kscans

Chapter 42 - The Forest of the Sea and Kobito-san

"We are telling you that we will protect her!!"

"And I’m asking if you can prove that!!"

The men versus a little girl, shouting at each other.

How did it come to this?

Like Kobito-san, Romel conjured the words he had imagined countless times in the past, a dry smile on his face.

The incident began about half an hour ago. Upon arriving in Gesbelista, Kobito-san’s party headed to the inn where the Kilfan people were staying, and after meeting up, they visited the fishery guild. The fishery guild and the agricultural guild governed Gesbelista. Closely tied to daily life, they held power and possessed their own dedicated buildings. Borrowing one of the soundproof conference rooms, Romel took the lead, and discussions with the Kilfan delegation began.

"Actually, Lord Katsumi here is from another world. He is a human from another world who shares the blood of our ancestors, and he has come to Arcadia at the invitation of the gods."

He had heard the information, but to think he would actually meet one. Romel’s eyes widened slightly as he looked at the young man introduced as an otherworlder. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. For a yellow-skinned Kilfan person, he was a man with surprisingly pale skin. His short hair, so unusual for a commoner, gave him an air of good breeding, and he had a gentle demeanor.

"If Lady Sakura returns and marries Lord Katsumi, we can eradicate the evil customs of our country. Many of our citizens wish for this. We implore you."

The men pleaded earnestly. Romel was also aware of Kilfan’s internal situation. All laws favored men, and there were no laws to help women. In fact, they were all such that they stripped women of all their rights, leaving them with no way to live but to be subservient to men.

Women who obeyed like dolls. The men trying to save them did not seem like villains. This was Kilfan’s problem, not something Frontier could interfere in. It should be discussed between the parties involved.

As if to encourage discussion, Romel turned his gaze to Sakura. However, there Romel saw something unpleasant. The corners of the mouth of Kobito-san, sitting next to Sakura, were raised in the most cynical way possible. Her narrowed eyes were shining brightly, as if flames were about to erupt from them.

Huh? Why?

Before the bewildered Romel, Kobito-san’s smile deepened into something sinister, and the battle of words began.

With a look of resignation, Romel leaned back deep into the sofa, and as if taking his place, the little girl next to Sakura leaned forward.

"Huh?" The Kilfan people wore blank expressions. Ignoring them, Kobito-san asked in a bright, cute voice.

"Have you received permission from His Majesty the Emperor?"

"...Originally, Lady Sakura was designated as the next emperor. We are merely correcting a path that has been bent."

"That’s not an answer. No matter how much you bend the rules, the supreme authority in Kilfan right now is His Majesty the Emperor, right? Do you really think you can get away with defying him? Are you that naive?"

"This has nothing to do with you..."

"It has everything to do with me, you fool!!"

Abandoning the sharp probing, Kobito-san screamed.

She had heard the general gist of it from Sakura. That her brother, the emperor, actually wanted to kill her. That he wanted to possess Sakura to legitimize his own position. That he feared his throne would be taken and did not want Sakura to return, lest she marry the seeker.

Spilling all of this out, Kobito-san glared at the Kilfan delegation.

"What do you plan to do, dragging Sakura into a country with nothing but dangerous situations! Can that otherworlder person even protect Sakura?!"

All but one of the Kilfan people stared at the little girl with faces as if they had bitten into a bitter bug. Why was she so knowledgeable about Kilfan’s internal affairs? They intended to protect her, but when asked if they could protect her, they could not say for certain.

Chihiro knew that as well.

They were likely supporters of that Japanese person, Katsumi. If something were to happen, they would abandon Sakura to protect Katsumi. Therefore, they could not say out loud that they would protect Sakura to the end. She would credit them for not speaking a falsehood at a crucial moment, but there was no way she could hand over someone important entrusted to her to such people.

"Sakura is an important person entrusted to me by Banri of the Manmaden. To me, she is the same as family. I have no intention of sending her to a place where there is even a shred of danger. Do you understand?"

Katsumi glanced at the grinning, malevolent Kobito-san with eyes as if looking at something impossible.

Before him was a small child. Were the infants here so eloquent? She looks three or four at most, right? In Japan, she should be at an age where she’s playing at kindergarten.

Katsumi was momentarily speechless, but he soon realized that his thinking was wrong. Because the other Kilfan people around him were also speechless.

In other words, the current situation was not normal.

And conversely, the people from Frontier and Sakura did not move at all. It seemed they felt no sense of strangeness in this. For them, this was probably their daily life.

Katsumi, who had been able to do nothing but read and surf the internet all day in a hospital bed. His vague suspicion quickly turned to conviction.

"Are you a reincarnator?"

"...I don’t know what you’re talking about, but don’t try to change the subject. I won’t hand over Sakura!"

Despite saying she didn't know, she didn't seem to question it either. This was a hit.

While being irritated by the smirking Katsumi, Kobito-san stood her ground without yielding an inch.

And so, the story returns to the beginning.

"We will protect her with all our might!!"

"Can you protect her? From the emperor?"

"We will risk our lives, it will be alright!"

"And after your lives are spent? It won’t be alright at all, will it?"

For every argument she made, he had a counterargument.

With eyes that looked ready to snap, the Kilfan delegation looked at Sakura.

"We would like to hear Lady Sakura’s opinion! As a member of the royal family, and as a fellow woman, do you not wish to save your people?!"

Sakura, who had been silently observing the entire exchange, let out a long sigh and spoke.

"What has the royal family ever done for me until now?"

Staring at the frozen Kilfan people, Sakura continued to speak.

"What have the people... what has Kilfan ever done for me?"

A cold light floated in her sharp eyes. At those emotionless eyes, a chill ran down the spines of the Kilfan delegation.

"It’s not that I resent them. That’s just how the country was. But I’m not such a good person as to give handouts to a country and family to which I have no duty or debt."

From a young age, Sakura had been exposed to the lewd gazes of men as the only womb in the direct line. Some of them had even touched her directly, and her days were filled with what would be considered traumatic incidents in modern times. The only salvation was that her father, the emperor, had died before Sakura reached the age of marriage. Commoners and nobles would force themselves on women regardless of age, but even they couldn't lay hands on a direct-line imperial princess without marriage. If her father, the emperor, had been alive, she would have been made his bride. The thought alone was horrifying. It was her foster brother, who had been with her since birth, who saved Sakura from her sturdy birdcage. He adored Sakura, and before she could be broken, he used his few connections to establish a link to Frontier. Taking advantage of the chaotic gap during the emperor’s passing, they crossed over to Frontier together and headed for the Manmaden.

It was only for a short time, but finally, quiet yet happy days had arrived. Sakura accepted his feelings, and the two became lovers.

A new life was supposed to begin in a land where status and country didn't matter.

But at the Manmaden they reached, he was later killed.

It seemed Sakura was spared, but he, a lower-ranking noble, was not. By the Kilfan inspector who regularly visited the Manmaden, he was cut down in a single stroke. Even Banri could not stop the inspector’s tyranny. She was doing her best to protect the prostitutes who were no longer of use and their children. It couldn’t be helped.

Sakura would not forget. The humiliation and sorrow that Kilfan had given her.

It was the powerful people of Kilfan who had done it.

"Conversely, I would like to ask. Why? Why must I devote myself to Kilfan?!"

She did not resent them, but her hatred would not fade.

Even if she degraded herself to a prostitute, her one true love was him. Frontier, where he slept, was Sakura’s place.

The Kilfan people’s mouths moved as if they were hyperventilating. Among them, who were looking at her with disbelief, only Katsumi looked at Sakura with cold eyes.

"It seems the answer has been given. In that case, would you please leave?"

Romel smiled his most exquisite smile and looked at the men before him.

"This is... impossible, why? Is it not Lady Sakura’s homeland? Are you saying you will abandon it?"

To the man who tried to struggle further, Sakura replied with a smile of unparalleled grace.

"Homeland? Abandon? Who is doing which? If you’re saying that with the understanding of my current situation as a prostitute at the Manmaden, you have some impressive nerve."

Checkmate.

They must have been well aware of the circumstances of her escape to Frontier. And the aftermath. Yet they still tried to force a sacrifice upon her. It seemed they were not quite that villainous. But still, they had thought she would sympathize. That precisely because she was a woman who had suffered terribly, she would lend her strength to save other women.

They were naive. Sakura had completely separated herself from Kilfan.

Romel felt a faint sense of kinship with the dejected Kilfan delegation.

They’re so similar. Sakura is just like Kobito-san.

An event from just a few months ago crossed his mind. Chihiro had also cast aside the royal family in the same way. It felt kind of nostalgic. Would Kobito-san become a woman like Sakura when she grew up?

Romel felt a shiver of dread at the sight of the woman standing tall before him.

No, no, no, that would be bad. If Chihiro became like this, my older brother would burst into tears. Give me a break!

Ignoring Romel, who was covered in goosebumps, Kobito-san and Sakura looked at each other and shared a fearless smile. Seeing that defiant expression, the Frontier party’s lips curved upwards, while the men of Kilfan cast their eyes down in despair.

With Frontier’s unstoppable force raging in the room, Kobito-san is in top form today too.♪