Katahane no Riku

Chapter 40.Nostalgic memories

In Karkata′s castle, everyone was cheerful with the victory.

They couldn′t bring the enemy general down, but they destroyed more than half of their army and made them retreat. There was nobody of the demon side that expected they would have had such a huge victory despite their great disadvantage in numbers.

Everyone crowded the plaza. They were drinking booze, playing instruments, singing songs and celebrating their victory. It was a party the soldiers and the residents were mingling together. But there were also people that weren′t participating in the party.

Together with her subordinates, Riku went down one of the stairs inside the fortress. The stair, which was connected to the dungeon, was filled with an air that was chilly by a different meaning to the coldness of winter. There wasn′t any blowing wind, so it shouldn′t be possible for one to feel cold. However, the mood given by the dull stone walls and the steep stairs that didn′t have handrails would make the heart freeze in a different meaning.

Suppressing her hurry, Riku carefully went down the stairs step by step as if to ascertain about her foothold.

“Ah-ah, the other guys should be enjoying their drinks by now, you know? Even though I also wanted to drink…”

From behind, it was possible to hear Vrusto′s complaints. But Riku didn′t answer him. She didn′t have the patience to be answering each of his complaints that its numbers had already amounted to so many she didn′t know how many there was anymore. With Riku ignoring him, Asty answered instead.

“This is also part of the job-de gozaruyo, second lieutenant Asuteroid. It is said that soldiers must complete their duty without faltering-de gozaru.”

“Stupid, it′s not that. It′s only that the one that to do most of the hard work in this battle was me, you know? But even so, I didn′t get to participate in the party and was even made to go down to this stinking dungeon.”

Vrusto let out a sigh that felt a bit forced. But Riku, whether it was Vrusto, whether it was Asty, whether it was Roppu, who was nervous and had his gaze unsteady, she didn′t intend to be following anyone′s conversation.

Originally, Riku had planned to go down the dungeon by herself. The one she was going to meet was the enemy. But she couldn′t have people think she was going to have a secret talk with the prisoners or whether she was trying to let them run. That′s why she had brought these three people she could trust.

“Don′t worry; it will be done soon. It is about to die after all.”

Riku muttered in bother. She was acting the way a child that had the toy taken. Even though she obtained what she desired, all of them would break down. It was such a boring development. Going down the last step of the stair, Riku looked ahead to the dark corridor.

At the beginning of the corridor, there was a jailer sitting on a chair. When the jailer noticed Riku, he stood up and saluted her.

“Nice to meet you, lieutenant commander Barusak. I′m called Tipus. I′m the one that manages this area.”

“Thanks for the good work. Now then, where is it?”(TL note: I really don′t know how I should be translating things likeご苦労様)

“Ha, I will be guiding you there from now on. We′ve collected all her possessions, so there should be no danger. …However, from what the doctors had said….”

“I know. It was like a miracle for it to still be alive.”

Riku flatly answered back to the jailor explanation.

Each footstep loudly echoed. A much more chilly air enveloped Riku and the others. The small light at the lamps hanging at the wall were dimly illuminating the dungeon.*1 After passing by many doors, the jailor stopped his feet in front of a certain one. With experienced movements, the jailor removed the bar that was locking the door and while raising a sound, he opened the door.

“It is here.”

“Thank you.”

After giving a glance to the jailor that had respectfully lowered his head, Riku entered the cell.

It was a cell less dirtier than expected and only lacked a bit of cleaning. The place gave a very straightforward feeling by having nothing except a single bed. Lying on the somewhat dirty bed, there was a human who was covered in white gauzes and bandages. The person was just barely breathing. Her voluptuous breast were slowly going up and down. Most of her face was covered in bandages, but it seemed that her eyes and mouth were fine just barely.

When Riku came close to her, her eyes had slightly opened, looking at Riku as if trying to remember something.

“It′s been a long time. Have you been fine?”

As if she had met a friend after a long time, Riku spoke. After doing that, the slightly opened eyes suddenly became wide-open. It was as if her eyeballs were about to fall off.

“Riku…ojou…sama?”

“Oh? Mary is still calling me ojou-sama.”

In surprise, Riku put her hands close to her mouth. And then, by Riku putting a smile a lady of the Barusak household would, Mary′s face lost its color. The cast-off that had thought of being dead was alive. Just by that it was already worth being surprised. And more than that, with how Riku had come to question her at the dungeon of the enemy, Mary must be very confused. With a blank look , Mary opened her mouth.

“Why, are you here?”

“For what reason does Mary think I′m here?”

As if she was worried about Mary, Riku extended her hand to her body. And then, she pressed her hand at a bandaged part which was reported to her of being the place she had suffered the worst wound. Doing that, as one would expect, Mary twisted her face in pain to the extent of having her face losing its color.

“…!!”

“For you to be so full of wounds… It did hurt, didn′t it? Ah, you are also very injured here. Are you ok?”

Riku thrust her finger at the wound as if she wasn′t noticing Mary twisting her face in anguish. While showing a worried face, in her heart, Riku was happily pressing the places where Mary was wounded the most. Because of that, Mary started to heavily breath from her mouth.

“Ah, I′m sorry. Perhaps I touched a place that hurt?”

After being filled with satisfaction by Mary′s suffering, she put a face that was as if she had just noticed what she had being doing. But she didn′t take her hand away from Mary′s body. Instead, she pressed with more strength. In Mary′s eyes, traces of hatred started to show up. But there was no way Riku was going to finish it only with that. Riku moved her hand to Mary′s cheek.

“I′ve always wanted to meet with Mary. I′ve always thought of giving my gratitude once we met again. Yes, yes, for example, that girl really liked to say that…If I′m not wrong, it was… While saying something like “Don′t hinder young master′s path to dominance, ok?”, she would do something like that, I guess?”

While loosening her eyebrows as if she was pitying Mary, Riku dropped her elbow at Mary′s belly with all her force. Of course, it was at a place where the wounds were shallow. It would be fine even if Riku was to hit a place with deep wounds if it was by her, but if she was to do that, it would lose the fun. It would be a waste if Mary was to die because Riku had hit her in a bad way.

With that unexpected attack, Mary shrieked in pain. Because of this piercing shriek, Riku felt the urge of cutting her head off right away. But she barely endured it. The fun time still had much more to go.

“Ah, I′m sorry. I made a mistake. It wasn′t at the belly. Was it stepping on the foot? See? In this kind of way.”

While saying that, Riku grasped Mary′s right foot which was fractured when she fell off her horse and with all her strength twisted it with her hands. A scream that was so loud to the point of Riku wanting to immediately shut her mouth was raised. Even though she was too weak to scream before, how could it be possible for her to have this much strength to scream remaining? Humans were made more resilient than expected.

“Didn′t she also used to say “don′t use your position of elder sister so you can get close to him and trick him” or something like that? They were really good memories. Mary really loved Rook. That′s why for his sake, you′ve always been threatening me. You would step on my foot just like that… Ah, sorry. It wasn′t the right foot; it was the left one, right?”

Roughly letting her right leg go of her hand, she twisted her left foot that, similarly, had been fractured as well. Her left leg was so full of bandages that it wasn′t possible to know which bandages were for the bone fractures and which were for the arrow wounds. But it didn′t matter to Riku regardless which of those each bandage was for. In the end, all that was important was knowing that this was a place had been heavily injured.

While she was thinking about what she should do next to enjoy herself, she heard the voices of Vrusto and the others talking.

“…Uwaa, as expected of Ojou-chan. Really nasty…”

“I see, it′s a torture technique-de gozaruna. It will be good for learning-de gozaru.”

“L-learning, you say?”

“Stupid. That is not torture or anything like that. It′s just that ojou-chan is very malicious.”

The three were speaking of many things on their own convenience. She turned back to say something to them, but then she noticed that Mary′s lips were moving.

“What happened… With young master?”

Because of that that quiet muttering, Riku reflexively spitted the saliva in her mouth in surprise.

She couldn′t believe how she had the calmness to be worrying about her master despite being under this condition. While patting her left foot, Riku gave a cheerful smile.

“Do you want me to tell you?”

“Did something happen to young master?”

“Do you want me to tell you?”

While smiling, she repeated the same words. Those words felt like there was a storm to come. The face full of pain started to turn into a face closer to a savage one. Riku didn′t find it fun. Despite how brusquely she had dropped her foot at the bed, Mary′s expression didn′t change.

“Whether it is the defeated soldiers… Or their general, even you should at least know… What kind of fate they have.”

Of course, Riku didn′t know what happened to Rook. Mary was at the Barusak army that invaded the fortress, so Rook should have been there too.*2 But he turned his tail and run. He probably is alive. He most likely went back to his territory and is cowering at his own warm room by now.

But Riku wanted to see Mary′s anguished face.

“Suc-Such a thing… Where, where is he? Is he alive?”

Because of how her words became mumbled, that was probably the possibility Mary most wanted to avoid. Because of her imploring tone of voice, Riku started to want to laugh. But she shouldn′t start laughing at this time. While showing a bold smile, Riku kept looking at her in silence. As she did that, Mary started to shout while coughing blood.

“Young master… Rook-sama. Is Rook-sama being treated as a hostage? I, I don′t care what happens to me. It′s fine even if I get killed. But, at least have mercy on Rook-sama!!”

“You are really noisy.”

Riku moved her hand to her silver sword. She wanted to cut the throat of that thing. If Riku was to do that, she wouldn′t need to be hearing that annoying voice that looked like the grunts of a pig anymore. But if she was to do that, her fun time would decrease. That was a problem. It was extremely troublesome. Because she finally got a toy to play with, she needed to treat it well before it broke. After giving a deep sigh, Riku whispered next to Mary′s ears.

“You won′t care even if I kill you?”

“Yes. And in exchange, please, save Rook-sama!”

“This would be your wish, right?”

While giving a sweet smile, Riku put her hands on her pockets.

“…But you are about to die already. We were trying to keep you alive somehow, but aren′t you already at a condition that just by speaking is hard?”

Being said that, Mary′s face became gloomy. It had been right on the mark. While twisting her face as if what Mary had said was unforgivable, Riku dropped her gaze at her.

“Even if I were to take the life of someone that was like that, I have the feeling it wouldn′t mean too much. After all, it is about to die anyway… Even if I were to speed up the process a bit, it wouldn′t change much.”

“T-this, this, somehow overlook it, please!!!”

Mary was crying tears of blood. While raising a troubled sigh, she lifted her face as if she reached to an understanding. And then, she extended her hand to Mary.

“I don′t understand the reason why you love Rook to this point. So, I will be asking this of you in a little bit different place. …It′s impossible to move you in this state; right… Asty, Vrusto, bring the stretcher.”

Saying that, Asty and Vrusto prepared the stretcher. With the help of the jailer, the confused Mary was put onto the stretcher. Slowly being brought, they left the dungeon.

“So, why do you like him?”

While going up the stairs, Riku asked Mary. Being asked that, Mary′s face became a bit blushed. From her thin lips, very sweet words left.

“Of course… Because I want to see to what point young master′s future will go.”

Unconsciously, Riku′s eyes showed doubt. With a face that looked as if she was on a trance, it didn′t look like Mary was the same person that had been screaming in anguish a few moments ago.

“Future?”

“The future young master envisions is also my dream. Of course, even to me, some parts of it are difficult to believe in, but even so, I want to see young′s master figure leading all the people. While I walk alongside young master, I want to see the world young master will create. Serving young master and using my life for his good… is the meaning to my existence after all.”

Mary′s thin lips were happily moving.

Hearing those words, Riku suddenly remembered of Leivein. Riku wanted to fight alongside Leivein. She didn′t really know whether she would be dead until the next winter as that oracle had said, but she simply wanted to stand next to Leivein to that point. She wanted to be of use to him. Having this desire in mind, this last battle as well had been earnestly fought.

But Riku didn′t know.

What kind of future Leivein was aiming for, what were his goals; she didn′t know about them.

“A future he envisions, you say?”

“Yes, the future young master dreams of.”

Riku, who had been going up the stairs, stopped her feet. While thinking about the words Mary had said, she looked back the way she had gone through. The steep stairs went on so deeply that it wasn′t possible to see its bottom without straining the eyes. It was as if all of that was only darkness.

“I need to ask about it too.”

“To young master? This is very good. The ideal world my young master envisions is much more marvelous than any of the kings had don…”

“The world captain Leivein dreams of.”

Interrupting Mary′s words, Riku made a sign with her hand. Doing that, Asty and Vrusto laid the stretcher down. The reason why Riku had ordered them to go up the stairs wasn′t possible to be understood at all. Mary looked at Riku in a strange way. And so, Riku returned her a smile.

“By the way, Mary. Do you know this?”

Riku took her hands out of her pocket. She was holding a golden brooch. Riku showed Mary the brooch that had the crest of the Barusak family in front of her eyes. Seeing the brooch that was slightly stained with blood, Mary′s face froze.

“Co-could it be… Y-You!! Didn′t you promise young master′s safety!? That promise was a lie, right!!”

“What are you talking about? I don′t remember anything about doing any promises.”

In first place, there was no way Riku could have something Rook possessed at hands.

That was Riku′s own brooch. Because she grew older , the coat she used to wear ten years ago didn′t fit her anymore. But despite she thinking she would be throwing it away someday, strangely, she grew attached to it. Being troubled whether she would keep it or not, she only kept the brooch.

The herself of that time couldn′t have ever imagined that she would be using her brooch in that way.

“Then, good-bye.”

With all her strength, Riku kicked Mary.

Without being able to resist, Mary fell down to that steep stair that went on to the underground. Those stairs didn′t have handrails. She didn′t have anywhere to grab, although to begin with, pain was going through her whole body, and thus not being possible for her to do so.

When Riku and the others once again went down the stairs… It was possible to see Mary′s figure with her limbs twisted in weird directions.

“Aha, ahahahaha!! It serves you right, it serves you right!! Hey, say something. Even though I was throw down from a cliff, I didn′t die, you know? Could you understand my pain a bit? Hey! Hey! Hey!!”

She kicked Mary, who didn′t say anything, many many times. While insanely smiling, she relentlessly kicked Mary. Without being able to stay still while seeing Riku act like this, Vrusto put his hand on Riku′s shoulder.

“Hey, ojou-chan! This is already…”

When she turned back to him, seeing Riku′s face, Vrusto became breathless.

Her eyes were like those of someone that had just seen a rock at the roadside. The insanity that were in her eyes a few moments ago wasn′t there, nor were there any signs that it had been there. All there was in her face was a bored expression.

“Ojou-chan…”

“Roppu, this one died. Call the group that deals with the corpses. Asty, can you put away the stretcher? …It′s not necessary anymore after all.”

“Y-yes.”

“Un-understood-de gozaru!!”

Roppu′s and Asty′s figures vanished in light speed.

Riku started to go up the stairs once again. She didn′t turn back to Mary′s corpse. Because of how she started to go up the stairs as if it was the natural thing to do, being out of his character, Vrusto quietly spoke to her.

“…That… Was it enough?”

“That? I don′t care about that anymore.”

Riku′s expression was like the one of a child that got tired of his toy.

Riku didn′t have any interest in the dead Mary. It was because she was alive that Riku could enjoy her face twisting in anguish. After it died, that was the end. She felt as if she didn′t get all the fill of enjoyment she desired, but she was satisfied enough. Next time, it would be the turn of the other Barusak leaders, who are a bit healthier than Mary. If possible, she wanted it to be either Raku or Rook, or her beloved and respected father.

And so, she didn′t care about Mary anymore.

“More importantly, I need to search about what kind of world captain Leivein looks forward to. I don′t know anything about captain after all.”

“…”

By Riku′s answer, Vrusto became speechless.

There was nothing else left for Vrusto to ask.

But even so, Vrusto felt like he needed to say something to Riku. If he didn′t tell her that now, by the way she had been going, he felt she would end up leaving something very precious behind.

As her babysitter, and as her instructor, he needed to speak to her. But when he was about to say something, a voice came from above the stairs.

“Lieutenant commander Riku Barusak! An envoy has come from the demon capital. You must quickly come to the reception room.”

“Alright. …Come with me, second lieutenant Vrusto.”

Riku gave Vrusto an order to accompany her.

After still being troubled over it for a few moments, he shook his head. And then, he decided he should act talkative like his usual self.

“Ah-ah. Don′t I have any breaks?”

“It′s an order from your superior. Hurry up.”

“Yes, yes, understood… After that, treat me with some alcohol, lieutenant commander Riku!!”

Like his usual, Vrusto was acting talkative.

And then, he followed after Riku as if it was a bother.

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