CHAPTER 41

Walking Calamity

Queen Carmilla gently places a tan cloak over Kiriko.

“I wish I could give you something a little cuter than brown, but that would make you stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Oh! No, it’s fine! This cloak is wonderful! Thank you so much!”

Jonde, Kiriko, and I are currently in the queen’s chamber in Termine’s royal palace. Two days have passed since we went to Baraque, and Kiriko is back to her usual cheerful self, thanks to Queen Carmilla’s help. Despite the soldiers’ concern, the queen allowed Kiriko into her chamber and played with her. Incidentally, the rumors spread like wildfire, and the people of Termine gradually separated themselves from the idea that Kiriko was a frightening monster.

As Kiriko gleefully checks out her new cloak in the full-length mirror, Jonde explains to her:

“Kiriko, it is a great honor to receive a gift from the queen!”

“It really is! Everyone is so nice to me! I can’t begin to describe how happy I am!”

As the queen’s eyes narrow in delight, she says to me:

“She’s a wonderful girl.”

“Yes, she really is!”

“It’s as if… No…”

The queen quietly shakes her head as she smiles. Perhaps she’s reminiscing about Princess Tiana as a child.

…I wonder if she would believe me if I told her I am the reincarnation of Princess Tiana. I want to believe she would, seeing as how she accepted Kiriko, but…

“Did the Hero go back to Galvano?”

“O-oh! Y-yes, he did!”

I reply shrilly, taken aback by the abrupt question.

“He never takes a day off. Is he going to be all right?”

“He’ll be fine! This is Seiya we’re talking about!”

The queen may be worried, but I’m not, for I understand that preparation without rest is how the Hero normally operates.

Hiss! Hiss! Ssssss!

“Oh, speak of the devil. It’s an earth-serpent phone call.”

I reach for the earth serpent in my dress and place it to my ear.

“Rista, I need to return to Termine. Open a gate.”

“Okay.”

Almost immediately after I open a gate, Seiya comes walking out of it.

“So how’s the fortress?”

“I finally completed it today.”

Jonde and I were left speechless when we saw the fortress to the south of Galvano the other day. There were stone walls built around the vast lands, with numerous golems stationed there as well. In between the walls stood a robust stronghold so breathtaking that it was hard to believe one person could have created it. We went back to Termine as Seiya continued reinforcing the walls, but I thought the fortress was already completed then. By “completed,” he probably means he put 120 percent into perfecting it.

When Seiya takes notice of the queen, he briskly walks over to her.

“Can I borrow this undead when the Vengeful Empress Celemonic attacks?”

I’m so surprised that I almost jump when I see Seiya point at Jonde.

“What?! You’re willingly bringing someone with you?! You?!”

“Oh? So you need my help? Well, I’d be glad to, but the final decision rests with the queen.”

Ignoring Jonde and his enthusiasm, Seiya explains to the queen and me:

“He’s undead, which means he’s basically already cursed, so we don’t have to worry much about him being cursed again. Even if by some chance he does get cursed or is killed in battle, it doesn’t matter, since he’s just a zombie.”

After hearing the truth, Jonde’s voice becomes strained.

“I cannot believe you! I am right here, you know!”

“Yeah, Seiya! You should have at least said that when Jonde wasn’t around!”

“What?! No! I do not want you talking behind my back, either! You two are the worst! My queen, please say something!”

“I don’t care what happens to the dead. Do whatever you want with him.”

“What?! My queen?! How can you be so cruel?”

Seiya might be serious, but the queen’s mischievous smile is proof that she’s only joking. Kiriko and I giggle.

The Vengeful Empress Celemonic… I wonder if she’ll be bringing an army of curse-type monsters as well. I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up just thinking about it.

Jonde, on the other hand, calls over one of his subordinates guarding the door.

“Fetch my armor from my room.”

“Yes, sir!”

The soldier gives a spirited salute before heading off toward Jonde’s room…when Seiya stops him.

“Forget the armor and make some tea. I might need to pour it on him if his zombie stench gets any worse.”

“Yes, sir!”

“…?! Don’t ‘yes, sir’ him! Who do you think you work for?! The armor is clearly much more important than the tea!”

While Jonde sternly lectures his subordinate, I suddenly notice Seiya staring at Kiriko.

“Hey. What’s that?”

“Huh? That’s Kiri.”

She’s wearing the cloak that the queen gave her, so she kind of looks like someone wearing armor under a cloak from afar. That’s probably why Seiya was confused.

…However, that isn’t what Seiya meant.

“Why didn’t you just have me use Transform and turn her into a human?”

Oh yeah! We should have just had Seiya transform her into a little girl! How did I not think of that?!

I lose heart after realizing the flower pendant I gave her and the cloak from the queen were meaningless…but it turns out Kiriko is against the idea.

“Um… I want to stay the way I am now if that’s okay…because this is who I am now…”

A few moments of silence go by until Seiya utters:

“Whatever.”

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“If that’s what you want, then that’s all that matters.”

The atmosphere becomes slightly heavy until Seiya seems to faintly shudder.

“Um…? Seiya…?”

And it’s not just me who notices the change but Kiriko as well.

“S-Seiya, are you okay?! Are you feeling dizzy?!”

But all of a sudden…

Hiss! Hiss! Ssssss!

The earth-serpent phone under his armor begins beeping! It’s the same alarm that went off when the machine corps was attacking Termine!

The earth serpent shakes as Seiya pulls it out of his armor. It looks as if he can set them to vibrate as well. I guess the earth serpent just made it look like Seiya shuddered.

“Seiya! Is something happening in Termine?”

“No. It’s from an earth serpent keeping watch on the south coast of Rhadral.”

“Th-then does that mean that Celemonic’s army has crossed the ocean?!”

“It’s possible. Hold on.”

Seiya closes his eyes. It looks like he’s linking his vision with the earth serpent’s. After a few moments pass, he says:

“There’s what appears to be a small boat approaching the coast. I can see someone on it.”

“I-is it Celemonic?”

“I don’t know.”

The queen curiously tilts her head.

“Would a powerful monster who rules an entire continent really paddle her way over here on such a small boat? Surely she’d bring an army of monsters with her if she planned on attacking.”

“I felt the same, which is why I built a strong fortress. But we shouldn’t assume that’s not Celemonic.”

“Hero, what were they wearing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why are you being so vague? Is the enemy still too far away to see clearly?”

Seiya knits his eyebrows.

“I’m avoiding looking directly. Wouldn’t want to risk being cursed and turned into stone.”

“S-Seiya, even if that is Celemonic, I doubt you’d be cursed just by looking at her.”

I say it with a smile, but Seiya is completely serious.

“There’s a videotape you could rent in my world that put a curse on anyone who viewed it. We should consider the possibility of being cursed through visual contact.”

Yeaaah—no… That’s definitely not real. Besides, there’s no way they’d be renting cursed videotapes at a rental shop…but instead of pointing out the obvious, I keep my mouth shut and nod.

“At any rate, I’m going to the fortress to safely analyze the enemy. Rista, open a gate.”

While I don’t think it’s Celemonic, it’s still suspicious. After opening a gate, I turn my gaze on Kiriko.

“What are you going to do, Kiri? You can stay here if you want.”

“I-I’m part of the team! I’m coming with you!”

Kiriko then clasps her hands together before her chest. I nod, and the queen smiles at her.

“You don’t have to worry about Termine. There are plenty of golems here, and a giant goddess is outside the walls keeping watch.”

“Thank you for letting me come with you!”

“Granted, the only good thing about that piece of junk is that it’s big.”

“Hey!! Stop calling her a piece of junk!!”

Seiya slowly opens the gate leading into the fortress. Jonde, Kiriko, and I go in after him. We are following Seiya through the dungeon-like stone-walled path when…

“Hey, it’s a dead end.”

Jonde complains, standing before the stone wall in front of us. That’s when the ground under our feet begins to rock.

“Wh-what?!”

I suddenly feel like I’m floating, and my body begins bobbing up and down. After a few moments go by, I come to an abrupt stop.

“Seiya! What was that?”

“It’s like an elevator. We’re underneath the fortress now.”

“Wait. What?!”

Even I can see how strong Seiya’s fortress is. He seems to have put a lot of work into its defense, and yet, he made a shelter underground as well? I thought I was used to how overly cautious he is, but here I am…

Despite our mute amazement, Seiya walks down the underground path until he reaches a wooden door. I follow him inside, where I am taken by surprise yet again. Glowstones illuminate the spacious room, and countless water-filled buckets are lined up on the floor. The buckets display various places nearby, such as the sea, the flatlands, and the area around the fortress. In addition, Seiya has created what appears to be an observation deck out of stone. Numerous earth serpents stick out of it like microphones. It’s like the observation room in the watchtower evolved into a control room.

“Hmm…”

With knitted brow, Seiya stares fixedly at one of the buckets. But when I look at the monitor as well, I gasp.

“Th-the boat’s…empty…”

An empty boat lies on the coast.

Whoever was on that boat…has already landed in Rhadral!

“Strange… While I wasn’t directly looking, I made sure the earth serpent kept a constant eye on the boat.”

“S-Seiya! Where did they go?”

“Relax. I have countless earth serpents positioned around the fortress. I’ll find them in no time.”

Seiya then glances at Jonde.

“Jonde, you’re up.”

“R-ready when you are!”

Jonde stands with his sword, but Seiya stops him.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh?! I thought we were departing for battle?!”

“No, your job is to keep tabs on the enemy on the earth-serpent monitors.”

“That’s it?!”

“In addition to cursed footage, just listening to the enemy’s voice might put a curse on you as well. So you’re going to check, since you’re undead.”

“So I’m basically a food taster checking for poison?!”

“Yes. Now look into the bucket. I’ll make the earth-serpent camera approach the enemy.”

Jonde trepidatiously peers into the bucket. Then he slowly begins stringing his words together.

“She’s heading toward the fortress… She looks like a human female…but…with…two heads.”

Jonde’s annoyed tone gradually grows serious.

“I have never seen a monster like that before. That must be Celemonic.”

“How would you know? You can’t even use Scan, right? I did a lot of digging, but there isn’t much information on Celemonic. Her appearance alone isn’t enough to go by.”

“No, that is Celemonic. I have never seen a monster as menacing as that. The grass around her dies with every step she takes.”

While Seiya always makes fun of him, Jonde is still a seasoned general. He knows what he’s talking about.

“…What’s she doing?”

“She’s mumbling something, but it’s unintelligible.”

After a few moments go by, Seiya firmly nods.

“All right. It looks like you can’t be cursed just by looking at her or listening to her voice. Jonde, you can go back to Termine now.”

“…?! Don’t be absurd! I am not going back!”

Seiya pushes Jonde out of the way and peers into the bucket while Kiriko and I timidly take a peek as well from behind. I see a woman walking as her long, ragged dress drags across the ground. There is close-up footage of the enemy being displayed in the neighboring bucket, too. There’s a woman with long, tousled black hair…and right next to her head is another—this one with beautiful black hair that’s been tied back! The monster has two heads, just like Jonde said!

The tousle-haired woman screams:

“That was your fault, Monica!”

The woman with tied-back hair calmly replies:

“No, Celena, that was you. All I did was gouge out Shanak’s eyes.”

“Bullshit! All I did was break her nose!”

Wh-what an eerie thing to be arguing about…!

“Celena, the Hero is who we should be concerned about right now, not the dead. I heard that Grandleon and Oxerio were defeated. We must be on our guard.”

“I don’t give a shit. I bet the Hero’s gonna be surprised, since we came alone, though.”

“Those truly strong move in small numbers, after all. But Celena, the Hero isn’t ‘going to be surprised’ because…”

The head’s eyes suddenly open wide, and our eyes meet through the monitor!

“The Hero is already listening to our conversation.”

I shake Seiya while trembling.

“S-S-Seiya! They know we’re watching!”

“Yeah. I’m going to move the earth serpent. While it looks close up, there are actually over thirty meters between this earth-serpent camera and them.”

“I-it’s that far away?! That’s a really good camera!”

But as he’s about to give orders to the earth serpent, Seiya suddenly stops.

“Hmm. They’re fast.”

“What’s d—?”

Before I can even finish my sentence, a giant lifeless eye appears on the earth-serpent monitor!

“Eek!”

“Ahhh!”

Kiriko and I fall back onto our rears in shock. The enemy must have moved slightly away from the camera because both heads are now being projected on the monitor. The woman with neat hair and the woman with unkempt hair begin speaking in turn.

“How do you do, Hero? I am the Vengeful Empress Celemonic.”

“Blech! Stop being so polite, Monica! It’s disgusting! It’s me! I am the Vengeful Empress Celemonic!”

The two heads cackle.

“More importantly, I have come to avenge my sister Shanak.”

“I hope ya like being cursed, because you’re gonna writhe in pain until you die!”