Author's notes: Butterflyman is novel canon.
And if you want more insight on how awesome Butterflyman and Ninja Conrad can be, check out ShinyShimaron's Ruminations of Conrad the Ninja!
Chapter 1: A Crime-Fighter Like….Butterflyman
Conrad was very bored. It was the kind of bored that only happened when Yuuri wasn't around. He had no-one to guard, no-one to go on a morning run with, and no-one to play baseball with. Conrad had tried playing baseball with Wolfram once, but that had quickly turned into a game of dodge the fireballs, which wasn't nearly as fun as baseball. Even though Wolfram had become somewhat more mature lately, he still lost his temper quite easily when he wasn't good at something.
Since he currently had nothing better to do, he leaned against the wall in Gwendel's office and watched as Yozak arrived to give his latest spy report.
"How is the situation in Dai Shimaron?" Gwendel asked.
"Not good," said Yozak. "Adalbert has been a little too effective at creating resistance to Lanzhil's rule."
Gwendel grunted and his eye twitched at that piece of news, but he motioned for Yozak to continue.
"Lanzhil is afraid of a revolution, and has started imposing martial law. He recently closed the borders and is also restricting travel within the country."
"How did you manage to leave?" Gwendel asked.
Yozak put a hand on Gwendel's desk and leaned over. "That's a trade secret," he said with a wink.
Gwendel just grunted.
Yozak straightened up. "There are rumors that King Saralegui might become involved." he added.
Gwendel made a note on a piece of parchment, but didn't say anything.
Conrad frowned. As much as it would be a good thing if Lanzhil were to be disposed, what would happen if he were replaced by someone even worse? Or if Saralegui took over and had control of both Dai and Shou Shimaron?
"Dismissed," Gwendel said. Then he went back to his current paperwork with a slight twitch to his eyebrow.
Yozak left the room loudly proclaiming how much better the baths in Shin Makoku were than the ones in Dai Shimaron.
Gwendel twitched slightly again, but otherwise didn't respond.
"Gwendel…" Conrad began.
"No," Gwendel said gruffly without looking up from his paperwork.
"What?" Conrad asked
Gwendel put down his quill for a moment and looked up, "I know what you are thinking, and the answer is no. His Majesty might not be around, but do you ever consider how the rest of us feel when you run off and get yourself into dangerous situations all the time?" Gwendel coughed as if expressing so much emotion risked bringing on a physical ailment, and continued gruffly, "As the Maou's personal guard you need to learn to be more responsible."
"Don't worry, Gwendel, I'm not planning on getting myself in any dangerous situations," Conrad said.
Gwendel just grunted, and absorbed himself in his paperwork once more.
Conrad left Gwendel's office reflecting that he had only promised not to get himself into a dangerous situation. He hadn't said anything about not running off to Dai Shimaron to dress up as the Blue Wind again. That sort of thing was perfectly safe after all.
~o~
The last time that Conrad had helped people as the Blue Wind, it had been fun. Kind of like getting to act like his favorite superhero from Earth: Butterflyman. It was really too bad he couldn't shoot silk thread or have a chrysalis car like Butterflyman. At night, Butterflyman would drive his chrysalis car through the streets of Mothman city and emerge fully formed to fight for justice. Then the caped hero would fly through the night, throwing wing scales at the bad guys. There was even a skyscraper on Earth that was named the Chrysalis building in honor of Butterflyman. Conrad wondered if he should try asking Yuuri to bring him back a chrysalis car sometime. José had shown him a car on Earth once that he claimed was a chrysalis car, but it hadn't looked anything like Butterflyman's car, so obviously it had been a fake.
Even if he couldn't have neat lepidopteran gadgets, all Conrad really needed was his sword and an awesome outfit to conceal his identity.
But what did it really mean to be a hero like Butterflyman? Even Butterflyman himself didn't know sometimes. All he knew is that he was different, had fed on the leaves of tragedy and fear until he became something disgusting and unrecognizable. A worm, and not just any worm, but the type of worm that feeds on garden vegetables and makes old ladies scream with rage when they find the skeletonized remains of their plants covered in caterpillar feces. And when Butterflyman realized what he had become, he decided to change. Not a superficial change, but a deep one that broke down everything that he had become and rebuilt it through a painful process called metamorphosis. But even when Butterflyman emerged fully formed and drastically changed, he was still the same worm deep underneath. And he fought for justice for people who hated and despised him. Maybe they knew he was still a worm deep down inside, but at least he had pieced himself back together and was trying to make the world a better place.
In a way, it was kind of fitting that Butterflyman had been afraid of butterflies, since the metaphor of change fit him so well.
Conrad opened the secret compartment under his dresser drawer and checked the contents inside. They were still there. The light blue cape, the blue uniform, the thick brown gloves, and the dark purple face mask. He quickly stuffed all the articles into a travel pack.
Conrad doubted that anyone would miss him. He wouldn't be gone for very long, just enough to stabilize the situation in Dai Shimaron a little. Gwendel would probably still be working on the same stack of paperwork by the time he returned. Besides, it wasn't like there was anything pressing for Conrad to do at the castle right now.
He was just finishing up saddling his horse when Yozak dropped down out of the stable rafters.
"Going somewhere, captain?" he asked.
"Yozak, I think it's time for a return of the Blue Wind," Conrad said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. This time he will be helping the people by stabilizing things," Conrad said.
"So, we're going to stabilize things. Wouldn't that just be undoing what we did before?" Yozak asked.
Conrad wondered why Yozak had used the word 'we'. Did that mean Yozak would be coming with him? Most heroes had sidekicks. Butterflyman had the Vedalia Beetle, who followed him around devotedly and sometimes helped. But mostly sidekicks just wanted to learn from the more experienced hero.
"No. Last time we helped the people by inciting riots that they wanted to have anyway. This time we're going to make things more stable and help people. That makes the Blue Wind twice as heroic," Conrad explained.
"Well, if you say so, captain," Yozak replied uncertainly.
"Don't worry, Yozak. When I was on Earth I learned about superheroes from a show called Butterflyman. I'll teach you everything I know."
"Butterflyman?" Yozak asked.
"Yes. It was about a man who dressed up as a Butterfly and flew around Mothman City fighting criminals."
"Sure, captain," Yozak said as they began riding off. He knew better than to question anything Conrad said about Earth.