It was already nighttime. Much to Yuri's worries, both Conrad and Mari hadn't arrived yet. The rest of Conrad's men had already returned to Blood Pledge Castle late in the afternoon after Mari declared that the inspection was done and they secured the villagers who were able to escape the attack.
But even with that, neither the soldier nor the female Beast Knight ever mentioned coming home late. And yet it seemed that both Rina and Chie weren't worried at all, if Yuri was to base it on their calm expressions. Even Murata said the same thing upon observing his mentor.
Yuri couldn't help pacing back and forth within his office where they all decided to wait for the two to arrive.
"Yuri, can't you just sit for a while and stop moving around? You're giving me a headache with what you're doing right now," Wolfram said before sighing exasperatingly. Then again, even the blond soldier was tapping his foot on the floor with his arms crossed in front of him.
Yuri did stop and heaved a heavy sigh before facing Wolfram. "How am I supposed to stay calm when those two haven't arrived here until now. It's nearing bed time."
At this point, Chie couldn't help but chuckle that made the men in the room face her. "Yuri-kun, it seems to me you're doubting both Mari-san and Lord Weller's skills. They'll be alright. But knowing Mari…" This time, she was the one who took a deep breath. "Something must have caught her attention during the battle. She's someone who won't stop until she manages to gather the necessary facts to reach the truth, after all."
"Then again, she's not the only one who noticed a lot of strange things during our fight with the Phantasma. Especially the way those puppets disintegrated…" Rina trailed off and looked outside the large window of that room. "They've definitely upped their game this time. I won't be surprised if the enemies already know that we're here."
"The question is, will they be able to know who? I mean, they had no idea about our appearance or even our identity as Beast Knights."
"But they could sense our presence. It was more than enough to stir them up."
Silence filled the room after that. Only the Beast Knights and the Esovian Mazoku knew more facts about their enemies than the Mazoku living in Shin Makoku. But it seemed that even that knowledge wasn't enough to reach a conclusion soon.
More time of waiting had passed before a guard informed them that both Conrad and Mari had finally arrived in Blood Pledge Castle. Before anyone could stop Yuri, the young king dashed towards the door and opened it. Rina and Chie could only look at each other before laughing at the action while Wolfram was fuming before chasing after Yuri.
Before he could even stop himself, Gwendal ended up glancing at the Water Swordfish Knight who laughed at the spectacle before them before she shook her head. He couldn't understand why he did something like that. But he didn't hate doing that. He could look at Rina for longer than he intended to.
At that point, it was surely a strange thought. He had no intention of letting anyone know about it regardless.
Murata sighed with a resigned smile on his face when Gwendal thought he didn't notice the way the soldier would look at his mentor. But he knew that something else was stirring.
"This is going to be interesting," he whispered before ushering the others to finally leave the room and greet the arrival of Conrad and Mari.
xxxxxx
"Mari-san! What took you so long?"
Mari winced at the intensity of Yuri's voice as soon as she dismounted the horse she was riding the moment they arrived at the Blood Pledge Castle. Even from afar, she couldn't deny the fact that it did live up to the legend that she'd only read in books back in Esovia. It was still different to see the actual castle up close, though.
But perhaps she'd worry about that later. She soon heard Conrad chuckling, as if finding the initial greeting from Yuri funny. She didn't comment on it, though. Instead, she faced the young Maoh with a wry smile.
"Investigating took up quite some time. Sorry. I should've done something to let you know I'd be arriving late," she explained and even placed her hands together.
"Why would that take some time? We eliminated the Phantasma that attacked the village, right?" Rina asked, almost immediately interrupting Yuri when he was about to say something.
A heavy sigh came from Mari and even Conrad looked grim that the others soon took notice.
"Is that the reason why you decided to scour the grounds yourselves? You and Lord Weller?" Chie was the one who asked this time.
Mari nodded. This time, Yuri's frustration about his mentor and godfather coming home late had dissipated upon seeing the distraught expressions on their faces. If there was a big reason for them to arrive later than what was planned, then he had no reason to remain angry at them.
Instead —
"Mari-san, can you tell me what you've discovered in your investigation?" Yuri soon asked.
It took a while for Mari to say something. But Yuri waited for her to say something about his request. Not long after, she nodded. But that was after she faced Conrad, which was strange.
"Alright. But I'll let you know that it wasn't enough. I could only form certain speculations and hypotheses. But that's all I have for now. Do you still want to learn them?"
"Any information could be beneficial to us when the time comes. Maybe for now, we'll never know that. But I still want to know."
The Wind Tiger Knight could only look at the determination in Yuri's face after saying that. She knew that this young man had achieved so much ever since becoming the Maoh. But who would've thought that she would be able to see the resolution in his eyes herself, now that she and her friends were here in Shin Makoku?
With a heavy sigh, Mari nodded. "But we'll discuss this tomorrow morning. Is that alright with you? Dealing with the exhaustion I had after fighting that many Phantasma on the day that we arrived here isn't exactly something I have to endure the whole night right now."
That was when Yuri's determined expression changed to that of a panicked and worried one when Mari pointed that out. She could only laugh at the sight of the young king getting ruffled like that. Then again, this was the Yuri she was familiar with. And she'd rather deal with him like this than him being overly serious.
When the maids declared that dinner was ready, and when both Rina and Chie mentioned that all of their luggage were placed in their respective guestrooms, Mari took a deep breath once again and decided to finally have dinner before finally having a good rest. But before she could take a step up the stairs entering the castle, a woman's voice made her turn.
"Oh? This is unusual. Are you here to personally greet me now that I've arrived here, Your Majesty?"
They soon saw Lady Cherie exiting her carriage and wearing what seemed like a fulfilled smile on her face.
"Mother? I thought you'd be arriving tomorrow morning," Wolfram started before any of them could say anything.
"Well…" But the blonde woman didn't continue what she wanted to say. Instead, she let her eyes roam around the area, only to see new faces that she wasn't expecting at the moment. "Oh? Are we having guests tonight?"
Before anyone could say anything, the three female Beast Knights bowed to the new arrival and smiled.
"Forgive us for not introducing ourselves earlier. We're their guests from the Kingdom of Esovia. We were sent here to investigate the matter surrounding the attacks here in Shin Makoku," Rina started and stepped forward from her original position. "My name is Harusaki Rina and I'm the current Water Swordfish Knight."
Chie stepped forward, as well and bowed once again. "I'm Natsukawa Chie and I'm the current Fire Lion Knight."
The last one, Mari, only bowed when Lady Cherie faced her. "My name is Akiyama Mari, my lady. I'm the current Wind Tiger Knight and also a friend and mentor of King Yuri on Earth."
But to their confusion, Lady Cherie didn't say anything. In fact, she was quiet the entire time. When the others turned to the said woman, they all noticed her widened eyes while looking at… Mari?
"Mother? Are you alright?" This time, Conrad couldn't help asking, feeling worried. This was something new to them, after all.
The next words that came out of Lady Cherie's lips, however, was something they hadn't expected at all.
"Lyall?"
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