usage of the country’s new purple.” Hina said, more to comfort himself than anything.
"...at least there aren't leprechauns." Subaru said, patting Hina's shoulder.
Yasu frowned, slightly affronted. "Please. Hello, leprechauns only exist in the forest."
Yoko was, in a word, chuffed.
See, it wasn’t everyday when he got to save the day. In fact, if he wanted to be brutally honest, it wasn’t any day, ever. But just two days ago, when he and fellow ranger Maruyama were on their nightly rounds, he had noticed a rather shady figure lurking about the apothecary’s shop. This wasn’t really new - the apothecary was a rather grungy, lanky, and hunched woman herself, and the company she could afford to keep wasn’t of the most noble intentions, but there was something off about this one. Maybe it was the furtive glances he kept shooting around, as if to make sure no one was watching him. Or maybe it was the tiny vial containing a noxious looking green liquid he took out from his boot. (In actuality, it was the horrible teeth that gave Yoko a fright, but he dutifully chose to leave that detail out in his many, many retellings.)
No matter the reason, Yoko thought something was afoot. He would even go so far as to say that his ‘danger senses’ had been awakened, and so, nudging Maru forward first, they approached the strange fellow. Of course, this only made the man panic and fling the vial at Yoko’s face; luckily, he was quick enough to dodge it, or else half his face would have melted right off as the liquid sizzled, burning through the grass on the ground. He had contemplated his luck then, relishing in keeping his face intact, and by the time he was done, Maru had already whacked the guy, hard, with the hilt of his sword, bringing him down and out.
“So you’re saying that while you whined about possibly having your face melted off, Maru took care of the actual bad guy?” Jin asked, chortling a little as Yoko decided he needed new friends; there was no joy in having friends who could see through hubris. The ring and sizzle of metal hitting hot metal clanged into the air and Yoko looked past Jin and at the other person who, together with Jin, made up the town smithy.
“Oi, Taguchi, shut up! I’m trying to gloat here!” He turned and scanned the crowd behind him for Maru, hoping for some back-up, but saw the other ranger gleefully playing some sort of tagging game with the kids from the flower shop. “Hell’s bells, Maru, you can at least back me up!”
“Sorry!” Maru called back, but paid no attention otherwise.
“Some of us have actual work to do, I’ll have you know.” Taguchi spoke up as he finished hammering at the piece of metal in his tongs. He carefully doused the metal in water, steam rising up to blow into and past his face; the tendrils of hair framing his face curled up neatly in the heat, the rest of his hair tied back and out of the way. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his brow, his hands being too full to properly wipe it off and it didn’t seem like Jin was willing to help out with that - or with anything, if the way he was lounging on the counter of the shop was anything to go by. He did move aside a little, though, to give Taguchi some room as he set the metal to cool and came over, leaning with his hands on the counter.
“And I’ll have you know heroes need days off too.” Yoko replied although he was, admittedly, a bit distracted. It happened whenever someone around him was threatening his manliness, and hammering at metal was pretty damn manly. “So, because I’m a hero, I would like a new sword.”
“…you want a new sword.” Jin deadpanned.
Yoko narrowed his eyes at him. “Yes. I do. One fitting my abilities, of course, and nothing less than the best.”
Jin paused and stared at Yoko for a few seconds, and everyone could see the wheels turning in his head. Finally, he lit up and hopped off the counter. “Oh, I have the perfect thing. Made it just the other day out of boredom…I think it’ll fit.” He strolled over to the racks that held the duo’s various wares and rummaged around for a little bit. He seemed to find what he was looking for and, holding it so Yoko couldn’t see, ambled back.
“So? Let’s see it.” Yoko said, giddy but not wanting to show it so much, except he always got a sneaky smirk whenever he tried to hide his excitement at things.
Jin held up the sword in his hand.
Taguchi laughed, loud and obnoxious, hurting Yoko’s delicate sensibilities and pride. “Fitting indeed!”
Yoko reached out and snatched the toy wooden sword from Jin’s hand. “This isn’t even as long as my real toy sword when I was little!”
“I’m sure it’s longer than other swords of yours, though.” Jin waggled his eyebrow at him.
Yoko felt a mighty gag coming on.
Ohkura sighed in relief as he began to see the castle creep closer in the distance, happy to finally be getting home. It wasn’t like his journey took a long time - three days was like a pleasure outing considering horses could only travel so far in one day - but three days on a dirty, smelly horse, leading a caravan of even more dirty smelly horses carting tons of food he couldn’t even eat? It was torture, pure and simple. All he wanted to do at this point was to bathe, eat everyone else’s share of dinner along with his, and then go to bed.
But first, the bridge.
There were many legends about the troll that lived underneath the bridge, one that made everyone answer a riddle before being able to cross and get back home. He was a peculiar thing as he only ever accosted people on their way back home rather than on their way away from the castle, but no one bothered to ask him why as most people were too busy trying to answer his riddle to pay much attention to anything else. As it were, Ohkura really wished that the troll would give him a pass - maybe if he feigned sleep…
The sound of the small river pricked his senses and as they came over the hill, Ohkura’s heart sank. The troll was already there, small with beady eyes. The biggest surprise was that he wasn’t at all troll-like; there was no discolored skin, no nasty warts - just a mole on his chin and a look about him that suggested he must have been cursed to look young his whole life.
“Stop! And all that.” The young man said, lazily holding his hand up to stop Ohkura and his entourage. “Sorry, but you can’t cross the bridge.”
“And why not?” Ohkura asked, his grumpiness clouding his face. Just because he knew about the troll’s existence didn’t mean he had to like it. As it were, anyone who impeded his way to his bed and/or food was just an annoyance and should be dealt with at once. (Yoko learned this the hard way.)
“Because I said so! You castle-folk aren’t so bright, are you.” The troll said, yawning. “I’m Nino. I’m sure you’ve heard of me before, so I’m going to skip the intro and get right to the riddle.”
“Why are you doing this?” Ohkura whined.
“Because you castle-folk aren’t so bright.” Nino smiled, except it was less of a smile and more like a smirk, one that Ohkura suspected took no effort. He ambled over then, circling around Ohkura and his horse, inspecting both carefully. When he was done, he stood with his arms crossed over his chest, right in front of Ohkura’s steed, impish grin never fading. “Well, since I like you, I’ll give you an easy one.”
Sea suckled me and waves sounded over me,
Rollers covered me as I rested on my bed.
I have no feet and often open my mouth to the flood.
Now some man will consume me,
Man who cares nothing for my clothing.
With the point of his knife he will rip the skin from my side,
And straight away eat me uncooked as I am.
What am I?
Ohkura stared at the troll like he had three heads. “That’s supposed to be easy?”
“Easiest one in my repertoire!” Nino replied. He began tapping his foot against the ground. “You only have a short amount of time, so I’d start thinking if I were you.”
“What if I don’t know what it is?” Ohkura asked.
Nino shrugged. “Then you pay me 45 gold and go on your merry way.”
The ranger began to suspect that Yoko’s stories about beating the troll into submission were just tall tales, especially when Kamenashi would work himself into a frenzy when the kingdom's accounts didn't add up the next day. “If I have to pay you to cross when I get this wrong, can I just pay you up front?”
Nino winked. “Fair enough. 45 gold pieces, please.”
Ohkura paid him.
At Ohkura's signal, the rest of his party began their trek over the bridge. Ohkura watched them for a few seconds, then peered carefully at the troll. “Why don’t you start charging and skip all the riddles?”
Nino shrugged, not bothering to look up as he counted his gold. “For a few reasons. One, I like feeling smarter than those living the high life. Two, I like to give people the chance to save some money - money is a precious commodity, after all. And three, what else do I have to do except come up with riddles all day? I live under a friggin’ bridge.”
And Ohkura found he couldn’t argue with that logic. He bid the troll farewell and began to trot over the bridge when he suddenly stopped and turned to face the perpetually young man. “So what was the answer?” Ohkura asked. “To the riddle.”
Nino grinned. “Oysters.”
Ohkura felt a little better about spending those 45 pieces of gold - oysters always made him sick.
Hina had pulled Maru and Subaru aside a few days later and, once positive they were out of earshot of the general populace, told them about a job that needed to get done in the next few days.
See, Lord Shige was young and slightly egotistical on top of that. He was brilliant, yes, but his ego often earned him the ire of the surrounding realms at large and because of that, there were more than a few people willing to pay a pretty silver piece to get rid of him. Hina wanted Maru and Subaru to hire a few more guards, just temporarily; if anything happened to Lord Shige while he was enjoying a visit to Tako-machi, then not only would it make his rangers look bad, but ties with Kato Kingdom would forever be strained. Maru wasn’t sure why that would be a bad thing - Maru never understood much about the affairs a king had to attend to, truthfully - but Hina sounded quite distressed about it, so he didn’t question it further.
“So where do we look first?” Maru wondered out loud as he and Subaru paced around town.
Subaru took a bit of time to mull this over in his head. “Maybe the tavern on the outskirts? The unsavory types always go there.”
“Maybe we’ll find Ryo there, then!” Maru exclaimed happily, already picking up the pace.
The tavern was packed as always. Tako-machi was a popular place for people to stop on their journeys as it was landlocked and centrally located, bordered by no less than five different realms and kingdoms. As the kingdoms prospered, trade between all six countries flourished, and so it wasn’t rare for the people of Tako-machi to befriend those outside of their borders and vice versa. Because of this, the tavern was always filled with people from all different regions and of all different lifestyles. Subaru was sure they would find at least a good direction to go to for more guards.
They walked in, trying to be as covert as possible; the last thing they wanted was to draw attention to themselves as the townspeople always acted differently when they knew members of the king’s royal guard were present. Subaru bought a few rounds of ale for those closest to him in proximity and Maru began to subtly investigate while everyone was more or less distracted by the possibility of free ale. By the end of the night, all they got besides drink being spilled on their tabbards were some hushed rumblings of a trio of mercenaries that went by the name of NUT.
“NUT! Ridiculous.” Subaru slurred, falling into his bed.
Subaru’s hangover aside, finding the trio was pretty easy, if only because they weren’t really hiding to begin with. In fact, before Maru could even put out a formal request of information, he received a letter that simply stated a meeting time and place, signed by the letter ‘N’.
“This is a little shady, though, Maru. How did they even know?” Yasu wondered when Maru filled him in on what was going on, as he helped with getting the horses ready for their departure.
Maru shrugged. “I’m not sure but they’re all we’ve got. Lord Shige arrives in three days, we can’t keep dragging this on or else Hina will hit us.”
Yasu frowned, handing Subaru his sword. “If you say so. Just be careful, all right? Come back in one piece.”
Subaru and Maru both smiled at him and soon after, took off at a gallop.
The meeting place wasn’t too far; Pansy Knoll was just as the name implied - a knoll full of pansies, hidden away deep in the forests to the east of the castle. None of them ever went there much, for when they said ’deep in the forest’ they really meant ’deep in the forest’, but Maru had ridden past once or twice. It was a three, four hour ride from what he remembered, and he made sure they left with plenty of time to spare, just in case they got lost.
They did get lost, of course. Subaru complimented Maru's advanced thinking.
There were already three people there by the time they got there, and Maru suspected them to be the members of NUT.
“Be careful,” Subaru whispered as they dismounted their horses and surveyed the three. “I’m getting a really weird vibe from one of them.”
“Judging by that crest on your breastplate, I take it you must be the ones looking for us.” One of the three stepped forward as the other two hung back, leaning back against their horses. One of them was distractingly pretty, almost effeminate, and the other had enough piercings in his ears that Maru wondered if he would be suitable to use for target practice.
“Are you NUT?” Subaru asked, breaking into Maru’s thoughts.
“Okay, you’re not supposed to say it joined together like an actual word, it’s N-U-T.” The one speaking with them sighed. “I’m Nakamaru. That is Ueda…” The pretty one nodded towards them. “And the other one is Tanaka, though he likes to be called Koki.”
“Oooooooh, NUT.” Maru nodded knowingly.
Nakamaru was clearly irritated. “It’s EN-YOU-TEE.”
“Just drop it, Yucchi. Let’s negotiate the deal and go, I’m starving.” Koki yawned.
“Right, well.” Nakamaru looked a little flustered. “That’ll be 300 gold pieces for the three of us.”
Maru blinked. “…that’s it? We haven't even told you what the job is yet!”
Nakamaru nodded. “No need for that, we already know what it is. We'll do it.”
“What’s the catch?” Subaru eyed them warily.
“No catch. We just like being in business.” Nakamaru shrugged. “Take it or leave it, but it doesn’t get cheaper than us.”
“…you shouldn’t sound so proud of that.” Subaru shook his head, then something else occurred to him. “Well, we only have 250 with us.”
“Hina expects us to hire mercenaries for 250 gold?!” Maru asked, incredulous.
Subaru shook his head. “Not Hina. 250 was all Kamenashi afforded us.”
“There’s no way they’re going to do it for 250, Shibuyan - “
“Deal!”
Maru and Subaru looked up at Nakamaru.
“All right, so truth of the matter is that we have a less than stellar reputation. Ueda doesn’t really like to do much but sit around and bark orders at us, Koki looks tough and scary but he cringes at the thought of having to kill anyone or anything, and I…well…” Nakamaru coughed.
“He gets too into it and tends to go after everyone, even allies.” Ueda piped up. He walked forward, the sun glistening in his light brown hair, the skin on the tip of his petite nose sparkling for such brief a moment, Maru wasn’t sure if he had even seen it or not. “But you can trust us.”
Maru really, really hoped so. “What do you think, Shibuyan?”
Subaru took a long moment to think about the matter, carefully turning each fact over in his mind. “We’ve got nothing to lose.” He finally said, and stuck his hand out to Nakamaru.
As they shook on it, Maru thought they actually had a lot to lose if this ended up failing, but they’d just have to see.
It was the day of Lord Shige’s arrival and while everyone hustled here and bustled there, Ryo was trying his hardest to give a damn.
Ryo’s downfall, though, was that he actually cared a whole lot. He tried not to show it because he was Nishikido Ryo, sentiment just doesn’t look good on him, but he supposed it was only natural for him to be a little more high-strung than normal. When he had left Kato Kingdom all those years ago, he hadn’t expected to encounter anyone from there that he knew ever again, but it seemed like he wasn’t the only one from the kingdom he used to call home that was destined for greatness. He had left behind quite a group of friends and while he wasn't sure who would be in the lord's company, he knew he would recognize several familiar faces, the lord’s included.
“You seem out of sorts lately.” Subaru commented as they strolled the castle, keeping an eye out for anything that seemed out of place or anything that could be considered an eyesore. Ryo was good at that. “Just know that you can speak to me, if it may lighten your worries.” Subaru said, the serious tone somewhat disrupted by the equally serious face; added together, the effect was a little more comical than comforting.
“Thanks.” Ryo replied. He was sure he wasn't going to be taking him up on the offer, but the thought and the gesture was nice.
Still, he didn't know what to do about his predicament. He left Kato Kingdom to make a name for himself, to be known as Ryo the Legendary or Ryo the Brave or something, but eight years passed and nothing. No historic deeds to his name, no mountains of gold, no dragons slain. Ryo had never thought living in a peaceful era was so dreadfully boring until now.
He had intended on skipping the grand welcome and hide somewhere else, like the stables or something equally fitting, but right when he was about to steal away, someone knocked. Yasu's head popped in when Ryo called out to come in, smile wilting when he saw that Ryo was in no way ready. “You're not ready yet? The guests are about here!” Before Ryo could say anything along the lines of 'leave me alone I'm not going!', Yasu marched into the room and threw the armoire open, picking out Ryo's entire outfit for him.
“You're like a servant girl instead of a ranger.” Ryo said, slightly in awe.
Yasu frowned and said, a bit wistfully, “Not even. Girls get all the fun stuff.”
Ryo figured it was probably best to just dress and avoid the conversation at all costs.
Truth be told, maybe he was nervous because he was a very different person from when he lived in Kato Kingdom. He had spent much of his years in the other country being a little loud and brash, often speaking up when the others would refuse to, and he was okay with that. But after a year or two with Hina and the other rangers, he slowly began to lose that edge - it wasn’t like he grew soft, but maybe with six other people equally as loud and some twice as obnoxious, the need to constantly speak out wasn’t there anymore.
“So what’s been eating you?” Hina asked him as he walked forward, stopping right next to him. Ryo shrugged.
“It’s nothing but silly mindtricks. I’ll be fine.”
Hina merely nodded. “I see. So you’re worried at the impression you’ll make on your old countrymen when you’ve done naught but be my dutiful ranger in the time that has passed since your leaving your old country.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Ryo asked, staring at Hina in wonder.
Hina shrugged. “There was a book about reading almost imperceptible body language, but nevermind that. Don’t be an idiot, Ryo. Did you really think the life of a ranger was going to be full of dragon slayings every day? Or week after week of fighting evil warlocks?”
“…yes?” Ryo supplied.
“Well, it’s not. In fact, most of it is just having me order you around to do my bidding.” Hina smiled then. “And that’s okay. Besides, the town barely has any crime at all. What do you think attributes to that?”
“A smack from you is more painful than a sentence in the dungeons?” Yasu supplied, trying his best to peer over Hina’s shoulder, except he was a little too short.
“Besides that.” Hina patted Yasu’s shoulder. “It’s because of you guys. And the lot of you may be a little…unorthodox, but protecting the kingdom is the most important job of all.”
The creak of the gates opening signified the imminent arrival of their guests and Hina quickly shoved Yasu and Ryo back into place. As they waited for the caravan, Ryo breathed in deep, letting himself deflate a little. Maybe Hina was right. He was still young, after all, and making sure the kingdom was intact, making sure that they even had a kingdom to protect - they were jobs that didn’t feel that important but probably were, in the long run. The least he could do right now was appreciate that he had a place he could call home.
The sound of hooves pounding on stone drew closer. Ryo watched as the horses slowed to a stop, one by one, and his eyes zoned in on the man behind all the pomp and circumstance; Lord Shige was a lot scrawnier than he had imagined he’d grow up to be, that was for sure. Ryo vaguely wondered if he was just as clumsy as he used to be…
He watched as Shige threw his leg over to one side, a little awkwardly, and slowly slid down the side of the horse, as if he wasn’t used to dismounting a horse just yet. On his way down, though, his cloak got tangled round the stirrup, sweeping the material up and around his head, effectively smothering his face in the material. It took him a few seconds to dislodge himself from his predicament and when he was done, he smoothed himself down, trying to look as proper as he could when the blush on his cheeks was as red as a tomato burning with embarrassment.
Ryo chuckled and suddenly, he felt a whole lot better - and that was all that mattered, he supposed.
Epilogue
When the night’s feast began with Koyama rambling reverently about the new purple flags, Massu heaping adoration onto Yasu for a brilliant job on Hina’s doublet, and Yamashita crowing about Ryo trying on a corset when he still lived in Kato Kingdom, all parties figured that this alliance would be one to last.
Between Lord Shige’s failure to stay on his horse during a hunt in the forest, his adviser Koyama running around trying to please everyone, and Tegoshi finding himself in a one-upping contest (most of the time with himself), Hina could safely say that diplomatic ties could not be better - after all, if he could relate to anything, it was the fact that Lord Shige seemed to possess a court made up of incompetent people, but would really have it no other way.
“Together, they're rather efficient.” Shige shrugged.
Hina nodded, fully knowing where the other was coming from. “Breaking them up would be a horrible decision.”
“Finally, someone who understands.” Shige held up his goblet, tipping it in Hina's direction before taking a sip.
But there would always be things that neither Lord Shige or King Hina would understand or even fathom, outside of their realms, within, and everywhere in between. Like, for instance, the spray of fire that launched from Ueda's fingers when a rather efficient group of rebels almost got into the castle - all from a sitting position on a nearby cart stocked with hay. Subaru just stared at him with wonder and slight confusion as the other rangers went about and prodded at the fallen rebels, hoping for one that was alive to question.
“What can I say?” Ueda shrugged, expression almost bored. “I'm magical.”
Delivered by: rockthecliche
Title: 'Warlock' is Just Another Word for 'Dude With Sparkly Fingers'.
Groups/Pairings: Kanjani8 gen; cameos by KAT-TUN, NEWS, Nino and Takki.
Rating: PG
Warnings: butchering of the medieval period.
Summary: Ryo has shitty self-esteem, Hina loves the color purple, and Maru is an angel with kids. All in a day.
Notes: I think this might have been the silliest thing I have ever tried to write but once I saw this in your list of prompts, astrangerenters, I knew I had to do it. I tried to make sure that prior medieval knowledge wasn't too necessary, so I hope it came out all right! This was largely influenced by The Sims 3: Medieval and Shige’s Shounen Club Premium episode. The riddle is taken from this website. A hearty thank you to my betas A and L for overseeing the process and, ahem, smoothing things out where they needed to be. ♥ You guys are the best!
"While I understand that the color is arguably expensive to mix, I really do think this new shade of purple will give Tako-machi the boost it needs right now." King Hina stated, a spool of fabric spilling from his hands. The fabric was a rich, vibrant purple, one that the king had been taken with since seeing it worn by the prince of a neighboring ally. Just ordering a few tunics in the color wasn't all Hina had in mind, however; purple has always been associated with images of royalty and grandeur, and while his quaint little realm was far from ready to be heralded as a force to be reckoned with, it was always in a king's best interest to be prepared. This was merely step one in the ultimate plan.
"I've had my adviser draw up the color scheme for the new flags, and a seamstress is already making them. We should be getting them within the week, upon which I expect all the old flags be replaced with new ones, both in the castle and around town." Hina continued, rolling the fabric back up.
"A word, my liege?" Takki, Hina's longtime friend and royal adviser, murmured. Hina let him pull him aside as the court erupted in small whispers and mumblings at his diverted attention.
"What is it?" Hina asked.
"Are you sure you don't want to reconsider having your rangers dress in uniform?" Takki gestured to the aforementioned group of rangers milling about, each in their own specific color. "As of right now, they're..."
"Motley?" Hina filled in, and the royal adviser made a scrunched up face, trying to resist calling them 'an unfocused bunch of morons'.
"The specific colors work." Hina continued, lifting his crown and rubbing at the indentation it left on his forehead. "This way, if the hypothetical townswoman Ryo bit last night is looking for him, the yellow gives it away. Men should face their problems head on, after all, and I will not let my elite guard be bogged down by trivial affairs in the face of a catastrophe."
Hina, knowing his logic was sound, turned and walked back to stand in front of his throne. There was no reason to actually go there to address the court, but standing in front of it made him feel powerful. Plus, everyone could see him better that way.
"Lastly, we'll be playing host to a very important ally of ours next week. Lord Shige of the Kato Kingdom will be coming to renegotiate diplomatic relations. Kamenashi, I'm leaving the preparations up to you." Kamenashi was Hina's trusted bookkeeper with a careful eye on all the expenses their modest little realm used. He was good at his job and seemed to live his life to please other people, which was one of the reasons why Hina also gave him the job of organizing festivities whenever they entertained guests. There was no one else in the land that could throw a party quite like Kamenashi could -- and get twitchy about the mess at the same time.
"I've already sent Ohkura with the latest food caravan to secure the finest of grain from abroad. I'll have more details for the rest of you in the coming days. You're all dismissed. Yasu, I need to speak with you." Hina ordered. Maids scurried in every which way, his rangers dispersed to go about their training -- all of them except Yasuda, a ranger just a little on the small side but better at everything than everyone.
"Hi, Hina-chan." Yasu chirped. Hina's eyebrow twitched; no matter how he looked at it, 'Hina-chan' just sounded undignified, but he reconciled it with the fact that Yasu was and would probably always be his best ranger, so he could make a small concession.
"How is my doublet coming along?" To prepare for their esteemed guests' arrival, Hina had given Yasu the task of designing and making a new set of clothing to wear upon their arrival; most people thought he was crazy to wear something containing Yasu's rather eclectic tastes, but he had faith. Besides, none of the rangers minded the small changes he made on their tunics -- except Ryo, but he was a nitpicky bastard.
"I had sent Akito to town to fetch me some extra yellow thread as I ran out last night, but he came back in good timing and all I've left is to hem the bottom a bit." Yasu grinned and plopped down on one of the arms of the throne. "I will have it for Your Majesty as soon as time may allow."
"Off the throne. And I'll be waiting. I never thought purple and yellow would be a good combination..." Hina took a few seconds to carefully study Yasu, merely dressed in a tunic of a deep blue color, although a number of colorful designs were carefully embroidered on, probably by his own hand. "...but I trust you to come up with something decently regal. I'd like to see it, though, so lead the way.”
"Decently preposterous." Takki muttered as Hina swept by.
“Takki, you’re dismissed. Subaru, come.”
"Are you sure you want to go with what Yasu has for your feasting gown?" Subaru asked as they walked down the hallway. While Hina appreciated the fact that his ranger was simply looking out for him, Hina was feeling pretty confident about his choices. Still, he knew that Subaru always looked out for him, and for that, Hina was always grateful. "You know how Yasu gets when you let him run free."
"Look, the only way it could be so bad is if he puts rainbows and pots of gold and leprechauns on it."
"Ahh..." was all Subaru said after that, which Hina took as conceding to his infallible logic -- there was no way Yasu would put rainbows and pots of gold and leprechauns on his doublet.
He watched as Yasu pushed the door of his chambers open, babbling incessantly about how proud he was of the garment, holding the door open for his majesty in the process. Hina was about to thank him when his eyes caught sight of the doublet, laying neatly on his bed.
“Well…it’s a wonderful usage of the country’s new purple.” Hina said, more to comfort himself than anything.
"...at least there aren't leprechauns." Subaru said, patting Hina's shoulder.
Yasu frowned, slightly affronted. "Please. Hello, leprechauns only exist in the forest."
Yoko was, in a word, chuffed.
See, it wasn’t everyday when he got to save the day. In fact, if he wanted to be brutally honest, it wasn’t any day, ever. But just two days ago, when he and fellow ranger Maruyama were on their nightly rounds, he had noticed a rather shady figure lurking about the apothecary’s shop. This wasn’t really new - the apothecary was a rather grungy, lanky, and hunched woman herself, and the company she could afford to keep wasn’t of the most noble intentions, but there was something off about this one. Maybe it was the furtive glances he kept shooting around, as if to make sure no one was watching him. Or maybe it was the tiny vial containing a noxious looking green liquid he took out from his boot. (In actuality, it was the horrible teeth that gave Yoko a fright, but he dutifully chose to leave that detail out in his many, many retellings.)
No matter the reason, Yoko thought something was afoot. He would even go so far as to say that his ‘danger senses’ had been awakened, and so, nudging Maru forward first, they approached the strange fellow. Of course, this only made the man panic and fling the vial at Yoko’s face; luckily, he was quick enough to dodge it, or else half his face would have melted right off as the liquid sizzled, burning through the grass on the ground. He had contemplated his luck then, relishing in keeping his face intact, and by the time he was done, Maru had already whacked the guy, hard, with the hilt of his sword, bringing him down and out.
“So you’re saying that while you whined about possibly having your face melted off, Maru took care of the actual bad guy?” Jin asked, chortling a little as Yoko decided he needed new friends; there was no joy in having friends who could see through hubris. The ring and sizzle of metal hitting hot metal clanged into the air and Yoko looked past Jin and at the other person who, together with Jin, made up the town smithy.
“Oi, Taguchi, shut up! I’m trying to gloat here!” He turned and scanned the crowd behind him for Maru, hoping for some back-up, but saw the other ranger gleefully playing some sort of tagging game with the kids from the flower shop. “Hell’s bells, Maru, you can at least back me up!”
“Sorry!” Maru called back, but paid no attention otherwise.
“Some of us have actual work to do, I’ll have you know.” Taguchi spoke up as he finished hammering at the piece of metal in his tongs. He carefully doused the metal in water, steam rising up to blow into and past his face; the tendrils of hair framing his face curled up neatly in the heat, the rest of his hair tied back and out of the way. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his brow, his hands being too full to properly wipe it off and it didn’t seem like Jin was willing to help out with that - or with anything, if the way he was lounging on the counter of the shop was anything to go by. He did move aside a little, though, to give Taguchi some room as he set the metal to cool and came over, leaning with his hands on the counter.
“And I’ll have you know heroes need days off too.” Yoko replied although he was, admittedly, a bit distracted. It happened whenever someone around him was threatening his manliness, and hammering at metal was pretty damn manly. “So, because I’m a hero, I would like a new sword.”
“…you want a new sword.” Jin deadpanned.
Yoko narrowed his eyes at him. “Yes. I do. One fitting my abilities, of course, and nothing less than the best.”
Jin paused and stared at Yoko for a few seconds, and everyone could see the wheels turning in his head. Finally, he lit up and hopped off the counter. “Oh, I have the perfect thing. Made it just the other day out of boredom…I think it’ll fit.” He strolled over to the racks that held the duo’s various wares and rummaged around for a little bit. He seemed to find what he was looking for and, holding it so Yoko couldn’t see, ambled back.
“So? Let’s see it.” Yoko said, giddy but not wanting to show it so much, except he always got a sneaky smirk whenever he tried to hide his excitement at things.
Jin held up the sword in his hand.
Taguchi laughed, loud and obnoxious, hurting Yoko’s delicate sensibilities and pride. “Fitting indeed!”
Yoko reached out and snatched the toy wooden sword from Jin’s hand. “This isn’t even as long as my real toy sword when I was little!”
“I’m sure it’s longer than other swords of yours, though.” Jin waggled his eyebrow at him.
Yoko felt a mighty gag coming on.
Ohkura sighed in relief as he began to see the castle creep closer in the distance, happy to finally be getting home. It wasn’t like his journey took a long time - three days was like a pleasure outing considering horses could only travel so far in one day - but three days on a dirty, smelly horse, leading a caravan of even more dirty smelly horses carting tons of food he couldn’t even eat? It was torture, pure and simple. All he wanted to do at this point was to bathe, eat everyone else’s share of dinner along with his, and then go to bed.
But first, the bridge.
There were many legends about the troll that lived underneath the bridge, one that made everyone answer a riddle before being able to cross and get back home. He was a peculiar thing as he only ever accosted people on their way back home rather than on their way away from the castle, but no one bothered to ask him why as most people were too busy trying to answer his riddle to pay much attention to anything else. As it were, Ohkura really wished that the troll would give him a pass - maybe if he feigned sleep…
The sound of the small river pricked his senses and as they came over the hill, Ohkura’s heart sank. The troll was already there, small with beady eyes. The biggest surprise was that he wasn’t at all troll-like; there was no discolored skin, no nasty warts - just a mole on his chin and a look about him that suggested he must have been cursed to look young his whole life.
“Stop! And all that.” The young man said, lazily holding his hand up to stop Ohkura and his entourage. “Sorry, but you can’t cross the bridge.”
“And why not?” Ohkura asked, his grumpiness clouding his face. Just because he knew about the troll’s existence didn’t mean he had to like it. As it were, anyone who impeded his way to his bed and/or food was just an annoyance and should be dealt with at once. (Yoko learned this the hard way.)
“Because I said so! You castle-folk aren’t so bright, are you.” The troll said, yawning. “I’m Nino. I’m sure you’ve heard of me before, so I’m going to skip the intro and get right to the riddle.”
“Why are you doing this?” Ohkura whined.
“Because you castle-folk aren’t so bright.” Nino smiled, except it was less of a smile and more like a smirk, one that Ohkura suspected took no effort. He ambled over then, circling around Ohkura and his horse, inspecting both carefully. When he was done, he stood with his arms crossed over his chest, right in front of Ohkura’s steed, impish grin never fading. “Well, since I like you, I’ll give you an easy one.”
Sea suckled me and waves sounded over me,
Rollers covered me as I rested on my bed.
I have no feet and often open my mouth to the flood.
Now some man will consume me,
Man who cares nothing for my clothing.
With the point of his knife he will rip the skin from my side,
And straight away eat me uncooked as I am.
What am I?
Ohkura stared at the troll like he had three heads. “That’s supposed to be easy?”
“Easiest one in my repertoire!” Nino replied. He began tapping his foot against the ground. “You only have a short amount of time, so I’d start thinking if I were you.”
“What if I don’t know what it is?” Ohkura asked.
Nino shrugged. “Then you pay me 45 gold and go on your merry way.”
The ranger began to suspect that Yoko’s stories about beating the troll into submission were just tall tales, especially when Kamenashi would work himself into a frenzy when the kingdom's accounts didn't add up the next day. “If I have to pay you to cross when I get this wrong, can I just pay you up front?”
Nino winked. “Fair enough. 45 gold pieces, please.”
Ohkura paid him.
At Ohkura's signal, the rest of his party began their trek over the bridge. Ohkura watched them for a few seconds, then peered carefully at the troll. “Why don’t you start charging and skip all the riddles?”
Nino shrugged, not bothering to look up as he counted his gold. “For a few reasons. One, I like feeling smarter than those living the high life. Two, I like to give people the chance to save some money - money is a precious commodity, after all. And three, what else do I have to do except come up with riddles all day? I live under a friggin’ bridge.”
And Ohkura found he couldn’t argue with that logic. He bid the troll farewell and began to trot over the bridge when he suddenly stopped and turned to face the perpetually young man. “So what was the answer?” Ohkura asked. “To the riddle.”
Nino grinned. “Oysters.”
Ohkura felt a little better about spending those 45 pieces of gold - oysters always made him sick.
Hina had pulled Maru and Subaru aside a few days later and, once positive they were out of earshot of the general populace, told them about a job that needed to get done in the next few days.
See, Lord Shige was young and slightly egotistical on top of that. He was brilliant, yes, but his ego often earned him the ire of the surrounding realms at large and because of that, there were more than a few people willing to pay a pretty silver piece to get rid of him. Hina wanted Maru and Subaru to hire a few more guards, just temporarily; if anything happened to Lord Shige while he was enjoying a visit to Tako-machi, then not only would it make his rangers look bad, but ties with Kato Kingdom would forever be strained. Maru wasn’t sure why that would be a bad thing - Maru never understood much about the affairs a king had to attend to, truthfully - but Hina sounded quite distressed about it, so he didn’t question it further.
“So where do we look first?” Maru wondered out loud as he and Subaru paced around town.
Subaru took a bit of time to mull this over in his head. “Maybe the tavern on the outskirts? The unsavory types always go there.”
“Maybe we’ll find Ryo there, then!” Maru exclaimed happily, already picking up the pace.
The tavern was packed as always. Tako-machi was a popular place for people to stop on their journeys as it was landlocked and centrally located, bordered by no less than five different realms and kingdoms. As the kingdoms prospered, trade between all six countries flourished, and so it wasn’t rare for the people of Tako-machi to befriend those outside of their borders and vice versa. Because of this, the tavern was always filled with people from all different regions and of all different lifestyles. Subaru was sure they would find at least a good direction to go to for more guards.
They walked in, trying to be as covert as possible; the last thing they wanted was to draw attention to themselves as the townspeople always acted differently when they knew members of the king’s royal guard were present. Subaru bought a few rounds of ale for those closest to him in proximity and Maru began to subtly investigate while everyone was more or less distracted by the possibility of free ale. By the end of the night, all they got besides drink being spilled on their tabbards were some hushed rumblings of a trio of mercenaries that went by the name of NUT.
“NUT! Ridiculous.” Subaru slurred, falling into his bed.
Subaru’s hangover aside, finding the trio was pretty easy, if only because they weren’t really hiding to begin with. In fact, before Maru could even put out a formal request of information, he received a letter that simply stated a meeting time and place, signed by the letter ‘N’.
“This is a little shady, though, Maru. How did they even know?” Yasu wondered when Maru filled him in on what was going on, as he helped with getting the horses ready for their departure.
Maru shrugged. “I’m not sure but they’re all we’ve got. Lord Shige arrives in three days, we can’t keep dragging this on or else Hina will hit us.”
Yasu frowned, handing Subaru his sword. “If you say so. Just be careful, all right? Come back in one piece.”
Subaru and Maru both smiled at him and soon after, took off at a gallop.
The meeting place wasn’t too far; Pansy Knoll was just as the name implied - a knoll full of pansies, hidden away deep in the forests to the east of the castle. None of them ever went there much, for when they said ’deep in the forest’ they really meant ’deep in the forest’, but Maru had ridden past once or twice. It was a three, four hour ride from what he remembered, and he made sure they left with plenty of time to spare, just in case they got lost.
They did get lost, of course. Subaru complimented Maru's advanced thinking.
There were already three people there by the time they got there, and Maru suspected them to be the members of NUT.
“Be careful,” Subaru whispered as they dismounted their horses and surveyed the three. “I’m getting a really weird vibe from one of them.”
“Judging by that crest on your breastplate, I take it you must be the ones looking for us.” One of the three stepped forward as the other two hung back, leaning back against their horses. One of them was distractingly pretty, almost effeminate, and the other had enough piercings in his ears that Maru wondered if he would be suitable to use for target practice.
“Are you NUT?” Subaru asked, breaking into Maru’s thoughts.
“Okay, you’re not supposed to say it joined together like an actual word, it’s N-U-T.” The one speaking with them sighed. “I’m Nakamaru. That is Ueda…” The pretty one nodded towards them. “And the other one is Tanaka, though he likes to be called Koki.”
“Oooooooh, NUT.” Maru nodded knowingly.
Nakamaru was clearly irritated. “It’s EN-YOU-TEE.”
“Just drop it, Yucchi. Let’s negotiate the deal and go, I’m starving.” Koki yawned.
“Right, well.” Nakamaru looked a little flustered. “That’ll be 300 gold pieces for the three of us.”
Maru blinked. “…that’s it? We haven't even told you what the job is yet!”
Nakamaru nodded. “No need for that, we already know what it is. We'll do it.”
“What’s the catch?” Subaru eyed them warily.
“No catch. We just like being in business.” Nakamaru shrugged. “Take it or leave it, but it doesn’t get cheaper than us.”
“…you shouldn’t sound so proud of that.” Subaru shook his head, then something else occurred to him. “Well, we only have 250 with us.”
“Hina expects us to hire mercenaries for 250 gold?!” Maru asked, incredulous.
Subaru shook his head. “Not Hina. 250 was all Kamenashi afforded us.”
“There’s no way they’re going to do it for 250, Shibuyan - “
“Deal!”
Maru and Subaru looked up at Nakamaru.
“All right, so truth of the matter is that we have a less than stellar reputation. Ueda doesn’t really like to do much but sit around and bark orders at us, Koki looks tough and scary but he cringes at the thought of having to kill anyone or anything, and I…well…” Nakamaru coughed.
“He gets too into it and tends to go after everyone, even allies.” Ueda piped up. He walked forward, the sun glistening in his light brown hair, the skin on the tip of his petite nose sparkling for such brief a moment, Maru wasn’t sure if he had even seen it or not. “But you can trust us.”
Maru really, really hoped so. “What do you think, Shibuyan?”
Subaru took a long moment to think about the matter, carefully turning each fact over in his mind. “We’ve got nothing to lose.” He finally said, and stuck his hand out to Nakamaru.
As they shook on it, Maru thought they actually had a lot to lose if this ended up failing, but they’d just have to see.
It was the day of Lord Shige’s arrival and while everyone hustled here and bustled there, Ryo was trying his hardest to give a damn.
Ryo’s downfall, though, was that he actually cared a whole lot. He tried not to show it because he was Nishikido Ryo, sentiment just doesn’t look good on him, but he supposed it was only natural for him to be a little more high-strung than normal. When he had left Kato Kingdom all those years ago, he hadn’t expected to encounter anyone from there that he knew ever again, but it seemed like he wasn’t the only one from the kingdom he used to call home that was destined for greatness. He had left behind quite a group of friends and while he wasn't sure who would be in the lord's company, he knew he would recognize several familiar faces, the lord’s included.
“You seem out of sorts lately.” Subaru commented as they strolled the castle, keeping an eye out for anything that seemed out of place or anything that could be considered an eyesore. Ryo was good at that. “Just know that you can speak to me, if it may lighten your worries.” Subaru said, the serious tone somewhat disrupted by the equally serious face; added together, the effect was a little more comical than comforting.
“Thanks.” Ryo replied. He was sure he wasn't going to be taking him up on the offer, but the thought and the gesture was nice.
Still, he didn't know what to do about his predicament. He left Kato Kingdom to make a name for himself, to be known as Ryo the Legendary or Ryo the Brave or something, but eight years passed and nothing. No historic deeds to his name, no mountains of gold, no dragons slain. Ryo had never thought living in a peaceful era was so dreadfully boring until now.
He had intended on skipping the grand welcome and hide somewhere else, like the stables or something equally fitting, but right when he was about to steal away, someone knocked. Yasu's head popped in when Ryo called out to come in, smile wilting when he saw that Ryo was in no way ready. “You're not ready yet? The guests are about here!” Before Ryo could say anything along the lines of 'leave me alone I'm not going!', Yasu marched into the room and threw the armoire open, picking out Ryo's entire outfit for him.
“You're like a servant girl instead of a ranger.” Ryo said, slightly in awe.
Yasu frowned and said, a bit wistfully, “Not even. Girls get all the fun stuff.”
Ryo figured it was probably best to just dress and avoid the conversation at all costs.
Truth be told, maybe he was nervous because he was a very different person from when he lived in Kato Kingdom. He had spent much of his years in the other country being a little loud and brash, often speaking up when the others would refuse to, and he was okay with that. But after a year or two with Hina and the other rangers, he slowly began to lose that edge - it wasn’t like he grew soft, but maybe with six other people equally as loud and some twice as obnoxious, the need to constantly speak out wasn’t there anymore.
“So what’s been eating you?” Hina asked him as he walked forward, stopping right next to him. Ryo shrugged.
“It’s nothing but silly mindtricks. I’ll be fine.”
Hina merely nodded. “I see. So you’re worried at the impression you’ll make on your old countrymen when you’ve done naught but be my dutiful ranger in the time that has passed since your leaving your old country.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Ryo asked, staring at Hina in wonder.
Hina shrugged. “There was a book about reading almost imperceptible body language, but nevermind that. Don’t be an idiot, Ryo. Did you really think the life of a ranger was going to be full of dragon slayings every day? Or week after week of fighting evil warlocks?”
“…yes?” Ryo supplied.
“Well, it’s not. In fact, most of it is just having me order you around to do my bidding.” Hina smiled then. “And that’s okay. Besides, the town barely has any crime at all. What do you think attributes to that?”
“A smack from you is more painful than a sentence in the dungeons?” Yasu supplied, trying his best to peer over Hina’s shoulder, except he was a little too short.
“Besides that.” Hina patted Yasu’s shoulder. “It’s because of you guys. And the lot of you may be a little…unorthodox, but protecting the kingdom is the most important job of all.”
The creak of the gates opening signified the imminent arrival of their guests and Hina quickly shoved Yasu and Ryo back into place. As they waited for the caravan, Ryo breathed in deep, letting himself deflate a little. Maybe Hina was right. He was still young, after all, and making sure the kingdom was intact, making sure that they even had a kingdom to protect - they were jobs that didn’t feel that important but probably were, in the long run. The least he could do right now was appreciate that he had a place he could call home.
The sound of hooves pounding on stone drew closer. Ryo watched as the horses slowed to a stop, one by one, and his eyes zoned in on the man behind all the pomp and circumstance; Lord Shige was a lot scrawnier than he had imagined he’d grow up to be, that was for sure. Ryo vaguely wondered if he was just as clumsy as he used to be…
He watched as Shige threw his leg over to one side, a little awkwardly, and slowly slid down the side of the horse, as if he wasn’t used to dismounting a horse just yet. On his way down, though, his cloak got tangled round the stirrup, sweeping the material up and around his head, effectively smothering his face in the material. It took him a few seconds to dislodge himself from his predicament and when he was done, he smoothed himself down, trying to look as proper as he could when the blush on his cheeks was as red as a tomato burning with embarrassment.
Ryo chuckled and suddenly, he felt a whole lot better - and that was all that mattered, he supposed.
Epilogue
When the night’s feast began with Koyama rambling reverently about the new purple flags, Massu heaping adoration onto Yasu for a brilliant job on Hina’s doublet, and Yamashita crowing about Ryo trying on a corset when he still lived in Kato Kingdom, all parties figured that this alliance would be one to last.
Between Lord Shige’s failure to stay on his horse during a hunt in the forest, his adviser Koyama running around trying to please everyone, and Tegoshi finding himself in a one-upping contest (most of the time with himself), Hina could safely say that diplomatic ties could not be better - after all, if he could relate to anything, it was the fact that Lord Shige seemed to possess a court made up of incompetent people, but would really have it no other way.
“Together, they're rather efficient.” Shige shrugged.
Hina nodded, fully knowing where the other was coming from. “Breaking them up would be a horrible decision.”
“Finally, someone who understands.” Shige held up his goblet, tipping it in Hina's direction before taking a sip.
But there would always be things that neither Lord Shige or King Hina would understand or even fathom, outside of their realms, within, and everywhere in between. Like, for instance, the spray of fire that launched from Ueda's fingers when a rather efficient group of rebels almost got into the castle - all from a sitting position on a nearby cart stocked with hay. Subaru just stared at him with wonder and slight confusion as the other rangers went about and prodded at the fallen rebels, hoping for one that was alive to question.
“What can I say?” Ueda shrugged, expression almost bored. “I'm magical.”