AN:

Hello, I know that it's been a really looong time since I have updated GSQ. I do apologize for that but I promised myself that I will finish this long fanfic. Please bear with me as it might take awhile. I already half forgotten about this and how I wanted the story to progress. I'm slowly getting it back on track.

As I reviewed my past additions to this fic, I started editing some of its contents. (primarily spelling and misuse of certain words and scenarios) I hope you like it. I will also insert image links for imagination purposes along the way. Since FF doesn't support placing images mid chapters.

Please use this link to view image references since FF doesn't allow mid chapter images. Please also be reminded that all the photos in the pinterest link are NOT mine. All the credits goes to their original owners because they made really amazing photos that I can use for inspiration.

The board contains images of how I imagine Branwen's looks, Her Clothes etc. I will be continuously updating this together with the fic.

/leiiiriuuki/god-save-our-queen-story-board/

Disclaimer: I do not own Kyou Kara Maou and any of its characters. This story is made solely because I can't get enough of Conrart and Yuuri.

Conrad thinks for a moment, then shakes his head.

"No."

But for some reason, I saw him frown at that. I looked at him intently urging him for the answer. Then the beautiful senior with the long grey hair and lilac eyes forces his way in between us.

"In any case, Your Majesty, this is not the place to talk. Please excuse the shabbiness and step inside," Günter says disparagingly of this house which isn't even his, and pushes me inside. I involuntarily turn, and glimpse what are probably the inhabitants of this village peering at us through the cloudy windows of their modest timber homes.

I'm still wearing my moist school uniform, so I'm grateful for the warmth of the room and the fire in the wood-stove. Just a few hours earlier I was in Japan in May, but where am I now? And what month is it?! The light of the setting sun shines through the dirty windows, but I don't even know if they're facing east or west anymore. If I were at home in Japan with these half-damp clothes on after being immersed in the park drainage, I would've stepped into the bath immediately. Ohh how I would love to take a nice warm bath.

I take off the disgustingly moist jacket and spread it out near the fire. That act arouses deep emotion in Günter.

"Your Majesty, do you wear black every day? It's magnificent, it suits you wonderfully! Only the king and his close relations wear black on a daily basis. That noble black hair, those black eyes—you are without question our Majesty!"

"...But this is just my school uniform...and besides, most Japanese are born with black hair and eyes..."

Though everyone's skin changes colour as they grow older. The dark-tanned Matsuzaki Shigeru look was popular until just recently. As for me, my hair's finally grown out a bit after being on the baseball team until mid-third year of junior high. It reaches my lower back now. I was thinking about cutting it once summer vacation comes around.

"School uniform? So that jacket is called a school uniform? I see, it must be made by highly-skilled craftsmen especially for Your Majesty."

Actually, they're mass-produced in factories and

customarily worn by junior and senior high school girls who participates in concourse all over Japan. And besides, since I'll be wearing this jacket for three years, it's still a bit big for my current size.

"Your Majesty, you may find it a bit cold, but it's already spring in this country," Conrad says, and takes up position next to the door. Maybe he's been assigned watch-duty—with his sword at his side, he folds his arms and leans his head back against the wall. His eyes slowly slide shut. I wonder who he really is. I mean who these people are, they don't look Japanese and they even say that this is not Japan.

Good thing they have set up a curtain dressing room inside the hut. I went out of my damp clothes and though uncomfortable with just wearing a blanket with two guys out there, I can't stay in my uniform because I might get sick. As a last resort I shift my chair as close to the fire as I can. There's a table of the kind of rough rustic workmanship that you would only see in a folk craft shop in the mountain recesses. Instead of the usual electric light that should be hanging from the ceiling, there's a flickering lamp of the mountain-hut variety.

"...You even created the season!—such attention to detail! What an elaborate attraction this is..."

"This is not an attraction," Conrad, still with his eyes closed, corrects me.

"But how am I supposed to believe it if you just tell me out of the blue like that! Here's what I'm guessing—one: that this is a really expensive and elaborate theme park attraction; two: that it's one of those candid camera shows you keep seeing on TV; three: that I'm dreaming—it must be one of those. There, choose one. I'm hoping for number three."

Conrad makes no response, but Günter in front of me looks a little worried. He turns to me, muttering terms unfamiliar to him.

"Tea-bee...candid camera...? Please wait a moment, Your Majesty, I'll explain everything to you. So please calm down and stop quizzing me on the vocabulary of your other world?" Günter takes a seat across from me.

Gee, I think I might have been too harsh.

"I'm sorry for bursting like that. Okay, I'm calm. Then please explain in a way that I will be able to understand."

Günter flings his hands up in defeat. Then he leans forward passionately and begins to speak.

"Then allow me to explain. Your Majesty, your soul should have been born here in this world eighteen years ago. However, because of the chaos following the war of that time, or perhaps because he felt the presence of someone of ill will in our midst targeting you, the Shinou judged that your soul should be sent to another world. Accordingly, we transported your sublime, still-unborn soul to Earth according to the Shinou's instructions. So Your Majesty was born from your current honorable father and mother, and have grown up in that world. But though you should have become an adult in safety in that other world, recent circumstances have dictated that you be called back..."

"Wait a minute, all this polite speech is making my head hurt. Can you talk a bit more directly?"

"Please do not request something so impossible. Your Majesty is Your Majesty, and we are your vassals."

"What's with all this Your Majesty Your Majesty Your Majesty? My name is Yuuri—Shibuya Yuuri Harajuku Furi. Well, that's what I've called myself for a while now. So the story goes like this: I should actually have been born in this world, but for some reason I was born and raised in another world. But because you need me now, you summoned me here from Japan. Have I got it all?"

"Marvelous, that's exactly correct. I am awed by your wisdom."

To my despair, Günter nods deeply with heartfelt delight. It's Narnia—I mean—right, so it's a familiar story. Actually, it's one of those old plotlines that are so overused in movies as well as anime and manga. Granted, there's a difference in quality between fiction novels and juvenile literature, but it's been recycled umpteen times. There's no originality to it at all. Although people are rarely actually pulled into them. And it's even more exceedingly rare for someone to get to them from a public lavatory.

"So, I traveled through a tunnel connecting to this world from a drainage and fell onto that mountain road?"

"That is correct. By our calculations, we should have been able to summon you into our kingdom—into the capital, in fact. However, perhaps we put too much power into it, and you landed on the outskirts of our borders, within the village of the humans. I am very sorry, Your Majesty. I'm very glad that of those we placed along the border to provide against a contingency, Conrart reached you in time. We are now within our own territory, so there is no need for further worry. Please be at ease."

So Conrad was stationed at the border huh?

"Be at ease? But you guys aren't exactly comfortable either, are you? Am I really the person you're looking for? If you look at the population density of Japan, there's a possibility that you've got the wrong person, isn't there? My appearance and brains are both well never mind about brains and looks, but I don't have any weird birthmarks—"

I don't have any special birthmarks that can be used as proof in this situation. If forced, I can only say that I have a faint scar on my left elbow from when I was a kid.

"But um, Günter...san, this burn-like scar on my left elbow was from rubbing against man-made turf while I was playing baseball. I wasn't born with anything that looks like the 'mark of the queen'."

My intellectual act starts to break down. To say it nicely, I'm like an actor answering questions about reports of a love affair. To put it baldly, I'm like a pet owner talking about his cat.

"No, I felt strongly that I could not be mistaken about you from the moment I first laid eyes on you, Your Majesty. That sublime, pure-black hair, those clear, unclouded dark eyes, that lovely color with which you were endowed from birth—and what's more, I cannot think that anyone but you would be clad in jet-black clothing."

Guh, he said lovely. That word should be used for someone like you, shouldn't it? Even guys in Japan would love you.

"And besides, you are proficient in our language, which makes it all the more obvious that it is no mistake. What Adalbert did to you...I deeply regret, but...he drew out the language stored deep within Your Majesty's soul. Without exception, all souls have a store of memories from the 'lives' they have lived. Of course, ordinarily the door to those memories is shut, and they are able to use only the knowledge they have learned in their new 'life'. But that man wrenched open the door and forcibly extracted a portion of the sealed memories. What savage, foul, unprincipled human magic!"

I nod timidly in response to that angry explanation.

"...Though I have heard that it can be pretty useful."

"That's outrageous! I'm glad that he was skilled enough to call out only the portion for language, but think of what would have happened if he had revived unnecessary memories! No one wants to know the travels of their own soul."

Though there seem to be a lot of people in Japan who would like to know. From his position to one side of the door, Conrad adds calmly, "But if you think about it, it's because of what he did that we're able to speak to Her Majesty like this now. There's no use bursting a vein over what's already done, Lord von Kleist."

"...But I have already prepared the textbooks and rulers to teach Her Majesty High Mazoku..."

His tone is full of heartfelt regret, but I'm rather uneasy about the intended use of those rulers. I have no problem if they're for underlining text, of course. (sweat drop)

"In any case, the fact that you understand the language of this land is proof that Your Majesty's soul comes from this world. My confidence has become conviction."

"Günter-san...I think I've heard that somewhere..."

I guess they somehow quite firmly believe that I'm their 'Majesty'.

But in this type of scenario, a hero or savior or prince or princess who is the protagonist of the story usually resolves the world's problems and gives the story a happy ending. Even one renowned best-selling author has said that people don't like stories without happy endings.

"All right, I think it's a bit much to expect me to believe all of this, but how about we just leave it at that for now? So let's get this over with. What mission did you summon me here for? Should I go save someone? Or slay a fire-breathing monster?"

"Fire-breathing monster? You mean dragon?! Certainly not! That species has been hunted to the edge of extinction by humans, and we are desperately trying to protect them."

So dragons are at the top of the endangered species list in this world.

From the wooden door comes the sound of several diffident knocks. Conrad carefully opens it with a slight crack, sword in hand. Why is he being so cautious? Standing there are some children around ten years of age, looking up at him with wide grins.

"Hey you!" Conrad greeted with "that" smile.

"Conrad! Teach us to throw—we can't get the ball to go straight at all!" one of the kids said.

"Teach us to hit it, too! And then we need to know how to end the game." the other one urged as well.

Their parents are too afraid of the soldiers to venture outside, but that doesn't seem to be the case for these children. And for them, Conrad isn't Lord Weller or Your Excellency, but simply an older playmate. I chuckled at that. He's good with kids too.

"All of you, the sun's going down, and it's going to be pitch dark soon. We won't be able to see anything in a little while." Conrart said to pacify the kids. But I guess they are really determined to get him to play with them. Arguing with him with phrases like

"You can still see."

"It's still fine!"

He looks worriedly over at me as if asking for my permission. "Don't worry about me, Lord Conrad! I'll be fine" I smiled and nodded at him. He then bowed lightly and went through the door.

"...He must be a great person if the children like him so much. I wish I could go with them."

"Yes, he is perhaps the best commander in the kingdom. Of all my pupils, he was my pride. But your majesty, don't you wish to know more about your land?"

"So you're a teacher, um, von Kleist-san? Well I certainly want to know where I am, I'm not so sure about the "my land part though." "

"Please do call me Günter. Yes, of course, I am a teacher, and serve as an advisor and assistant to Your Majesty the Queen."

"If you're a teacher, then can you tell me in simple terms? Günter, what am I supposed to do here in this world? What sort of evil enemy do I need to defeat before I can go home to Saitama?"

"Humans."

The firewood in the stove splits apart with a crack.

"...Humans...so...that's...which one...?"

"Not which one, Your Majesty. We must annihilate all the humans who are hostile towards our country and burn their countries to cinders. In order to do so, we need a leader—we need Your Majesty's powers as our ruler."

Annihilate humans and burn them to cinders?

Annihilate humans?!

I kick the chair away in my hurry to get away—and failing, land on the floor on my backside. Günter panics and rushes over. But I stopped him in the nick of time, the blanket that's covering me and my naked body got untangled and I don't want anyone seeing that now would I?

"Are you all right, Your Majesty?"

"yeah, I'm fine. Just stay where you are"

"Woah, wait a minute! Are you saying that we need to kill humans, Günter-san?! Then you'll have to kill me too! I mean, however you look at it, I'm just an ordinary human being—no, wait, and you guys, your faces look a bit different, but...you're human too, aren't you?"

"However you look at it, Your Majesty is one of us, one of the Demon Clan, the Mazoku. Even more so, for you are he who must be honored for bearing the noble black! None but the king of the Mazoku or those chosen to be close to him who are born carrying the black. And what's more, both your eyes and hair are black—you are the living bearer of the twin black..."

I have a feeling that there's a sentence in there that I didn't catch.

"The same what as you?"

"Mazoku, the Demon Tribe."

No way.

"...So, what am I supposed to be the ruler of?"

"You are Her Majesty the Maou, Queen of the Demons."

"Maou."

"Dad, Dad, look, there's a 'Honyara' over there, I'm scared!"

An Achoo!Great 'Honyara'.

Originally the Great 'Honyara' of Yokohama.

Huh, wait, I somehow feel like the Great 'Honyara' of Hama is not the right answer.

What is this 'Honyara' supposed to be, anyway?

Probably the terrible boss of the demons, the one who hunts down and curses and kills human beings?

So then, what am I supposed to be ruler of again?

"Get a hold of yourself, your Majesty, please calm down! Retain your sanity! You are the one who has become our hope, Her Majesty the Twenty-Seventh Maou!"

Oh boy, my head is spinning and no matter how smart I am I can't seem to make my brain process what he is saying.. He really is calling me the Maou. But twenty-seven is a good number, right? 27 is... STILL! This is all so..Arghh! UNBELIEVABLE!

My shoulders are seized and shaken back and forth. My consciousness is taking a flight from reality due to the excessive shock. Because this person here is telling me that I have to become a demon and beat humans to a pulp. That's totally impossible, I could never do something like that—why isn't my enemy a slimy evil sorcerer or a devilish dragon or the great demon king or something?—oh wait, I'm supposed to be the demon queen, so does that mean I'm on the enemy side in this world?! So then I'm going to be the final boss defeated by the hero or savior in the last dungeon?! Dammit, if that's the way it's going to be, then I'll take the hero on with all I've got so he won't be able to finish the game without pressing reset at least two or three times! He's not going to get past me without being at level 99 if it kills me...oy, it's not going to be if it kills me—if I'm the last boss, I'm really going to die! My brain cells are going off at their in-a-pinch machine-gun firing rate—I'm panicking at the enemy's magical attack here!

Here I am again with my fantasy. I'm overthinking the situation.

"Aaah, no way, someone tell me it's all a lie!"

I can't maintain my calm!

"It's not a lie, Your Majesty! You truly are the Maou. Congratulations, you are the Maou starting today!"

Congratulations for what?! I can't seem to comprehend everything that's going on so I decided to go outside.

Outside, the sky is already half-purple, the remaining half orange.

Only the unsteady, wavering light of lamp-flames escape from the windows of the village houses. From among them come the sounds of frolicking children and dimly, the movement of their smiling faces. I went to where they were playing and sat quietly in a stone block

"Your Majesty?"

"Woah! Can you please stop calling me 'Your Majesty'?"

I was startled by Lord Conrad. He is leaning against a wall, arms folded. Three steps away is a square piece of wood, and beside it a child of about ten. He's holding a club poised in his hands—they're apparently playing a game somewhere between cricket and baseball; the bat's handle is wrapped with cloth, but is strangely thick, and there are two outfielders behind the pitcher but no catcher at all.

"I don't know much about the rules of cricket, but who comes up after someone hits?"

"That's difficult in a village with only five children."

So there's one more in the outfield. He or she is only a shadow in the twilight.

The pitcher throws something that looks like a ball, but the batter swings dramatically at empty air. The ball rolls to the wall, and Conrad picks it up and throws it back. These are the advanced conditions they're playing under.

"Three strikes and you're out, Howell; switch with first base."

"So you're playing baseball?"

But why is there baseball in this world of sword and magic...? The child in the outfield is running towards us.

"Wait, wait! If this is baseball, then why isn't there a catcher? You can take that position, can't you?"

"It'd be unfair for an adult to join in."

"No, no, that's not the problem. It's not a game if it's not complete. So let's see—you playing outfielder, what's your name?"

"Brandon."

He's right at the age when his voice is changing, and it's scratchy and hoarse.

"Then, Brandon, you be the catcher. See, you squat here and catch the ball when it comes. Oh, but you guys don't have a mitt?—what, and no gloves either?!"

"Your Majesty...I mean, Lady Yuuri, this is a village founded by refugees from across the border. So they're not exactly stocked in sports equipment."

The boy shakes off my hand and looks fearfully up at me.

"Your Majesty'? Conrart, why are you calling her Your Majesty? Who is she?! The scary person that Mom and the others were talking about?"

"Brandon! This is the one who has become the queen of our country. Far from being a scary person, she is the gentle person who will protect your village."

Stop telling him something I haven't even thought about.

"Queen?!"

But the five gathered here...four boys and a girl, kneel where they're standing and cover their faces. There's even a kid who's pressing his head against the ground. It's not a gesture of great respect. They are.. scared?

"Oh please, Your Majesty! Please don't cut off our heads! Please don't burn down our houses!"

"Howell, none of you have done anything bad, so Her Majesty would never do anything like that. Here, Emma, get up now."

"But my dad, because the King..."

The little girl, who appears to be recalling some painful memories, starts to cry. I held my hand to her telling her to stop crying. She resisted but I made a funny face and she looked at me with confused eyes. Then began laughing along with the other kids after a while.

"I'm not so scary now am I?"

"nah uhh!" They chorused

I played with them for a bit teaching them how baseball and catch really works. The children squealed in glee. But everything was short lived as the doors of several houses opened, and the mother of each child shouted his or her name. The children all dash off towards their homes.

"bye bye your majesty!"

"bye bye! and don't call me your majesty!"

I pick up the ball lying at my feet. Gee...Don't decide for me kid. With this light and that pitcher, there would probably be no need for either a mask or a mitt. The ball is a soft round leather bag stuffed with straw and sewed together. Even the person throwing it wouldn't be able to gauge his speed.

"When I was their age, I played baseball until dark, too. And at night I would watch games on TV—I found it hard to do my homework but mom always says that if I can't finish all my homework and get A in class she would not allow me to play." I smiled at the memory and looked at Lord Weller

"Children are the same in this world as well." he said

I step on the piece of wood serving as home plate.

"Hey, Lord Weller?"

"Yes? and please call me by my given name your majesty" he smiled at me a genuine smile.

"haha! alright then Conrad. Then call me Yuuri too." I chuckled then he asked me to continue what I was going to ask.

"Is it true that I'm the queen? The great demon queen—the great Maou—that would silence even crying children?"

"It's true. Though I don't know about the great part though, Your Majesty is genuinely the twenty-seventh ruler of the Kingdom of Shinma."

"That's mean! What do you mean "you don't know about the great part"?" I argued. He laughed at my reaction and I continued.

"Then I'll chop off people's heads too?"

"Not at all! This should be called a village of refugees. It's true that one winter six years ago, all the men of the village were executed in an oppressive act due to a religious misunderstanding. The women and children came to the border seeking asylum, and we lent them this land mostly without taxation on the condition that the agricultural fields would not spread further. They rejected the foolish king of the human kingdom who killed their men and burned down their houses. Although..." Conrad presses his lips together and looks down at me and grinned. "...I hope that you will remember that not all humans are like that. Here, Your Majesty, let's go in. When it gets dark the temperature drops pretty sharply. I'll get lectured by Günter again if you were to get sick."

Stars begin to appear. The moon is still low in the sky. The light coming through the window is dim and forlorn.

Nothing else illuminates the night. No neon lights or vending machines or computers or street lights. It's beautiful.

What kind of place have I found myself in?

"...What kind of a trap have I gotten myself into?"

"trap? But this is your world. Your majesty"

Conrad smiles as he shuts the door. In this twilight devoid of any other major light sources, even the light of the lamp within the room looks like a horizontal search beam.

"Welcome home, Your Majesty. To this place where your soul should have been born."