Chapter 29

When we returned to Marks’s house and explained what had happened, Iiria was furious that no one had told her, her ear and tail fur standing on end. It did not seem to be because she felt she had been slighted, but because Kururu and the others had taken the danger on themselves alone.

Since Kururu was flustered by Iiria’s anger, I ended up calming Iiria down as a fellow member of the group who had also been told nothing, explaining that Kengo and the others had had their reasons as well.

Iiria remained pouty for a while, but when she looked over at me with my eyes red and streaming tears, she let out a long sigh, then ordered Kururu to draw water from the well and ordered me to close my eyes and lie down.

And while I was, for the first time in my life, resting my head in a girl’s lap as she cooled my eyes with a towel soaked in cold well water, Kengo began talking about Dodol.

“There’s a delicate problem with the fact that Kururu-chan is a magician. But the beastfolk of this town responded to Iiria-chan’s persuasion and are generally willing to cooperate.”

God had granted magic to humans, and with it, humans had overthrown the rule of the beastfolk.

And Kururu carried beastfolk blood.

“Most beastfolk separate practical matters from historical ones. Or maybe you could say they’ve given up… but Dodol and his people are different.”

I heard Kururu click her tongue softly.

“Dodol and his people aren’t opposed to stripping power away from Nodon. But what comes after that is the troublesome part.”

“After that?”

“If the wandering magician settles in my territory, then I’ll have to formally accept them as my retainer.”

That was what Iiria, whose lap I was resting on, said.

“Since this is about a magician, there would be all sorts of proper procedures that have to be followed, like reporting it to the provincial capital that this Jirenu Territory belongs to. And the most troublesome part of all is our relationship with the Church.”

“…”

Behind my closed eyelids under the cold towel, I pictured the church Kengo and I had visited together.

“Magicians have a special status, like half under the Empire’s control and the other half under the Church’s. After all, magic is something the God worshipped by the Church bestowed upon humans in the first place.”

We ourselves had gone to the Church when we investigated the ancient magic circle.

“So if I formally accept the magician Dorasutel as my retainer, Dorasutel would also come under the authority of the Church in this town. There would be an inauguration ceremony, and Dorasutel would kneel before the clergy and swear obedience to God. If that happens…”

As she said that, Iiria’s slightly cool hand stroked my forehead.

“How would it look in the eyes of the beastfolk if Kururu, who carries beastfolk blood, swore loyalty as a magician to the Church that dragged beastfolk history into eternal disgrace? And the one sanctioning it would be me, who also carries beastfolk blood.”

I did not know how to answer that.

“It wouldn’t be surprising if Dodol and his people barged in, revealed Kururu’s true identity, and then demanded that she fight for the beastfolk.”

“I doubt they’d go that far.”

Overlapping Kengo’s words, Kururu said,

“How do you know? At this point, I wouldn’t even be surprised if they were already ripping Nodon to pieces in my lady’s name and declaring that everyone should rise up.”

In other words, if the spineless Iiria and the others would not stand up on their own, then they would force them onto the palanquin.

“Well, still… the fact that they came to help after Kengo persuaded them probably means Dodol’s group is wavering too…”

To Kururu’s reluctant words, Marks’s voice answered for the first time in a while.

“If anything, maybe they think they’re going to get left behind. The fact that Kururu-chan is a magician is practically a miracle to the beastfolk too. And the beastfolk have lived with their heads held down even more than we have. Even if Iiria-chan and the others sincerely say they’ll improve beastfolk lives, they probably can’t fully believe it. If you’ve been told many times not to touch the bread because you’ll get to eat your fill later, only to never get your hands on it again, that’s what happens.”

If, before those beastfolk, Kururu, even in disguise, were to kneel in a church and swear loyalty to God…

Then I could understand why Dodol and his people would think, So we are going to be abandoned again and forced to crawl on the ground.

“Of course, you could say it all depends on what Iiria-chan and the others do after they seize real power. But that’s still only a verbal promise, and once things settle down, it’ll be hard to overturn them.”

Back in my previous world, I had felt something similar during every election. Whenever politicians said they would do this or that, I somehow ended up hoping, even while thinking it probably wouldn’t happen.

And once they got elected, it was the same as always.

Marks, who had grown up in an orphanage and supposedly fought crows and stray dogs for food, was realistic to the end and did not believe in verbal promises.

The only people he believed in were the ones who actually fed him while talking a lot.

And when it came to whether they could trust in the future, the beastfolk were probably even more cautious than Marks.

“I’d like to say I’ll be the one to persuade Dodol and the others… but I want Iiria-chan’s help too.”

“Of course.”

I could feel from the soft lap under my head how firmly Iiria answered Kengo’s words.

“That said, they’re really stubborn…”

“I’m honestly still surprised they came to help this time.”

Marks said the same thing Kururu had.

As someone born in this town, it seemed that was just how unexpected it had been.

“Those guys love blood oaths and things like that. It must have been a nightmare getting them to agree, so how did you do it?”

Come to think of it, when Kururu had spoken to him, Dodol had spat back that she was not to utter their oath.

Even from that short exchange, I could tell that Dodol and his people were like some old tribal group who would naturally love things like laws and vows. And tribal-minded people always valued form just as much as trust.

If Kururu, who carried beastfolk blood, knelt in a church and bowed her head, then to them it would look like nothing but betrayal.

“As a cheap swindler, I think it’s dangerous to move without securing a safe escape route. I’m not impressed with taking care of Nodon before settling the Dodol problem.”

Once Nodon was cornered and brought down, things would have no choice but to move to the next stage.

If we pushed ahead without coming to terms with Dodol and his group, there was no knowing what kind of trouble might erupt.

“The one bit of good luck is that the bastard Nodon, maybe deciding that the magic stone processors were no longer a route he could use, has started resorting to violence. That just means he’s got no road left except crying to the Bax Company.”

In other words, he had reached the stage where he could no longer afford to care about appearances.

“And it takes several days to get word to the Bax Company in the provincial capital. We should have a little time to think.”

Those several days were the deadline for persuading Dodol’s hardline beastfolk.

“Haah… I just want to turn everything to ash with magic…”

The weary thing Kururu muttered might well have been the very reason the ancient empire had perished.

And while listening to all of them talk, I realized I felt a strange impatience.

At first I wondered if it was simply because I was, for the first time in my life, getting a lap pillow from a girl and felt too unsettled to calm down, but as I listened to Marks speak, I gradually understood the shape of that impatience.

It was about the kind of person Nodon was.

“Do we really have that much time…?”

I sat up and said that as I removed the towel from over my eyes.

Even though the room was lit only by a dim candle, opening my eyes made it painfully bright.

“That’s Nodon we’re talking about. If it’s just cunning, he’s probably the best in town.”

“What do you mean?”

“He ought to be good at noticing what people hate most. He should know we’re having trouble because of Dodol-san and the others.”

Iiria, who had been lending me a hand to support my body, stiffened.

“You don’t mean… he won’t wait for Dodol and the others to rise up?”

Iiria was sharp.

“That’s right. In fact, if Nodon and the others are going to save themselves, that’s the only road they have left.”

“What are you talking about? Dodol’s… uprising?”

Just as Marks asked that suspiciously, with Kengo and Kururu both still uncertain what I meant.

Footsteps pattered outside the door, and it was flung open without even a knock.

“Boss, important people are starting to gather at that bastard Nodon’s mansion! And all the town’s roughs too, one after another!”

“I knew it… he’s making the first move…!”

I raised my voice and tried to stand, but my body wobbled because my vision was still blurry.

Iiria supported me, and I only just managed not to fall over.

“Yorinobu, what are you talking about? What is Nodon doing?”

To Kengo’s question, I answered impatiently.

“Nodon is trying to obtain a justification. Nodon is cautious and obsessive. He’ll assume all the company’s crimes have already been uncovered, so even with the Bax Company backing him, he probably thinks he still might not survive. But right now, he might still be able to save himself by silencing Iiria-sama in the middle of all this confusion. He’s trying to create a justification for that silencing.”

“Huh? Something like that—”

Kengo got that far, then finally seemed to realize it.

“He’s going to spread the story that Iiria-chan joined hands with Dodol’s beastfolk and was plotting a rebellion.”

If it could be shown that Dorasutel was really Kururu, then that claim would gain a certain plausibility.

“That’s absurd! No matter how much of a fool Nodon is, if he knows I have magical power, then he should know he could be blown away in an instant, shouldn’t he? There’s no way he could think he’d come through something so reckless unharmed.”

To Kururu’s bewilderment, I gave a short answer.

“He’s ready to die along with everyone else.”

Either way, Nodon knew that if things went on like this, everything would be taken from him.

So he would not hesitate to put his own life on the table.

A merchant bold enough to seize control of even a small local economy was exactly the kind of daring man who could do that.

“And besides, Kururu-san.”

I said it aloud.

“Could you use magic against people without hesitating?”

Nodon might be coarse, but he was not reckless.

Even if he offered up his life as the stake, he would never do it without believing he had a chance.

Even if Iiria had magical power, whether she could use it on people without compunction was another matter, and he understood that very well.

If Nodon knew Dorasutel was really Kururu, then he was probably betting he could force a sword into the gap created by her softness when she hesitated to unleash magic against humans in the middle of town.

And the dead told no tales, and on those dead bodies would be beast ears and tails.

You only had to imagine what would happen after Iiria and Kururu were silenced, when Dodol and the others were interrogated. What could Dodol’s people do if they were preempted like that? Just think about their nature.

Most people, if confronted as rebels before they had even begun to rebel, would make excuses and insist that they had done no such thing.

But Dodol and his people liked tribal conduct.

Which meant that rather than acting like spineless dogs, they would want to play the wolves who had tried to strike a blow against human rule.

Even if admitting rebellion led directly to their own ruin.

And that way, the judicial officer coming from the provincial capital would believe Nodon’s version of events.

Nodon was certainly a scumbag, but he was also a master merchant and a gambler.

He knew the timing and place where a cornered rat should bite the cat.

Above all, he did not hesitate to decide.

“Kururu.”

Iiria called her name. If a girl with beast ears and a tail used magic against humans, then even if Nodon and the others were defeated, there was no knowing what kind of disaster would follow. Once it could no longer be concealed that Dorasutel was really Kururu, it would create an enormous problem.

A punitive force would probably be dispatched from the provincial capital, or even the imperial center, on the grounds that this was a beastfolk rebellion.

And even if we had the secret of synthetic magic stones, Kururu alone would certainly lose to sheer numbers in the end.

More than anything, I did not want to make Kururu bear the sin of killing people.

“Damn it! Then what are we supposed to do!?”

Kururu grabbed me by the front and shouted. Kengo and Iiria hurriedly tried to pull her away, but with tears in her eyes, Kururu kept staring at me and refused to let go.

She had nearly reached the stars, and now Kururu’s hands were about to grasp empty air again.

“I don’t care if I have to stain my own hands! That should solve it!”

Kururu let go of me herself and reached into her pocket.

Iiria stopped her by wrapping both arms around her body and holding her tight.

While my heart pounded painfully and my lungs refused to draw breath properly, I was asking myself what, really, we could do.

Nodon and the others would attack here.

If Kururu hesitated to use magic, then in terms of sheer numbers, Nodon’s side was superior. Given Nodon’s character, it would be no surprise if he came together with a crowd of people, even mixed with children dragged along by force, just so that Kururu would find it harder to attack.

If we were not going to rely on magic, then the only ones left to depend on were the beastfolk. But even if Kengo somehow managed to call the beastfolk as allies in time, the fact would remain that the beastfolk had fought the human Nodon and his faction.

And because Iiria was fighting Nodon, the world would naturally see her as standing on the beastfolk’s side, which was bad for her position as lord.

Because in this world, humans were the ones in power.

Beastfolk blood ran in both Iiria and Kururu. Which meant that even the smallest thing risked being seen as betrayal against human society.

No one would care to listen to excuses about good governance, and the end result would be that they were accused of participating in a rebellion against humans.

In other words, the move Nodon had played was a filthy but powerful one that exploited Iiria and Kururu’s ambiguous standing.

When the keepers of the law rushed in after the chaos, whose account would they believe? Would there be anyone to speak up for Iiria and the others? If not, then would not the only thing we could rely on be not merely magic as a technology, but something neutral to everything?

That was it.

A magician.

“I’m a magician! Not using magic here would—”

Kururu’s tearful outburst cut off, and it felt as though the fog in my mind suddenly cleared.

“Iiria-san.”

My voice was not all that loud, but perhaps because it was strangely calm and out of place, Kururu and the others all stopped moving and looked at me.

“You said magicians have a special status, right?”

“Huh? Ah… yes, that’s… true.”

Leaving the confused Iiria, I turned my eyes toward the doorway.

“Marks-san, you’re from an orphanage, right?”

The back-alley boss, who had been clutching his head over what to do with this whole mess, blinked at me.

“I am… but?”

“That means you’re on decent terms with the organization that oversees the orphanage, right?”

“Hm? You mean—”

“Ah.”

Iiria stared with her mouth hanging open.

Nodon was trying to replace the whole history of his crimes in this town with a political conflict of humans versus beastfolk. And if that happened, then however you looked at it, the beastfolk side would inevitably be at a disadvantage.

The only thing I could think of to overturn that was the violence of magic, but that would only worsen our standing.

But what if we could prevent the situation from becoming one of humans versus beastfolk in the first place?

There was another powerful authority structure in this world.

And magicians already had one foot inside it.

“We ask the Church for help.”

The moment I said that, Kururu made not only her beast ears but practically her hair stand on end as she snapped back.

“That can’t possibly work! That would just hand Dodol and the others an excuse to revolt!”

If Kururu was going to act as a magician, then she would need to kneel before the Church. But to Dodol and the others, that already looked like a betrayal of beastfolk.

And if, here in the middle of the conflict with Nodon, we sought the Church’s help, then that suspicion would only grow stronger.

Because it would mean that when everything truly became hopeless, the authority they relied on in the end was still one on the human side.

Even if we avoided Nodon’s attack that way, Iiria might afterward have to fight Dodol and the others, maddened with rage, over the question of governance.

But I had an idea.

The trigger for it had been the disguise wig that had bumped against my leg when I sat up.

“Kengo, Dodol and his people felt exactly like an obstinate tribal group, didn’t they?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah… more or less…”

“Hey, Yorinobu, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but don’t expect anything from Dodol and his people. They’re the sort who’ve become stubborn and are trying to crawl back into the past. All they’ll do is tighten the noose around the necks of their own people, and they can’t even see it!”

Given the way she spoke with such bitterness, there had probably already been plenty of friction between them.

But hearing that only made me more certain.

“That’s perfect.”

“Huh?”

“Because if we make a mockery of the Church, won’t they be delighted?”

At those words, Kururu, Kengo, Iiria, and Marks all went wide-eyed.

Too stunned to move, they were silent, while only the boy who had come to report the emergency to Marks kept nervously darting his gaze around.

“Make a mockery of the Church? We’re asking the Church for help, aren’t we?”

Kengo was finally the one to say it.

“Of course. But there’s such a thing as outward obedience, inward defiance. When Kengo and I went to the Church, those people couldn’t see through our lack of faith. I wondered if maybe they had some mysterious power that would make it impossible, but apparently not.”

I did not know how to say outward obedience, inward defiance in this world’s language, so halfway through I switched into Japanese.

Everyone’s eyes gathered on Kengo, the only other person here who understood Japanese.

“…I don’t get it. What are you planning to do?”

To Kengo’s question, I looked at Kururu.

“You said that beastfolk can tell it’s Kururu-san by her smell, no matter how thoroughly she disguises herself, right?”

Kururu nodded as though overwhelmed for a moment, then lowered her chin and put on a severe expression to cover the fact that she had been overawed.

“In that case, I think it’s possible to ask for the Church’s mediation and protection without turning Dodol-san and the others into enemies. And Nodon shouldn’t be able to attack us once we’re under the Church’s protection. If he does, his whole argument falls apart. Surely he can’t claim that the Church is aiding a beastfolk rebellion.”

The Church and the beastfolk were as much oil and water as anything in this world.

But if you had a surfactant, even oil and water could be mixed.

“In other words, if we can gain the Church’s cooperation and also keep Dodol-san and the others on our side, then after that we should be able to bring judgment down on Nodon with evidence of his wrongdoing and plain logic.”

The reason Kururu and the others all wore such strange expressions at that explanation was probably because it sounded like one of those famous Microsoft entrance exam questions.

Question: How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator?

Answer: Open the refrigerator door. Put the giraffe in. Close the refrigerator door. Done!

“It can be done.”

I picked up the wig and said it aloud.

“It’ll be a race against time, though.”

Kengo seemed about to say something, but the one who stopped him was Kururu.

“I can trust you, can’t I?”

Kururu did not keep moving because she was strong.

Surely it was because if she stopped, she feared she would never be able to start walking again.

Ever since the matter of the synthetic magic stone, as one of the people who had nudged Kururu onward, it was my duty to keep pulling on that hand.

But courage was not always a matter of simply facing forward stubbornly without pause.

“Of course you can, but please don’t make that face.”

I smiled at the bewildered Kururu.

“If it doesn’t work, we all run away.”

I had a past in which I had already drafted a resignation letter.

I knew that sometimes things simply were impossible, and I also knew that even when I had thought everything would end if I broke, it turned out that it was not actually the end after all.

And that was probably what had become a good safety valve for me.

“That’s right, exactly.”

Iiria clapped her hands cheerfully.

“If we’ve already gone this far and it still doesn’t work, then we’ll just run away!”

That was probably half sincere, and half the conduct of a fine lord who understood she needed to play the fool at times. If Iiria said so, then everyone would think, well, we might as well at least try.

Especially since Kururu, of all people, never defied Iiria.

“You really are a strange one.”

Marks said that and shrugged.

“So then, what do I need to do for Kururu-chan and the others?”

I took a deep breath.

“I want Marks-san to bring Torun-san here. And his work tools too.”

The boy who had broken the bones in his leg at the loading yard, and had been teaching ropework to the beastfolk.

“And Kengo, go gather the beastfolk… especially the children.”

It must have looked like a strange set of ingredients for an alchemist trying to turn lead into gold in a cauldron.

But if you mixed those things together with Kururu, then a miracle would happen.

“And once Torun-san and the beastfolk children have gathered…”

When I explained what we were going to do, everyone groaned.

“And then finally, all of us go to the Church.”

It could not be helped that everyone’s eyes still held doubt over whether this would really work.

If I had a role here, it was to say that it could.

“Come on, quickly!”

At that signal, Marks and Kengo both bolted into motion, and of course there was no way the two of them could fit through that narrow door at the same time, so they got stuck in the entrance and tumbled over each other.

The boy stood there blankly, Iiria laughed, and Kururu looked bewildered.

Telling myself that this had to work, I took a deep breath so no one would notice my fear.