Chapter 217: Whose fault do you think it is…
I woke up on my own in the dimness and stared blankly for a little while. With a just-woke-up head I lifted my gently bound hands and remembered I had been put in a cell. I rubbed my eyes, sat up, stretched, and yawned.
Hm... I hate to say it, but this is pretty comfortable. If I had actually been locked up as a criminal, though, it would probably be hell... terrifying.
There was no way to tell whether it was night or morning in the dim second-basement cell. I had handed over my Magic Bag too, so I could not check the time or how many hours I had slept.
As I started thinking about that I heard several sets of footsteps coming from farther in. I turned that way while still sitting on the bed. At the slow approaching steps I tilted my head, wondering who was walking over. The face that appeared was the captain who had guided me to the underground prison. When he confirmed I was awake he smiled in a troubled way and said,
"So you were up."
"Yeah, I just woke up. ...How long was I asleep?"
"It’s twenty-one hundred now. I came to check on you a few times, but you were sleeping so comfortably."
He laughed happily when he said that, and I smiled wryly. It could not be helped. I really could not beat the sleepiness...
The captain... introduced himself as Hale, captain of the 26th Patrol Corps. I gave my own name and we laughed together. Hale opened the door, came in, and untied the rope on my hands. I did not understand what the untying meant and tilted my head at his face. My expression must have been funny. He laughed happily and told me to follow. I stood, left the cell, and started walking. I thanked the other soldiers too and they laughed while slapping my shoulders... everyone slaps my shoulders, but I am not that sturdy, you know?
"I don’t know if I should say the suspicion is cleared, but... if we don’t get you out of here it looks like things will go bad."
"Go bad?"
"If I explain in order, word came from above to release you. That part was fine, but... what is it. Your companions are scary, you know?"
"...Hnn?"
Hale walking ahead turned only his face back and said that with a troubled laugh. I did not understand what he meant and furrowed my brow. Hale and the soldiers smiled wryly at me and said I would understand once we got up top, which made me tilt my head even more.
Interestingly, the entrance to the underground prison was at the edge of the royal castle’s wide training ground. That was actually well thought out. You would not think it would happen, but if someone ever escaped they would first have to cross the wide training ground. In that time they might be caught, and knights and soldiers were basically training there not limited to twenty-four hours. You might think twenty-four hours is an exaggeration, but it is not. The patrol corps work in three shifts, and many of them train before they finish work. That means there are always knights and soldiers on the training ground, and even if you get off the training ground you still have to cut through the inside of the castle. Escape is pretty much impossible.
The moment I climbed the long stairs and came above ground I felt an indescribable pressure of magic power and looked up hard at the darkened sky. Because it was night at the castle, light leaked from the windows of the rooms. Thanks to that I could tell what the single shadow floating in the sky was, and I smiled wryly. Hale turned to me, laughed in a troubled way, and said, "That’s the reason it’s bad." I looked at the sky, glanced at Hale out of the corner of my eye, nodded small, and waved one hand high toward the shadow... toward Lea. Lea seemed to confirm it was me, dropped the magic pressure, and flew this way at tremendous speed. I opened both arms to catch her. She stopped short in front of me, then gently wrapped both arms around my neck and hugged me.
"Morning, Raide! Did you sleep well?"
"Morning. Or good evening? I slept. I made you worry..."
"That’s right. But I’m glad nothing happened."
I hugged Lea back gently from the front as I said that. She laughed happily by my ear and answered while rubbing her cheek against mine. Hale was watching me with a slightly surprised face, and so were the soldiers. I tilted my head. What were they so surprised about?
...Ah. They were surprised because the one giving off magic power had the form of a young girl?
I nodded, interpreting it that way on my own, when Sharle suddenly appeared in front of me with an exasperated face and said,
"I know what you’re thinking, but that’s not it... I’ll just tell you that."
"Sharle..."
"Everyone is waiting this way. ...Hale, good work."
"Yes!"
When Sharle spoke in a voice with no emotion in it, Hale turned not toward where Sharle was, dropped to one knee, and answered. That action made it clear Hale and the soldiers could not see her. No matter how many times I saw it I still got surprised. I thanked them in a small voice and they smiled at the corners of their mouths while keeping their faces down.
I followed Sharle toward the inside of the castle. Looking over the training ground I could confirm a considerable number of knights and soldiers. Training even though it was twenty-one hundred. Amazing as always... I thought, when Sharle, who had been walking ahead, came up on my right and said in an exasperated way,
"I’ll tell you now, they are not training."
"They’re not?"
"Haa... whose fault do you think it is."
Sharle let out a big sigh and, unusually, ground her index finger into my right cheek as she started explaining. Word to release me had reached Hale and the others around eighteen hundred, but I had been dead asleep and they could not move me. Hale and the others had not told me, but they had shaken my body and done all kinds of things and I apparently had not woken up. That much was fine. What came after was hard... Sharle said as she pressed close like she was bumping my shoulder.
Word of the release had also reached every side, the academy and Bell House, but no word that I had actually been released ever arrived, so they had inquired again and again. Sharle and the others explained I was sleeping and people accepted it, but Lea alone apparently could not accept it and came to the castle herself to ask.
"The two princesses met Lady Lea directly and explained, but they apparently could not get her to trust them..."
"Sorry to Sharle, but Fia-nee doesn’t believe it either. Sorry. It’s not that we can’t trust Sharle. We can’t trust the country. When you live a long time... Raide, you get what I want to say, right?"
"...Yeah. I get it."
Lea dropped her usual energy and spoke with a calm atmosphere and smile. I nodded with a troubled smile. A country takes the majority over one person... it takes the country’s safety. Meaning even if I did the right thing, if it harmed the country they would choose to survive even if they had to punish me. That was the correct action as a country. And Lea and Fia had seen that countless times over a long span. No, Croana was probably the same, since she had come inside the castle barrier. Until they saw me they could not trust the notice that I would be released. That was why they had put magic pressure over the whole castle as a threat. If something happened to me, if the Promise was broken, they would destroy it...
"If it’s to protect someone important, I’ll destroy everything, you know?"
"Do you understand? This time there was a reason, so I will not blame you. From now on please stop acting carelessly. All right?"
"I’m sorry..."
I apologized to Lea and Sharle with an apologetic face. The two of them kissed me and then laughed happily. Until we arrived at the reception room where "everyone" was waiting, I got a thorough lecture from the two of them on the word consultation.
...Um. I really was sorry.
So could you spare me the explanations like you’re admonishing a child?