Chapter 84 — In which we meet the thrones (1)

Sulfious left behind his guards and headed alone through a long stone corridor into the darkness.

The wheels of his mechanical chair rattled on the rough ground.

As he headed deeper, guided by a small light of the lantern in his hand, he thought about that miraculous invention that enabled him to fulfill his duty as a ruler.

The inventor of it spent years just to figure out how to make the wheels rotate, so Sulfious would be able to change the direction of where he was going, rather than moving only in a straight line.

‘… But they said that the production is terribly expensive…’

Sulfious regretted it, as he couldn’t help but recall the faces of his soldiers, who would make much better use from such a contraption than him.

With each face, he could feel more clearly of how inadequate of a ruler he was.

He couldn’t understand why would that throne ever accept him…

Speaking of the throne.

“Little warrior brat is here!”

The old man looked up and was met with an enormous eye staring down at him.

“You called.”

“Yes. I suppose I did.”

The enormous eyes narrowed. Compared to the eye’s size, the pupils were narrow like a needle, and yet it was still wider than Sulfious’ head.

The gigantic snake lowered her head to be somehow on Sulfious’ eye level.

The golden body stretched endlessly around him like a cocoon.

“But now that you’re here, I don’t know what to say.”

It was hard to tell if the emotion that enormous snake’s voice held was disappointment or confusion.

Sulfious’ ears weren’t made to recognize the little differences in the snake’s hisses.

Somewhere, the end of their tail rattled.

“You don’t look so good, little brat.”

“I’m dying.”

Sulfious stated bluntly.

“Why?”

The snake looked at him with her other eye, as if examining him.

Sulfious calmly faced their unblinking gaze, as he answered:

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“I’m just old.”

“Really? Brat, you didn’t live even a hundred years, aren’t you a baby?”

The snake seemed to be confused.

Sulfious was used to it.

One of the first thing he learned as a ruler was that the throne had no sense of reality.

“No, people usually don’t live more than a hundred years.”

“Really? My friend didn’t look like you even after a hundred years passed…”

“Is that so? Seems like Her Majesty was a long-living one.”

“Yes! My friend said she planned to keep a pretty and lively face until the day when her light comes back!.. I wonder how she is doing.”

Sulfious held back a sigh.

He never had the courage to tell that monster that their friend was long-time gone.

He sometimes wondered if all the previous rulers lacked guts like him, but perhaps there was a simpler explanation.

Perhaps the creature just refused to believe that her friend was dead.

“But doesn’t it mean that our little brat is going to leave me?You’re not the one to reincarnate, so I hoped that you would stay with me a little longer…”

Was that a ‘sad’ hiss?

He wasn’t sure.

“Someone will replace me. Just like before.”

The tail rattled, as if expressing dissatisfaction

“It’s nice to meet new people, but it’s sad to let the old ones go. My friend promised that I would never feel lonely or hungry again. But though I’m not going hungry thanks to you hunting for me, I’m not sure… My friend wouldn’t lie to me, so this feeling must be something else, right?”

The snake turned her head and stared at him with her other eye.

“…”

“Seems like our little warrior brat also doesn’t know what is that feeling.”

“… … Did you call me to just talk with me?”

“Hm…”

The snake didn’t have a face to make that expression, but sometimes it looked as if she was smiling mischievously.

“Yes, I called to just talk.”

*-*-*

Crimo walked through the forest of strange and twisted trees.

Small floating flames guided his way through the unfathomable darkness, the old courtesy of His Reverence, Vermillian.

It wasn’t long before he stepped into an empty meadow, only a great trunk of a burned down tree decorating its center.

“You called… Rubrun.”

Something was sitting on the trunk.

The moonlight reflected in its glistening red feathers illuminated the entire meadow.

A bird so massive that even the shortest of its flight feathers was a length of the average house.

It blinked as if he fell asleep during the short moment it took Crimo to get here.

The Red Throne, Rubrun, tilted its head, and examined Crimo from the top to bottom.

“Ah… You’re… Um… Lune? Silv? Irion?”

“My name is Crimo.”

“Ah…”

It didn’t seem to ring any bells.

The bird lowered his head, scratched it with its claws and then suddenly jumped, opening his wings wide.

“Ah! That Crimo! The kid brought by little Belleder!”

“Yes.”

“Yes, yes, that girl, she is a bright but ruthless one. Haha. But I don’t think I saw her recently… Did she go somewhere?”

“She passed away.”

“Huh?… Is that so? I guess we’re already in this age, huh?”

Rubrun was a bit surprised, but then nodded his head a few times like some kind of old man.

Crimo crossed his arms behind his back to hide the fact he was fidgeting.

He always thought that one should be polite to elders, even if that elder was a giant bird lost in time and space.

“May I know why you called me? I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

“Hm? Why? Is something happening? Something wrong?”

Crimo’s expression turned extremely serious.

“Yes, actually. I’m losing time.”

“…. Losing time?”

“Yes, I lost five minutes I could spend with my younger brother.”

“Ohh….”

The bird fell silent for a moment.

“You have a brother? I thought you had a sister? Did your sister become a brother?”

“No… No, no. I have a brother and a sister.”

“Huh? Aren’t you a rich one, eh?”

Crimo’s expression turned grave this time.

“No. I’m not rich enough.”

He just remembered the price of red diamonds.

That put him in an even worse mood.

“Rubrun. Please tell me what you called me here for.”

“Yes? Did I call you?”

The damn bird forgot.

“Yes.”

Crimo clenched his fists behind his back.

He wondered if he smacked that empty head really hard, would he be able to get back to his little brother’s side quicker.

“Ah! Ah! I remember, I remember.”

As if it felt the threatening aura emitting from Crimo, Rubrun’s memory returned.

“But it wasn’t you that I was calling. You just got summoned by accident.”

The vicious aura that was about to subside, rose up with double intensity.

‘Should I tell Vern we’re having chicken for a midnight snack?’

When Crimo was considering his culinary options, the giant bird blinked his eyes very slowly and then carefully lowered its head, so the tip of its beak was in front of Crimo.

“But… It’s not so bad that you came. I have something to tell you.”

It spoke with a low voice.

“Beware of candles. They might start a fire.”

Then he returned to his original position.

“That’s all. You can now go back, little Moone.”

“It’s Crimo.”

That was Crimo’s goodbye when he immediately turned around to leave.

*~*~*