Chapter 595: Clash
Editor: Tseirp
“Envoy of the Choouchi Empire, Berke Holan of House Erdenet, requests an audience!”
From near the gate, they could hear what sounded like a herald shouting.
“So even the Empire’s reaction to this matter differs from Darwei.”
“True enough… but for the famed envoy to come in person, of all things.”
Ryo said, for some reason sounding pleased, and Secretary Shau answered with a grimace.
Ryo walked unhurriedly toward the gate.
Abel followed behind him.
“I never thought the enemy’s head honcho would charge in here himself!”
“Ryo, you look happy.”
“N-no, not at all. It’s terrifying, you know.”
Ryo denied Abel’s observation… while still smiling.
“They’re a party we’re in diplomatic talks with, at least on paper. We should keep this amicable.”
“I know that, of course. Who do you think I am? I’m Ryo, emissary of peace, aren’t I?”
“Mm, ‘emissary of destruction and mayhem’ fits you better.”
Ryo couldn’t argue with Abel.
Right as they reached the gate.
“Thank you for waiting. I am the master of the house, Duke Rondo, Ryo Mihara.”
“I am Berke Holan of House Erdenet, special envoy of the Choouchi Empire.”
The one who gave that greeting stood 180 centimeters tall, with a commanding build; the long white hair trailing down his back set against his black Eastern garb.
He looked to be about thirty.
Without strain, without bluster… merely by being there, he had a presence that made many lower their heads and drop to one knee.
“If you’re the envoy of the Choouchi Empire, then you’re the one conducting the diplomatic talks at the imperial palace. Are negotiations on break today?”
Ryo, for his part, even smiled as he asked.
Of course, the presence of Envoy Berke was a breeze for him.
He knew the presence of Dragon King Ruwin, of GriGri the griffon, even of Behi-chan the behemoth…
“No, we were negotiating until just now. However, I received a report that there’d been an unfortunate misunderstanding and that my subordinates caused you trouble. I came in person to explain and apologize.”
“I see, an unfortunate misunderstanding. That happens a lot. Come to think of it, the man behind you, General Yun Chen, also became a prisoner as the result of an unfortunate clash, didn’t he?”
Ryo said that when he spotted General Yun standing behind Berke.
At that moment, Yun’s face tightened slightly.
But Berke’s expression didn’t change at all.
“Yes, that’s right. You know Yun Chen well.”
“But of course. Ah, standing and talking is no good—please, come inside. The Censorate is here as well, so it may be a bit cramped.”
With that, Ryo led the way.
Berke followed. With him came two subordinates and General Yun.
Only those four from the envoy’s side entered Rondo Manor.
The rest seemed to be waiting outside the gate.
Abel trailed behind the four.
Ryo led them to the garden.
There stood two ice coffins.
Their heads protruded from the ice, and they were conscious.
“It may be a bit shocking, but this is an interrogation by the Censorate. Please stay calm and observe.”
Ryo said that deliberately, because the two subordinates’ faces had stiffened the instant they saw the frozen pair.
As for General Yun— his face had gone pale.
Only one person hadn’t changed expression, keeping a faint smile: Envoy Berke.
“They’re frozen, but they seem to be alive.”
“Of course. By any chance, are these two the ones involved in that ‘unfortunate misunderstanding’?”
“Yes. They’re my subordinates.”
“I see. In that case, I’d like to free them at once… however, this interrogation has His Majesty’s authorization. Naturally, the Censorate must report to His Majesty, and since I’ve borrowed their strength, I can’t very well fail to report anything to His Majesty myself. So first, I’d like to hear from you directly, Envoy. Would that be all right?”
“I don’t mind.”
Still wearing faint smiles,
Ryo and Berke went inside with the others.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect the envoy himself to come calling.”
Ryo said with a smile, sipping tea.
“Since my men caused you trouble, it’s only proper to come in person.”
Berke also answered with a smile, sipping tea.
For some reason, a spry, vigorous old man had been made to sit between the two parties.
He looked as hale as ever—the very picture of spryness—but his heart was not the same.
(Why have they sat me here…?)
Of course, he was there because Ryo had invited him in… but at that moment, Secretary Shau had screamed in his heart.
(I didn’t want to!)
Naturally, none of that showed on the surface.
With composure—calm and unruffled—he’d entered the room and now sat there.
“You remember General Yun over there, of course, but the one who interrogated him then was Secretary Shau here.”
Ryo made a point of noting it.
Introductions had already been made, so Secretary Shau merely nodded once, closed his eyes, and sipped his tea.
“Yes, I remember.”
Yun answered.
His expression was still stiff.
When he’d stepped into the garden and seen the captives, he’d remembered.
That was the garden where he’d been held.
He had always thought it was someone’s residence within the palace—but now he knew.
Yun had allowed himself to be captured to be confined in the palace or the Censorate— high-security prison included.
While being interrogated there, the magic circle engraved in his eyeballs would lay bare the system of the ‘Starry Veil’ that protected the Darwei imperial palace… that had been his role.
But the information gathered had been far too meager.
Therefore, Yun was now brought along to the diplomatic negotiations held in the palace to collect ‘Starry Veil’ data while present there.
However, the buildings used for diplomacy—given their role of receiving many foreigners—were protected by alchemy tools designed for that purpose, so the rate of information collection could hardly be called fast.
It wasn’t zero, of course—that’s why he was brought along every day…
“I’ve also learned that I was captured and interrogated not in the palace, but here at your mansion.”
Even at those words from Yun, Berke’s expression didn’t move at all.
But the faces of the two subordinates who had come along twitched—just a little… truly, only a little.
So slight that only people at Ryo and Abel’s level would notice.
Yet both of them noticed.
(That wasn’t just surprise, was it?)
Abel thought.
(Did he want to convey that realization just now to all three of them, Envoy Berke included? To what end?)
Ryo thought as well.
However, neither of them could guess it had to do with information-gathering via magic circles in the eyeballs.
“Now then, Envoy Berke, I’d like to confirm something.”
“Yes, what would that be?”
Ryo asked pleasantly; Berke answered, still smiling.
“Why were those two watching me?”
“I received a report that they did not know they were watching Duke Rondo.”
“Oh?”
“They were surveilling someone else, but information got tangled, and the field team seems to have become confused.”
“So they ended up watching me by mistake.”
“Yes. I apologize.”
After offering those words of apology, Envoy Berke bowed deeply.
Still smiling pleasantly, Ryo nodded magnanimously.
Of course, he didn’t believe Berke’s words.
He even wondered if the capture of the two had been part of the plan.
To recover them, he himself would come and confront the target—Ryo—directly.
(Huh? In that case, did General Yun let himself get captured on purpose too? Hmmm…)
Just as he was deciding what to do, the door opened and one of Secretary Shau’s subordinates entered.
“A report has arrived from the Censorate.”
Saying that, the subordinate handed a sheet of paper to Secretary Shau.
Secretary Shau scanned it quickly… and his expression clearly changed.
“Has this gone to the palace as well?”
Even his voice trembled a little.
“I’m told it was reported to the palace at the same time as this report to us.”
“Good. Then, as usual.”
Secretary Shau nodded once, then handed the paper to Ryo.
Ryo was a little surprised.
It was Censorate intelligence—was it okay to show it to Ryo, an outsider?
But he didn’t bother to ask.
If Secretary Shau had decided it was fine and handed it over, that was that.
What it said was…
(Information extracted from General Yun. An urgent matter? Using a magic circle engraved in the body to analyze the workings of alchemy tools? In other words… analyzing the system of the ‘Starry Veil’ that protects the palace? Ah—that’s why General Yun was captured.)
He gave a small shake of his head in his heart.
(How bold.)
Ryo felt that honestly.
At that moment, Envoy Berke grinned and said,
“It seems rather noisy at the front of your mansion.”
Secretary Shau’s complexion changed.
He must have issued some instructions to the men in the garden without Ryo and the others noticing.
But that fact had become known to Envoy Berke.
Still— he was the Censorate.
His job was to police threats to Darwei.
He would not back down here.
“Envoy Berke, we have obtained proof that General Yun Chen there has acted to harm Darwei. Hand him over.”
Secretary Shau declared.
At the same time, Censorate officers entered the room.
“Now…as I recall, Yun had been held by you, and it was only thanks to His Majesty’s clemency that he was released. I cannot fathom why you would now demand we hand him over again.”
Berke’s faint smile became a clear laugh as he countered.
“Because we have obtained new evidence that cannot possibly be overlooked.”
“Even so, Yun is a member of the diplomatic mission. Demanding we hand over such a man is not something an envoy can accept.”
“…If you will not cooperate, we will have to consider the use of force.”
“I suppose you will.”
Berke answered, laughing, to Secretary Shau’s words.
On the envoy’s side, four people, including Berke, were in the room.
On the Censorate’s side, six, including Secretary Shau.
No doubt, the Censorate men in the garden were engaging the envoy’s retinue waiting outside the gate as well.
A powder keg, a hair’s breadth from exploding.
In the midst of that, Ryo… remained seated, calmly drinking tea.
Like an unshakable mountain, and yet like a willow nonchalantly letting the wind pass by…
But Abel knew better.
That Ryo was inwardly thrilled.
He didn’t move because this was a ringside seat.
The very front line of the clash.
The faint smile he wore was, in truth, from the bottom of his heart.
Even so, Abel felt he should confirm one thing.
“What do we do?”
A tiny whisper, face close to Ryo’s ear.
“If they collide, step in.”
“Understood.”
That was all they said.
But it was enough.
“I will ask once more. Hand over General Yun.”
“Then I shall answer once more. I refuse.”
Secretary Shau asked with a hard expression; Envoy Berke answered with a laugh.
“Seize them!”
At Secretary Shau’s command, five Censorate officers leapt forward.
But…
The five who leapt were blown back instead.
A man with long black hair and glasses stepped out in front of Berke and Yun and gave a single sweep of his arm—that alone sent the five flying.
“Jurang, don’t kill them yet.”
Berke gave the order with a smile.
The man called Jurang nodded in silence.
“”
Secretary Shau unleashed a five-strike wind-attribute attack spell.
“”
But the woman standing beside Envoy Berke countered with a spell of her own.
“Taoran, don’t overdo it.”
Again smiling, Berke gave the order.
The woman called Taoran nodded silently.
The two forces collided.
That was the trigger for intervention.
Clang! Clang…!
A red-haired swordsman closed the distance in a flash and thrust—
Yun parried and deflected it.
The third collision was pure swordplay.
Thrust, thrust, sweep, thrust again…
Abel’s offense and Yun’s defense drove the exchanges.
“Abel looks stiff.”
Ryo murmured with a smile as he sipped his tea.
He knew why he looked stiff.
Because they were indoors.
Abel’s sword was a standard length, a little over 90 centimeters of blade.
Not especially long… but long for swinging around indoors.
If he raised it wide, the blade would hit the crossbeams running overhead.
So most of Abel’s attacks were thrusts and horizontal cuts.
“So, for indoor combat, is a 70-centimeter blade the limit?”
Ryo muttered, with Japanese swords in mind.
Indoor combat began to be assumed from the late Muromachi period.
The battles around the Shinsengumi in the late Edo period are well known.
The blade length of the uchigatana—suited to indoor fighting—was just under 70 centimeters.
Quite a bit shorter than the tachi, which was nearly 90 centimeters.
Many famed blades were deliberately shortened from tachi to uchigatana.
Weapons change form little by little with the times.
Because lives are on the line.
When lives are at stake, people don’t compromise. And mustn’t.
Medical tools and weapons are prime examples of that.
Ironically, the polar opposite tools that save lives and those that take them evolve similarly.
Three fights raged indoors.
But two people didn’t move.
Ryo and Envoy Berke.
“Duke Rondo, will you not join the fray?”
“I thought I’d observe a while longer.”
Berke asked with a laugh; Ryo answered, smiling.
In fact, stray spells sometimes struck the two…but of course they took no damage.
Both had deployed something like invisible barriers.
“Is your barrier talisman-based, Envoy?”
“Very perceptive. Is yours a , Duke Rondo?”
“No, mine is just a wall of ice.”
“Oh my.”
Read as text, their dialogue was downright cordial.
Even seeing their expressions, you wouldn’t think a fierce battle was raging around them.
“Sending General Yun himself with a magic circle inscribed on him—that’s quite a bold stratagem.”
“My apologies, Duke Rondo. But I don’t follow your meaning.”
“Ah, just talking to myself. Still, even if you draw a magic circle on the skin, it distorts. Stretches and shrinks. An array that analyzes the formulae of a deployed alchemical device should be fairly complex… well, perhaps it’s only for collection. Even so, that would still be rather complex, wouldn’t it? To miniaturize it and transfer it onto the body… I’m impressed it ran properly.”
“Speaking only to myself as well, I imagine it was quite difficult. As you say, if it stretches or shrinks, it can’t maintain the correct form as a magic circle. On the other hand, if you engrave it on bone, it would have to pass through muscle and skin along the way… in that case, it interferes with the bearer’s mana, and you can’t collect accurate data. As close to the outside of the body as possible, without being noticed by the interrogators… I surmise it was all rather arduous. All of this is a monologue, of course.”
Ryo and Envoy Berke traded such talk to oneself.
After that, Berke glanced at the clock on the wall.
Then he spoke.
“Well then, Duke Rondo, we shall take our leave.”
“You’ve been dragging out the fight to buy time for something.”
“Ah, you noticed.”
“So the timing is set now.”
“Yes.”
Even now, both wore smiles.
“Jurang, Taoran, Yun—let’s go.”
Just in that instant, Berke’s aura changed.
Far from gentle—rough, and yet razor-sharp.
Call it intelligence-backed violence.
At his words, the three converged instantly.
And then, without a beat, the four, including the envoy, were… ‘launched’.
Yes—launched.
The four shot up like rockets—through the ceiling and into the sky.
At the same time, there was a crisp crack as something shattered.
The moment the sound rang out, Ryo grimaced.
Because the he’d deployed to prevent escapes had been broken.
“To break so easily…”
Muttering that, he remembered and stepped into the garden.
There were the two phantomkins, frozen completely up to the tops of their heads.
“They left those two?”
Abel’s voice came from behind Ryo as he entered the garden.
“So it seems, but…”
Ryo tilted his head.
Did they judge that leaving them posed no harm?
But that wasn’t it.
In the next instant… the phantoms vanished from within the ice.
Both of them.
“Impossible!”
Even Ryo couldn’t help shouting at the wholly unforeseen sight.
He had assumed Envoy Berke himself would escape by some means.
He had considered that even with surrounding them, they might break through.
Frankly— that couldn’t be helped.
A powerful phantomkin was at least as troublesome as Duke Helb, younger brother of Grand Duke Atinjo.
If he fought without regard for collateral damage, he might be able to win… but this was not the place for that.
This was Ryo’s mansion.
And deep within the mansion was his precious piano.
Between taking down or capturing Berke and the others, and the piano—if he had to weigh them on a scale, which would he choose?
It wasn’t even a question.
The piano, obviously.
So from the start, Ryo had no intention of going all-out here.
Of course, he had still taken precautions, covering the area where the piano was with to be safe.
So—Envoy Berke’s escape was fine.
He’d thought they would also take the two frozen ones with some method… but for them to vanish from inside the ice—!
“They’ve vanished.”
Abel, too, was stunned by what he saw.
Left inside the were only the helmet-type information collectors that had been attached to the phantoms.
That sudden disappearance…
“Ah—I knew I’d seen it before.”
“Hm?”
“Back when I was in the Western Countries, I froze His Holiness the Pope, but he vanished in an instant.”
Ryo remembered.
That the pope he’d frozen had disappeared.
“But that time, I think it was the power—an ability—of a being on another plane, like an angel. Thinking of it that way, I don’t really understand this occurance.”
“We’ve at least learned they’re a troublesome foe.”
Ryo gave a small shake of his head; Abel did the same.
They were a most troublesome enemy.
Then Ryo turned toward Abel and began.
“Even so, Abel, you didn’t live up to your boasts!”
“Huh?”
“If you’d properly beaten and captured General Yun, the tide would’ve turned all at once.”
“No, that guy was really strong, you know?”
Ryo blamed Abel for struggling with Yun, and Abel shot back.
If he could go all out, it might be different, but for indoor combat, Abel’s magic sword seemed too long.
“For that matter, Ryo, you could’ve fought instead of just sitting there, you know?”
“I— I had to sit here, solid and imposing, and project an air of being a big shot!”
“Big shots don’t call themselves big shots…”
“Grr…”
Abel shrugged as he spoke; Ryo puffed his cheeks, unable to reply.
“Even so… watching your fight made me really understand the thinking of the people who rebuilt the Mutual Aid Association building thirty years ago.”
“Ah… ceiling height and room size enough to swing swords indoors.”
Indeed, the waiting room they’d seen at the Imperial Capital Adventurers’ Mutual Aid Association had high ceilings.
So swords could be swung indoors.
Mainly for fights like this one… or for brawls.
“All buildings in the world should have 4-meter ceilings.”
“…Yeah.”
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