Kyou kara Ma no Tsuku Jiyuugyou! Volume 17 Chapter 2

Walking down the corridor in front of His Majesty the Maou's governing office, Gisela suddenly stops dead in her tracks. Right now she's standing just outside the meeting chambers, as Günter and Wolfram push a long box towards her from behind.

The box is just the right size for a grown person to lie down in. It looks like a coffin from the outside, but it's not a coffin, because the person inside is Josak, sleeping deeply in a state of suspended animation. Since the determined artist, Lord von Christ Günter made some decorations to it, the weight of the box is now twice that of a regular wooden box. Even with two people pus.h.i.+ng it, it's utterly exhausting.

"Speaking of which, why am I pus.h.i.+ng Gurrier's sleeping box too?"

"It can't be helped, since we can't leave that to anyone else. Because he'll definitely say something once he wakes up."

"Say what?"

"Something like 'thanks'. He'll definitely say it."

"Just for that!?"

"For all you know, he might even teach us how to cross-dress out of grat.i.tude."

"We wouldn't be able to use it even if we do learn how…"

"Shh--! Quiet, you two!"

Gisela presses a finger to her lips, putting her ear to the closed door to try and gauge what's happening inside.

"There are voices in the meeting chamber. That's strange, both His Majesty and His Excellency Gwendal are evidently not here."

"Oh—It might be Anissina, Brother said he left her in charge while he's away."

"No, this is a man's voice. Does the Poison Lady have male subordinates?"

She has quite a few male experiment subjects. But when it comes to male subordinates, they really couldn't think of any.

"What did you say? Male… Pff!"

The next second, he crouches down while holding his face. Because when Günter pushed Gisela back to bring his face closer, the door suddenly swung open, and that beautiful face took a solid hit.

"What are you guys loitering suspiciously in front of the governing office? Huh?"

Standing at the door, Anissina observes each of the three people in the corridor one after the other,

"Aren't these Günter, Wolfram, and the girl general?"

No one has ever, in the history of the world, called Gisela like that. Only Anissina would have the guts to do that. Because everyone has always respected and feared Gisela like a demon, so almost no one had ever called her a girl, not even her arch nemesis, the Poison Lady…

"I won't be moved."

But Gisela is rather calm right now.

Anissina looks towards Gisela's adopted father with an expression of disinterest. He's still holding his nose and forehead now.

"Oh my, Papa von Christ, you're spewing juices as usual."

"Bish ishn joosh, ish bohd. Ish nosh bohd."

"Ish bohd?"

No, it's nose blood. Regardless, this isn't the time to argue over trivial matters such as mishearing things. With blood flowing from his nostrils, Günter turns back to look at the long wooden box. There isn't a cover on it, just a beautiful piece of cloth.

"Ish gud you kem, we wehr going to poosh him to your lab. Gurrier…"

"I heard, because the pigeon mail got here a long time ago. So this is the box with the spy in it?"

She flips open the cloth without waiting for an answer, and stares intently at Josak lying within. And then, with a gentleness completely uncharacteristic of her, she lightly caresses the cold, pale face, even brus.h.i.+ng away the hair sticking to his cheek,

"Goodness—This is a wonderfully perfect state of suspended animation, who did this? It wasn't Lord von Voltaire, was it? Could it be the girl general?"

"No, it was my adopted father… It was His Excellency Günter."

Perhaps because she was being praised, she nearly misspoke. Anissina nods with satisfaction,

"Your techniques aren't too shabby. This way, the freshness can be maintained even on a sea journey. Günter, it's been a while since you performed so excellently."

"Will he get better?"

"His body should have recovered appropriately by now, it's now up to him… What is this?"

Anissina stops pulling down the cloth at his knee.

Because his condition knee-down is an utter mess. It's not the damage you would sustain in a sword battle. Rather than that, it's more like an entire leg was flattened. Although she heard that the wound on his chest has stopped bleeding, for some reason he's about to lose an entire leg instead.

"I don't know either, Gurrier never explained what happened."

Just as they're discussing, suddenly a pet.i.te figure enters Günter's field of vision. It looks like the visitors who had arrived before them are now walking out.

"Did something happen? Anissina-sama… Oh my goodness!"

The young woman makes a sound that is either a scream or a sigh, covering her mouth with her pet.i.te hands. Because there's a buff young man lying stark naked in front of—although his actual age is almost a hundred years old.

"Oh my gooodnesssss, eeeeeeeeh!"

"Nicola, you can't! Don't!"

"But butbutbutbut—"

Gisela's hand-carved ice swan has already melted to a rather ominous degree. The girl named Nicola, or rather, her husband pulls her away from the box by her arm.

"What are you doing, Nicola? You're not that young anymore."

"Wait, miss! No, not you, miss, but your husband beside you! You wouldn't happen to be…"

It doesn't matter what unsightly actions Nicola does, but there's no way they can ignore the person next to her. Both Günter's and Gisela's expressions change drastically, but the one who rushes in first and grabs the man's collar is Wolfram.

"You…!"

His face and aura says he wants nothing more than to tackle this much taller man onto the ground. His steps in the floorboards were so forceful that his footprints remain on the red carpet.

"Gegenhuber! How shameless could you be to set foot in this castle again… Do you think Brother and the others would let you in!"

"Your Excellency, don't act like this."

Although Gisela tries to interrupt, she can't pull them apart without the bear paw.

"Let go of me, Gisela! It was all this man's fault that the war was at a standstill! Don't you hate this man to the core as well?"

"Your Excellency!"

"Conrad nearly lost his life, and Julia's death, they're all because of this man… Although Brother was kind enough to let him escape harsh punishment, but to think he has the nerve to step into the capital again! His sins are irredeemable!"

"But Julia—"

Gisela suddenly puts down her hand, which in turn causes Wolfram to let go.

"Julia… That person wouldn't have wanted things to turn out like this…"

"That's enough, Wolfram! I called these two here."

Anissina's tone turns strict as though to hide her last, almost illegible words.

"I wanted them to act as His Majesty's and Gwendal's steam baldies."

"Anissina-sama, you mean shadow warriors, shadow warriors."

Nicola mutters, "If you really steam it, that'd be terrible for the scalp." But the Poison Lady doesn't hear her.

"For a palace with open gates, it's very important to have open administration, but some things shouldn't be made public. It is also a national defence strategy to hide the king's absence from the people."

"But…"

Having heard Anissina voice out, Wolfram has no choice but to release the hand grabbing Gegenhuber's collar. The man didn't resist at all, and so he loses his balance, almost falling to the ground.

"Besides, that man is a very important witness."

"Witness? What witness?"

"The Box's."

Only Nicola looks at Josak's wooden box. Since his lower body is being covered by a cloth, there's nothing to worry about even if she is another man's wife. On the other hand, the three returnees stiffen up, while Gegenhuber narrows his eyes, looking into the distance.

"Because Grisela Gegenhuber is a victim of the Forbidden Box."

At some point, Anissina's expression turned deadly serious, and she says with her arms crossed on front of her chest,

"I know about Gurrier, just leave that to me. But according to the pigeon mail, you guys should be carrying another important Box back. One of the four Boxes to seal the soushu—'Inferno on the Tundra'."

"Uh—Anissina, about that—"

All three of them start looking away. Their reaction is so abnormal, it's only natural that Anissina would be suspicious. But the mouth she had opened to start interrogating them actually closes again unhappily, and some of her red hair floats up suddenly as though it was alive.

"Mmh…"

"About that matter, let me be the one to explain."

As soon as she hears that unfamiliar voice, her already sticking-up hair actually stands on end, just like a lightning conductor. Anissina harrumphs, frowning.

"The Box was lost."

Anyone who looks at this man would know instantly that he's mazoku. He walks over from the other end of the corridor as he speaks, his s.h.i.+ny golden hair and icy blue eyes somehow really reminiscent of the Bielefeld or Spitzberg families. But maybe because his lips are really thin, he gives off a cold feeling even despite his good looks.

    However, there is a problem. No, to think of it, there's more than one problem, there are two. The first is that, no matter how you look at it, this man is fully naked.

"And it was based on Yuuri's wishes. We sunk it into the depths of the sea where even fis.h.i.+ng boats won't pa.s.s by it. All according to your His Majesty the Maou's plans."

The second problem is that while he's talking with a confident tone, he's also riding on a young girl.

"Wah! Y-Your Majesty."

"What is it?"

It might not be too accurate to say that he's riding on the young girl, because the man seems to be emerging from the prophetic priestess, Ulrike's back. To be more precise, Ulrike is carrying a sack on her back, from which a topless man crossing his arms over his chest with a superior att.i.tude is emerging. As for the priestess carrying the man, she's already panting for breath.

"Y-Your Majesty, that's a bit overboard."

"Overboard? What's overboard?"

"It looks like you're abusing a young girl."

"A young girl, you said? How old do you think Ulrike is? She's evidently lived longer than all of you. I'm not wrong, am I, Ulrike?"

The highest priestess of the s.h.i.+nou shrine nods without saying anything, her breathing extremely ragged.

"In that case, you're abusing the elderly!"

"Telling a woman she's old to her face is even more impolite. Günter, this is why you could never find anybody to marry into the family."

Behind them, Nicola makes another indescribable scream. Even if she doesn't peek through her fingers covering her face, it's not like the other guy is revealing anything unspeakable. His b.u.t.t and his things are covered very nicely, it's just that this image may still be too much for a newly wed wife. She even starts ranting at her husband, "What a waste of such pretty looks—"

Besides, not that much earlier, he was still sticking only a head and an arm out of a hundred per cent hair pouch sitting on a chair. Compared to that disgusting condition, he looks a lot more normal now.

"Even so, it's just too pitiful to have tiny little Ulrike carrying Your Majesty! Anissina, hurry and take out a ma-powered device that would help."

Upon hearing that, Lady von Karbelnikoff Anissina takes out a small leaf from her pocket. Its size is just big enough to cover one's crotch.

"Here—Ma-powered underwear, Leaf-kun—"

"Anissina, is that a ma-powered device? Is that really a ma-powered device?"

"And what's up with that 'Here—"? Why isn't there any oomph in that at all!?"

"No, you must never accept the Poison Lady's plants!"

The three people had three different reactions. Once you consider the other person's position, Anissina's att.i.tude is more than a little inappropriate. Besides, he's not a child or a tengu, it's too much to hide it with a leaf. Although the man who's getting this kind of treatment seems okay with it.

"Uhm, actually, it's not as heavy as you guys think it is."

Ulrike says that, but she can't even speak properly, and sweat is pouring down her forehead.

"Maybe, my maryoku, isn't enough."

"Ahh, that's why! Because His Majesty s.h.i.+nou is using other people's maryoku to materialise in the real world! Anissina, quick, make him something that would increase maryoku! Otherwise, you'll be the one to carry His Majesty!"

Anissina's expression remains stern even when she hears 's.h.i.+nou', but Grisela Gegenhuber goes deadly stiff from the shock, so much so that his eyepatch nearly flies off.

Of course, Wolfram and Gisela no longer fear this man known as the founder of s.h.i.+n Makoku as much. The s.h.i.+nou of their memories has changed over the span of the voyage. After all, he is the powerful existence wors.h.i.+pped as a G.o.d, so even though their rating of him hasn't dropped to rock bottom, it has fallen to the 'was once an impressive king' level.

And that's all because they lived with s.h.i.+nou, materializing from a pouch, for several days. The ability to get used to something is scary indeed.

Gegenhuber, on the other hand, still can't pick his jaw from off the floor. As his wife, Nicola senses her husband's condition, and using her wise judgment, quietly takes a step back. She feels as though it's best for her not to say anything at all - truly admirable judgment.

The man addressed as s.h.i.+nou says to the two he just met for the first time today,

"It's no wonder that you are so surprised. For a man to suddenly appear and call himself s.h.i.+nou must be difficult to believe, no? Why don't I do as before, and try saying some of your secrets. If my power is dependable, then I would probably be able to convince you two. But if the secrets I divulge are super secret things you don't want anyone else to know, I'm not taking any responsibility for that, okay."

"If that is the method Your Majesty wishes to use, please go ahead."

As opposed to Gegenhuber, still gaping like a koi fish, Anissina seems unnaturally calm. Rather than calm, it's more like her gaze is cold.

"If doing so would please you, do go ahead and spell out my secrets."

s.h.i.+nou's face approaches Anissina over Ulrike's head,

"…No matter what secrets I make public, you seem to be unfazed."

"Gwendal might panic, but I wouldn't find it especially troubling."

"…In that case, that guy is just too pitiable. I'll pa.s.s, then."

Things that Lord von Voltaire would deem as reputation damaging are no big deal for Anissina. The others widen their eyes, but sigh when their 'what on earth could it be' expectations fall short.

"Even if you don't do that, I will admit that you truly are His Majesty s.h.i.+nou. Because observe, sire!"

She points at her hair, standing straight towards the sky,

"My ma-powered maryoku detection devices. Ah, it's because of the reaction from 'His Majesty s.h.i.+nou is just there', or 's.h.i.+nou Antenna' for short."

It should be 'Just There' for s.h.i.+rt, right? Why is there suddenly a strange accent? Do you really think of His Majesty s.h.i.+nou as a youkai!? But there isn't anyone who would rant about trivial things like that anymore, all of them just stand there and stare.

"Naturally, Your Majesty would know about this too."

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't."

"Well, that's because this never had a reaction until today, so that comes as no surprise. Ah—um, Messenger Soldier One and Two over there, come here for a bit! Move this box to my lab for me. Listen closely, don't you ever lift that cloth. If you disobey my instructions, I will curse you for generations and generations, got it?"

Even without such a threat, there shouldn't be anyone who would want to see Anissina's things.

After the two terrified soldiers take away the spy's box, the atmosphere on the scene finally returns to a level where they can discuss matters. But since everyone is standing between the corridor and the meeting chambers, they're in a highly awkward position.

"Josak will be fine, I will definitely restore his ability to walk… On the other hand, Your Majesty, I cannot pretend to not have heard what you just said. You did in fact say that you threw away the Box?"

"That's right, I threw it into the sea. Because that's what Yuuri wanted."

Sitting on the chair in the meeting chamber, Ulrike's face is still very pale. You can't blame her, in order to let s.h.i.+nou materialize here, she has been continuously using her maryoku. After all, the pouch with Wolfram's collective maryoku over a few days was only enough to let him materialize his head and an arm. In order to create everything until the undesirable bits, you would need more than the average maryoku.

The pretentious naked man is now emerging from the back of an exhausted girl (about eight hundred years old).

Nicola walks out of the room quietly. Sorry, Hube, I can't do this anymore, I want to go back to my child.

Perhaps his wife's exit helped to boost his spirits. Gegenhuber raises his head once more, his eyepatch returning to its original position,

"The Box has been disposed of?"

"That's right, and we didn't take down the coordinates or the depth either."

"There's no better way to do this. That isn't something we should keep near us."

"Why would you say that? I for one think it's a very useful object."

"…Because I personally experienced its horror."

"Oh yes, Gegenhuber. Because you—"

With his arms crossed in front of his chest, s.h.i.+nou throws his head back and laughs, pitching Ulrike forward as she loses her balance.

"—are closely related to Gwendal, how tragic. Could it be that you were used as an experimental guinea pig by the humans who roughly figured that out?"

"You didn't know?"

Opposite him and furthest away so that they can't even see her face, Anissina asks,

"I thought there was nothing in this world that Your Majesty wouldn't know."

"Me? I have no interest whatsoever in what those humans do. I just want to know exactly how terrifying Hube's experience was. I never thought anyone would want to open that Box."

"'Terrifying' doesn't do it justice."

Gegenhuber describes the truth, grateful of his wife's absence at the time.

"My left eye caught on fire, and I lost mobility in half of my body. Maybe because I wasn't the real Key, so that was the extent of my injuries. Or could it be I only suffered like that because the Key didn't match? To be honest, I'm not so sure myself. Do you want to see?"

He reaches for his eyepatch.

"N-no, there's no need for that."

"I'll look at it later. Maybe I can find a more suitable method of treatment."

The panicked Günter and Gisela, adopting the stance of a medical pract.i.tioner, show the utter difference in att.i.tude between the father and daughter.

"Humans seem to understand the Box better than we do. Although I don't know where they obtained the knowledge from, but the existence of the soushu, its power, and even the incident where we mazoku sealed the four soushu away in the distant past, they know all of it well, albeit only a few of them. Not only that, they also know that the Keys to the Boxes aren't objects, but live people. They even found out that the Keys are only born into specific mazoku families."

These are all things that Günter, Wolfram and Gisela found out from s.h.i.+nou himself a long time ago.

"However, they don't seem to be certain which people from which families. I was only caught for their experiments because I happened the only mazoku around when they obtained the Box."

"Lord Grisela, that means that once a Forbidden Box falls into human hands, all the mazokus currently living overseas might meet the same danger?"

Faced with Anissina's question, Gegenhuber says with an expression of distress,

"I'm afraid so."

"In that case, all the mazokus venturing into human land for work or travel purposes are now in deep danger because of this."

"That's why, Anissina."

s.h.i.+nou interrupts with a smile,

"Taking 'Inferno on the Tundra' out of Seisakoku to prevent it from falling into Shou s.h.i.+maron hands, and sinking it into the ocean was the right decision to make. Although the ones who sunk it are Wolfram and I."

"That's right, it was a very correct decision."

"As expected of your His Majesty Yuuri, always so straightforward and smart. What do you think, the candidate I chose ain't too shabby, huh? If Gwendal was here, I'd really like to ask his opinion. What do you think, Wolfram? Didn't you get into a fight with him when you first met?"

Even though s.h.i.+nou asked him such a sudden question, Wolfram still nods in reply, without an ounce of hesitation,

"I think he's someone worth our loyalty."

Wolfram, Günter and Gisela are sitting on Anissina's left, while Ulrike and s.h.i.+nou are on the right. The remaining seats stay unnaturally empty, making this a conference with incomplete members.

"The one Hube was taken to test was 'The End of the Land'. Though I'm reluctant to tell you, keeping it secret won't help me any, so I'll just tell you. The Key to that Box is Gwendal, so there would be an effect if the person involved has Voltaire family blood, especially unlucky fellas. Did you know that, Anissina?"

"I didn't. when I heard about Lord Grisela, though I did speculate that the Key should be Lord von Voltaire, but I could not confirm it. Even if we mazokus were the one who slaughtered the soushu and sealed the threat, there aren't many surviving doc.u.ments in this country about the Boxes. This really mystifies me."

"Don't blame me, blame that guy."

The great man points towards the door with a condescending expression. He seems to be pointing at the wall where the portraits are hanging.

"Lord Daikenja thought that no records should remain, so he destroyed everything."

"I see, I can understand why."

"Then do you know which families the other three Keys are from?"

Wolfram asks, narrowing his eyes into an expression very much like his brother's.

"Bielefeld, Weller, and Wincott respectively."

"Wincott!?"

Gisela can't help but cry out, but she immediately apologises and closes her mouth.

"That's right, Gisela. Even if you're the only one to be so surprised, I'm very glad. This means that my providing this information was very worth it. Because the information source of s.h.i.+n Makoku - Lady von Karbelnikoff Anissina's expression tells me she knows something about this. Besides, Wolfram should first be concerned for his two older brothers. He knows quite a bit about Lord Weller's arm, but until a few days ago, he had no idea that his oldest brother and himself are involved as well. But to put it another way, almost all the mazokus other than the three of them can relax. But you must never let the humans in on this secret, even I wouldn't want to tell them."

"Of course."

If the humans found out, it's obvious what would happen next. Not only would they be locked in on, other countries would also amp up their efforts to locate the Boxes. Since they already know where the Keys are, they would just need to find the weapons to obtain that power.

They can already antic.i.p.ate a war happening.

"Although Gwendal and Conrad are both not here presently, fortunately one of the Boxes is now within the country, and the other 'Inferno on the Tundra' has now been thrown into the sea. As long as the information about the Keys doesn't get around, Wolfram can rest easy for now as well."

"Please wait a moment. Wincott…"

Gisela interrupts s.h.i.+nou again.

"The Wincott Key to the 'Mirror of the Deep Waters', who is it with now?"

"About that—"

s.h.i.+nou puts his chin on the backs of his hands, his elbows on Ulrike's head. Poor Ulrike is being used as a table.

"After the last wielder pa.s.sed away, it should have been inherited by a certain someone. And that someone may have, due to certain reasons, been born somewhere very far away from s.h.i.+n Makoku."

"Somewhere very far away!?"

"It may not have been someone with Wincott family blood moving to another country. It could have been a situation not unlike that handsome fellow over there."

Hube can't help but hang his shoulders.

"Perhaps it's a child born with a human woman. If the relation is distant enough, they themselves may not be aware of it. It's just that the Wincott blood is very special, I believe they know as well not to have too many descendants outside the country borders. Have you heard anything from your friends or relatives, Gisela? If you have any clues, I hope you can tell me."

"…I didn't hear anything."

"Is that so? But you'll know who it is sooner or later. Because that is something that won't be lost no matter how faded it gets. Blood and soul's…"

Although he doesn't complete the sentence, no one else asks him to continue, perhaps afraid of any mistakes.

"But the people who tried to release the power using Lord Grisela's power are Shou s.h.i.+maron."

Upon hearing Anissina's stern tone, even s.h.i.+nou who wasn't there can't help but nod in agreement.

"At least Shou s.h.i.+maron's understanding of the Keys exceeds our own. Lord Grisela, why didn't you report such an important matter back to the country?"

"That's…"

"Hube did report it, y'know, Anissina."

Once again it is His Majesty s.h.i.+nou who replies. Although he says he's not interested, he's clearly become Gegenhuber's spokesperson.

"It's just the report didn't reach Central. Gegenhuber once set a pigeon mail, properly reporting that he was experimented on as the Key to the Box, that the humans had already obtained 'The End of the Land', and that they figured out the Key is a certain mazoku. He reported it to Lord von Spitzberg Stuffel."

That is the older brother of the previous Maou, and the man who once abused the country's power. After the previous Great War ended, he had been slowly losing influence, and has now retired to his own territory. Out of the seven people present, five of them don't want to hear his name.

"Why the h.e.l.l did you report to Stuffel!"

"Hey hey hey, don't be unreasonable, Günter. Don't you know what Gegenhuber's mission was?"

"I heard it was the find the mateki."

"That's right, it's a meaningless, s.h.i.+tty job."

Even though the national treasure was put down to that degree, no one truly dared to get mad at His Majesty s.h.i.+nou. Besides he honestly, from the bottom of his heart, thought that a flute that can summon the rain isn't much. A toy like that doesn't have any fighting power at all.

"You initially planned to report to Gwendal that you didn't find the mateki, and your travel journals other than that had no reason to be sent to Central, much less to the cousin who despises you. If you want to read a diary, just read my book. Aren't I right, Mr. Masked Author?"

He even knows something like that so clearly, they really can't tell who His Majesty s.h.i.+nou is truly interested in anymore. The man whose strike zone is especially wide gets mire agitated as he speaks, as though defending Gegenhuber,

"Hube was initially Stuffel's trusted advisor, it's only natural that he would do that. To want a lonely and disgraced dog wandering far away from home to consider so much and contact Central himself just because his boss may cover up the news is a bit too cruel. Although in the end, Stuffel did cover up the news after all."

Günter scolds angrily,

"That guy!"

"But I…"

Gegenhuber wants to say something, but still stops himself after some hesitating. Because he's afraid it'll be treated as excuses in order to protect himself.

"I'll leave von Spitzberg's brother's punishment up to you guys, it's okay to scold him all you like if you're that p.i.s.sed. I'll just teach you all something first, this time you have to bear in mind that it's troublesome to have enemy within your own inner ranks."

This time, Lord von Voltaire probably won't sit still about this. Once he returns to the country, Stuffel will probably suffer the just consequences. Be it officially or unofficially, the man who was once acting ruler will never have a chance to return to the stage.

"But now isn't the time to scold him for previous mistakes. Instead, you should look at what to do next. I can stand here in front of you all, and even take back half of the Boxes from human hands, and I know which people are the Keys. That's right, now you have to worry about what to do next."

"You are absolutely right, Your Majesty."

It might just be their imagination, but it seems that Günter's violet eyes are turning moist as he nods extremely forcefully. If left alone, he might even excitedly let the tears flow as he agrees to everything the naked king riding on a young girl's back says.

"After all, you have to consider the future of s.h.i.+n Makoku. You guys should probably wait for His Majesty Yuuri to return before discussing it, but the situation right now does not allow for any more waiting. Even as we're discussing this, other countries are surely preparing their power, searching far and wide for the Boxes. And before that, we need to take measures to being back His Majesty Yuuri and his friend. We have no time to sit around."

"Although you say you already retrieved half of the Boxes, I would still like to ask His Majesty to briefly describe the situation back then. This way, not only can we use it as future reference on how to deal with the other Boxes, it will also help my research and records."

You need quite a bit of courage to pull back the topic of conversation from such a great king. However, Anissina does have that courage. Be it the father or the mother of the country, the Poison Lady harbors no fear whatsoever.

"It should be fine to say it, right?"

This time, it's Wolfram who interrupts s.h.i.+nou's question. With his back straightened and his fingers crossed on the table, he's not staring at Anissina, who asked the question, but at the forefront of the room.

All that's there is the empty Maou's throne.

"Just as His Majesty s.h.i.+nou said, I, as the Key, personally sank 'Inferno on the Tundra' into the sea as per His Majesty s.h.i.+nou's instructions. Not only did Yuuri wish for that, I myself would prefer to keep it away from the country to prevent getting involved. As for this Box out of the four, we don't have to worry about it until it shows up again."

Standing on both sides, Günter and Gisela nod in agreement.

s.h.i.+nou smiles as though towards a cute student, and then says to Wolfram,

"Yes, and 'The End of the Land' is in our hands as well."

Head raised and chest puffed out, he crosses his arms once more, smiling fearlessly,

"Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, there are only two more."