Chapter 159: Past (9)
TL/ED – Miso
Alletus knew that the Emperor was the one behind the assassination attempts on Sharmia.
He also knew that the attempts had failed only because the Emperor was still agonizing over the decision.
If the Emperor truly steeled his resolve, there was no one in the Imperial Palace who could defy him.
That was why Alletus had been exchanging secret arrangements with the Head Maid, preparing a means to save Sharmia from the Emperor as his sanity continued to deteriorate, and…
“I didn’t expect we’d get out this easily…”
I had borrowed those preparations.
A carriage readied in advance.
A coachman who had sworn to complete the mission even at the cost of his life.
And clothing to change into during the journey, along with common currency used by civilians and a map. Everything had been so perfectly prepared that from Sharmia’s perspective, it must have felt as though they had been waiting for her to say the word.
And in truth, they had been. As I quietly leaned against the wall of the carriage and surveyed the surroundings with Current Sense, Sharmia, her arms crossed with her knees tucked inside them, glared at me with suspicious eyes.
“More importantly, why are you here? I don’t recall granting permission for you to be in the same space as me.”
“My objective is to ensure the Princess reaches her destination safely.”
I replied casually.
To be precise, it was to keep her alive for two weeks, but still.
“Then haven’t you already accomplished your objective?”
Given how their first meeting had gone, and the fact that I still hadn’t removed my mask, Sharmia wasn’t inclined to trust me.
Then again… she had been hounded by countless assassins from such a young age. If she were the sort of person who’d believe someone claiming “I’ve come from the future, please trust me completely!”, the assassinations would have succeeded long ago.
But precisely because of that, she was easy to reason with.
“You are still in extreme danger, Princess. Even if the Head Maid covers for you, it will be discovered in a day at most, half a day at the shortest. That is simply what it means to be a princess. You will need my help.”
“…”
She didn’t argue and buried her face between her knees.
I understood full well how confused she must be, so I refrained from adding the unnecessary detail that all of this was thanks to the Emperor trying to have her killed.
Watching her, I organized my thoughts.
With this, I had satisfied the wishes of both versions of Sharmia.
The Crimson Circle’s Sharmia had wanted the young princess to escape and head to a place called the Ark.
The present Sharmia had wanted me to act of my own free will.
If the two objectives didn’t align, and if the future was already set in stone…
‘…What happens to me?’
For now, leaving Sharmia in the Imperial Palace had been too dangerous. No matter how much I used Current Sense and Current, guarding the Princess around the clock in a palace where the Emperor was watching with wide-open eyes was an impossibly difficult task.
So I had brought her out for the time being, but if this was what the Crimson Circle’s Sharmia had wanted, then some kind of accident would occur during the journey and I, or Sharmia, would die.
Both outcomes meant the same end for me. Knowing that, if she had wanted this journey toward the Ark, then I had walked myself to my own death.
But then, the present Sharmia had wanted me to act according to my own will, regardless of what the Crimson Circle’s Sharmia said.
‘Which one is right?’
The fact that both of them knew my future made it impossible to reconcile.
The uncertain time paradox, the traces of the clock’s hands, twisting an unchangeable past from a fixed future…
I was weighing all of these possibilities, so…
I lost my focus on Current Sense, just slightly.
-Clatter!
“…?”
The carriage stopped abruptly.
By distance, we were still in the middle of the Capital. If we couldn’t get through here quickly, things would fall apart from the very first step.
As I looked around wondering what happened, Sharmia was pressing her ear against the side of the carriage with a grave expression.
“What is it?”
“Shh…”
She seemed to be listening to something, so I activated Current Sense again.
[…I’m telling you, this carriage is suspicious. Just let us inspect it and we’re done. Why are you acting like you’ve got something to hide?]
[As I’ve said, we have a noble’s authorization here! The goods inside are Magic Artifacts that spoil in sunlight! Why are you doing this?]
[How am I supposed to know if that’s forged or not?]
[What kind of nonsense is…]
Ha.
Come to think of it, the Empire during this era was thoroughly corrupt.
Corrupt enough for a guard to shake down a carriage for bribes in broad daylight.
But the coachman was actually a knight in disguise, so he had no knowledge of such customs and mistakenly thought he was being harassed.
Just as I was about to draw on Current to quietly resolve the situation.
-Rrrip!
“…What are you doing?”
“In situations like this, you should get outside first.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Sharmia used a dagger to slash open the side of the carriage on the side away from the guards.
It was possible because it was an ordinary transport carriage made of cloth. After cutting an opening large enough for herself to escape through, she turned to look at me, sized me up, and widened the hole further.
“We just need to step out and come back after the guards leave. Once they see there’s nothing inside, they won’t have any reason to make trouble. Surely they won’t make a fuss over a bit of torn cloth?”
A fairly sound judgment. Except that it wasn’t necessary.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to stop her.
“Huh?”
Sharmia poked her head outside the carriage, then came back in with a puzzled look and unfolded the map.
“Since when was this a slum? Weren’t we supposed to be traveling along the main road according to the map?”
“It is the main road.”
“…What?”
“Have you never gone outside before?”
“I’ve been out plenty of times. I’ve even walked along this very road.”
“And you would have reported the outing to the Head Maid at least three days in advance, yes?”
“…No, that’s not it. If this is really the main road, then there should be streetlamps over there, and…”
Sharmia trailed off mid-protest as she surveyed the road she herself had called a slum, and her expression gradually twisted.
She had realized it was the same place, just that the gap between how it looked during her outings and how it looked now was staggering.
It was simply that whenever the Princess went on an inspection, they would clear away the garbage and human refuse alike well in advance, polishing even the sewer grates along the road until they shone.
Having witnessed the true Empire, Sharmia stood with her mouth agape for a long while, staring at what could only be described as devastation.
“…This is… the Empire’s main road…?”
Even in the future era, when I first entered the Imperial Palace, I had been stunned by the sensation of stepping into another world entirely.
But if the palace had stayed the same while the world outside had only deteriorated further, a reaction like this was unavoidable.
As she stood frozen in shock, unable to step out through the gap in the carriage, the children who had been sprawled about nearby approached.
“P-please, spare just a penny…”
“Please… my mother is starving at home…”
“…”
Sharmia’s eyes slowly wavered at the sight of the filthy children begging.
It wasn’t simply that the children were begging. Her gaze locked onto the fact that several parts of their bodies had been amputated.
She was sharp enough to quickly realize that those specific parts had been deliberately chosen and cut to prevent “easy movement”, in other words, to prevent escape.
As I watched the pitiful scene, something clicked, and I nodded.
‘Ah, so that’s why she funded the Orphanage…’
It must have been the shock of seeing this today.
That had been a tremendous help. In the interest of building a slightly more perfect future, I chose not to intervene.
The Princess was about to do something reckless.
“J-just wait a moment…”
“?”
With trembling hands, she opened her bag and was about to pull out something gleaming.
From what I could see, it was a gold coin. I immediately frowned, walked over, and grabbed her hand.
“Don’t.”
“Wh-what?”
“It won’t help them at all.”
“What do you, what do you mean?”
Instead of answering, I pulled a far lesser copper coin from my pocket and handed it to the biggest, sturdiest-looking child.
“…!”
The moment the others saw it.
They lunged forward, hands reaching out wildly, trying to snatch the coin away.
“Hand it over!”
“Grr…!”
Since I had deliberately chosen the sturdiest one, the coin wasn’t taken, but a violent scuffle broke out, fierce enough to draw blood.
Seeing this, Sharmia urgently turned to me and cried out.
“S-stop them! They’re fighting…”
“Understood.”
I lightly activated Current to forcibly pull the children apart.
Hit by an invisible force, the bewildered children looked at each other, then noticed the hand I had casually raised and realized they had just experienced magic.
“Ahhh, ahhhh!”
“A wizard! It’s a noble…!”
When they scattered in sheer terror, their perception of wizards clearly being anything but favorable, Sharmia gasped and covered her mouth as she looked at me.
“You were… a wizard?”
“A humble one. But I can do things like this.”
[…G-gack…!]
[Jan? No, Jan… hurrgh! A w-wizard…!]
[I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please forgive us just this once!]
[What is this…]
As the agonized voice of the guard filtered through the torn cloth, the expression on Sharmia’s face as she peered at my eyes behind the mask took on a shade of awe.
“Wi-without a Star…”
“Do you know what it means to use magic without a Star?”
“…Doesn’t it just mean you used a trivial spell?”
She didn’t know about the Fallen, as expected.
Thanks to that, she seemed to regard me as an exceptional Archmage capable of casting advanced magic like Telekinesis without even a Star. There was no reason to correct her, so I sealed the torn cloth with Current and explained why I had stopped her.
“To those children, a single copper coin is a lifeline worth beating each other half to death over. If you had given them a gold coin, murder would have followed without question. What the Princess was about to do was hand down a death sentence on this child.”
“Th-they’re children. They’re not old enough to kill someone…”
“Those children grew up far too quickly. You cannot judge them by your own standards, Princess.”
“…Why?”
“What do you mean?”
Sharmia’s expression was less one of sorrow and more of sheer incomprehension as she stared at the cloth I had deliberately sealed.
“Why did Father hide this from me? Why did no one ever tell me about any of this?”
“Why would they? These are people who will never cross paths with the Princess in her entire life. It’s possible that even His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t know such people exist.”
“…That can’t be.”
“It’s not impossible.”
“…”
Sharmia said nothing more and quietly gazed at the broken Empire through the narrow gap.
Until the coachman had carried them out of the Capital.
For a very long time.
***
Unfortunately, the coachman could only be one person.
More people meant more resources consumed. Since this would be a long-term affair, fewer people was always better.
“Your Highness. I know it’s uncomfortable, but for tonight…”
“Oh, yes. I understand.”
“If a pursuit party follows, I will wake you immediately.”
We arrived at an inn in a city some distance away.
It wasn’t terribly close to the Capital, but a pursuit was still possible.
“The chances are low. Even if they discover the Princess is missing, they’ll search the Imperial Palace first, then the Capital. They won’t start looking in other cities right away. Even if they do, this one would be low priority.”
“I see… but why are you here.”
The Princess repeated the same thing she’d said in the carriage, now in the inn room.
With far sharper eyes than before.
Her guard was raised much higher as well, so I sighed and stood up from the table.
“Did I not tell you that I must protect the Princess?”
“…I’m going to call the coachman.”
“Call him if you wish. I would ask you not to forget that I’m the kind of person who moved through the Imperial Palace as freely as my own home, despite it being guarded by hundreds of knights far more skilled than him.”
“I don’t think that’s something to brag about… I don’t know who you are, but you really are a strange person.”
The Princess let out a deep sigh, and with slightly reddened cheeks, headed into the bathroom with a warning.
“Still, you need to sleep outside when it’s time for bed. We can’t share this tiny room.”
…Tiny.
I let out a sigh standing in the middle of the inn’s largest room, which by modern standards could comfortably house a family of five.
So this is the standard of royalty, I thought.
Just then, the consequences of the Princess’s actions arrived, detected by my spread-out Current Sense.
It was nothing major. I waited for it to come, and before long the Princess emerged after washing her hair, her face scrunched in disgust as she grumbled.
“I think the bathwater was rotten. It had absolutely no fragrance at all.”
“Water doesn’t normally have a fragrance.”
“…?”
She made a face of utter disbelief, then sat herself neatly on the bed.
Her expression turned gloomy, and she clenched her hands.
“…Seril will be alright, won’t she?”
She had countless things to worry about, but what came to mind first was apparently her faithful maid.
“Do you want sympathy, or do you want the truth?”
“The truth first, please.”
“The crime of aiding a princess’s escape is punishable by the harshest penalty. The moment it’s discovered, she should prepare for the worst.”
“…Sympathy.”
“But knowing Alletus’s character, the one who orchestrated this escape, he won’t let her die. You don’t need to worry too much.”
“Alletus helped with my escape?”
“Yes.”
“That… yes, I suppose he would.”
Sharmia breathed a sigh of relief, then clutched her stomach.
“I’m a bit hungry. Do you think there’s something to eat if I go outside?”
“There are murderers starving for blood.”
“?”
At the same moment Sharmia raised a question once more.
-Knock knock knock! Someone rapped on the door of the room.
“Stay where you are.”
Sharmia read my expression and her face went deathly white.
“The pursuit party already…”
“They’re not from the Imperial Palace.”
“…What?”
At the same moment she questioned it.
-Crash! The door was smashed open.
“Hey, damn it. You deaf or what? Why didn’t you answer?”
What burst through the door was a thug holding a leash.
The thug looked me and Sharmia over, scratched his head, and yanked on the leash he was holding.
“Hey, which one?”
“…”
The blood-soaked girl tethered to the leash lifted a trembling finger and pointed at Sharmia.
A smile crept across the thug’s lips.
“Hey there, miss. Don’t know who you are or where you’re from, but how about sharing some of that charity with me too…”
-Crack.
Those were his last words. The thug’s head rotated ninety degrees.
After that, I offered Sharmia, who was trembling, some kind advice.
“A word of warning: never pull out gold coins in front of other people again.”
“…Okay.”
Her tone was, for some reason, far more polite than before.