Note: Sorry for the long absence. I was really stressed and sick, to the extent of me not going to the internet, stopped drawing, watching anime, socializing and writing as well. But ever since the beginning of this year, I got back on the pace of life and let's just say, I got my posture back, thanks to the people around me that helped me to see the positive side I know I have lost so many readers over the past 2 years due to my long absence, giving up on this fanfic but it's alright. I'll try my best to keep the story on. I'm still love this fandom you see Let the chapter begin!
"Conrad…"
"Hush. Rest. Yozak and I will take care of things here." The swordsman whispered as he tried to coax his ex-teacher to rest and stay in bed.
The 27th King's advisor and teacher shook his head in doubt lightly and opened his misty, amethyst eyes slowly. He let out a soft sigh.
"Protect His Majesty."
"Gunther! Please do not say that in such a tone that you're going to leave all of us. I'm sure His Highness is coming up with a solution and everything's going to be alright."
Gunther did not even bother to look into his ex-student's eyes. He just stared at the brown ceiling and smiled. He blinked his long lashes three times, before closing his eyes entirely and drifted himself into a deep slumber.
Conrad stood up, bit his lower lip and left the room. He closed the giant doors as quietly as he could; making sure that he would not disturb the beautiful advisor.
Conrad had found Gunther lying on the floor in Gwendal's room, panting as if he had gone for a swim and was in pain.
"Stop! Don't eat me! Stop eating me piece by piece! Stop eating my flesh and organs!" Was what Gunther was muttering when Conrad found him sprawled on the floor.
When Conrad told Gunther that everything's okay, and no one is eating him up, Gunther only ended up screaming for help, begging Conrad to end his life.
"I'm sorry Gunther!" Was what Conrad said remorsefully before punching Gunther into the stomach which made him lost consciousness.
With the help of Dascoscos, he and Conrad brought Gunther back to his room.
Conrad was glad that Dascoscos was around; relieved to know that he was one of the Mazokus who had only suffered mild symptoms of the disease due to his weak maryoku.
"Having too much of a good thing can do you harm. Having too little of that good thing is a blessing." Was what Conrad told Dascoscos to reassure him that he's one of the lucky ones to not be suffering from the disease, like Gunther.
The masculine brunette walked along the deserted hallways aimlessly as he worried about his young loved ones.
Wolfram has the strongest maryoku among the three brothers. If witnessing Gunther suffering earlier on was considered severe, whatever is going to happen when Wolfram catches it? The possibility of Wolfram discovering the disease too late and him suffering more than the others would be high.
How about Yuuri? Conrad knew that Yuuri wouldn't be suffering from the disease physically, but not telling him about the situation would destroy the King mentally. He had to pretend that nothing is going on and keep quiet as his subordinates work out of a solution.
Unconsciously, Conrad found himself walking towards the flower bed where his mother grew her flowers.
The flowers, most of them, wilted and lost its petals. Some of them were so dried up that they died. No one had the time to take care of the flowers and it never rained ever since people are reporting sick for the past month.
"Feeling guilty, Captain?"
A familiar voice made Conrad stopped his rambling in his inner monologue and turned. There stood his childhood companion and best friend.
The orange-haired man, whom is much more masculine than Conrad was smiling, with his blue eyes giving no hint of happiness in them.
"Yozak…" Conrad murmured.
"Captain. What are you intending to do next? Since all the higher ups are going down one by one?"
"Even Wolfram?"
"I'm not sure about the little lord brat but considering that I hadn't seen him for the past 2 days, let's just say I'm sure he's somewhere in the castle, alive and kicking."
Conrad narrowed his hazel eyes in annoyance and sighed. He took a few steps away from Yozak, and bored his eyes towards the semi-dead flowers.
"Staring at these flowers won't help Captain."
"I have to wonder, why we are still standing here, not being able to do anything but hope for a miracle to happen? Why are we spared from all this mess?" Conrad started, without turning to look at the spy.
"Because we are not full-blooded demons. No matter how many times we declare that we are demons and we side with the demons, we are still humans. Our blood says that and we have no right to claim the right of owning a demon's body." Yozak put it in bluntly.
"Having too much of a good thing can do harm to us, but having too little of that good thing is a blessing. However, having nothing of that "good" thing won't bring us anywhere but outcast from society." The brunette spoke in a tone that made Yozak shrug.
"Yea, it hurts a little. Here at least." Yozak replied, punching his left chest lightly.
Conrad chuckled a little and finally, he turned to face Yozak and smiled.
"Come on Captain! Since there's no one to order us around anymore, let's go see His Highness! And get this gig some answers!" The spy exclaimed as he stretched his arms and walked away from the flower bed.
"Oh? How about His Majesty? He's the one who's not down, yet he has the power to order us around."
"Hahaha! The kid's probably somewhere in the castle, trying to find us. Let's get out of here before he does. I won't be able to explain the situation to him when he gets to us. Since we don't have the answers to ourselves."
~oOoooOooooooOOoooooooooooooo ooooOooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooo OOoOOOOOOO~
"You know, ever since I came back here, I have yet to see Greta." Yuuri mumbled rather quietly but loud enough for his fiancé to hear.
Wolfram's fingers fumbled clumsily as he buttoned up his white blouse, before carefully putting on his blazer.
"Remember the time, during her 12th birthday party, Mother gave her a present?" Wolfram replied as he adjusted his uniform.
"What was the present again? Ummm….. Something intangible or something like that?" Yuuri folded his arms across his slender chest and bit his inside cheek as he tried to remember what the present was.
"Yeah. The opportunity to go travelling with Mother on her trips."
"And you agreed to it?!"
"She pestered us about it for a week. Don't you remember that?" Wolfram asked angrily, the way that Yuuri's used to it by now.
Yuuri fell silent for a moment and went, "Oh yeah." sheepishly.
The thought of Greta playing alone in the castle and looking out at the window waiting for her father's return played in Yuuri's mind. All of a sudden, he felt relieved that he had allowed her daughter to sail around the world with 26th Maoh of Shin Makoku.
"So she's not back yet?"
"I heard no sign of her coming back ever since we came back from Earth. And no one told us anything that Greta's coming back, so I'm not sure." The ex-prince placed his left hand onto his left hip, Wolfram-style.
Yuuri held his chin with his fingers, thinking on what to do next.
"Should we go and gather information about what is going on here or wait for Conrad to explain the situation?"
Yuuri waited for Wolfram's reply but it didn't came. Yuuri blinked his eyes open and turned to see the blonde staring out of the window, smiling. Curious, Yuuri went to window and stood beside Wolfram.
"It's Greta!" Wolfram exclaimed.
Yuuri looked out of the window and jumped, appalled. What he saw was a young girl, taller than when he had last saw her. Her red, short hair was no longer short. Instead, it rested on her petite shoulders, swaying from left to right as she walked. Just by the way she walked; Yuuri knew that it was his daughter out there.
"GRETAA!~"
The girl stopped walking and turned around slowly. She blinked her dark hazel eyes twice, making sure that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her that her father, Yuuri, had returned safely back to Shin Makoku.
The double black was running towards her, gleefully with his arms spread wide open. Her other father, the pretty one, was tagging along behind Yuuri. Greta blinked again and she saw 2 bear-shaped figures were also tagging along as well, flying a few meters above their heads.
Greta inhaled a huge amount of oxygen through her mouth before replying "Yuuri!" with a wide smile on her cute face.
Before she could run up to him, the King had already picked her up and hugged her tightly.
"Ah Greta!~ I've missed you so much!" He exclaimed as he embraced her tighter. After a few seconds, they broke off from the embrace and stared into each other's eyes.
"You've grown so much since I've last seen you! Look at how tall you are now! And your hair too! My little daughter have grown so much!" Yuuri exclaimed as he rubbed his own cheek against Greta's
"Yuuri…" Was what the princess had only managed to say. She did not feel like talking, although she had wanted to comment on how tall Yuuri had grown as well.
Both Yuuri and Wolfram looked towards her and they knew that something was out of place. Her cheerful daughter had this sad look in her eyes. She wasn't acting as excited as she usually does when Yuuri comes back home.
"Greta? What's wrong?" Yuuri asked, realizing that Greta wasn't asking him a whole set of questions or lecturing him about coming home late.
Greta did not reply. She just stared onto her feet, refusing to make any eye contact with her parents.
Yuuri was at loss, not knowing what else to break off the silence between them. Yuuri narrowed his eyes towards Wolfram. The ex-prince was giving his King a look that Yuuri knew too well.
The - "You're such a wimp."- Look.
"Why are you alone Greta? Didn't you came back with your grandmother?" Wolfram decided to ask to break the ice.
Greta still did not reply, but instead, tears started to well in Greta's eyes. Her shoulders were shivering, trying to hold back the tears.
"Greta? Why are you crying?!" Yuuri panicked.
"Are you hurt anywhere? " Wolfram panicked as well, grabbing onto his daughter's shoulders with little force.
"Cheri…" Greta finally murmured.
"Mother? What's wrong with her?" At this point of time, Wolfram knew that something was really wrong. He clutched onto Greta's shoulders more tightly, demanding for an answer.
"It's okay Greta, take your time. You're a strong lady, aren't you?" said Yuuri, as he took a hold onto Wolfram's hands which were clutching onto Greta's delicate shoulders and urged Wolfram to relax and let go of Greta.
Yuuri turn to face Wolfram and mouthed him, "I'll handle it."
After a few hiccups from their adopted child, Greta finally managed to say,
"Cheri's on bed… Sick! Anissinna too. Both of them looked really sick! I'm scared that they're going to die!"
Yuuri grabbed Greta once again, brought her into a tight embrace and whispered,
"It's alright. You did your best. Let the both of us handle this alright?"
After the long embrace, Greta finally pulled away, trying to give her parents a smile.
"I'm glad you're back Yuuri!" The young girl suddenly raised her voice, "I've been so worried about you!"
Wolfram glared daggers at his fiancé as Yuuri guiltily scratched the back of his head.
"Ahahaha Greta? What have you been doing since you came back?" Yuuri asked , considering the reason as to why Greta is left alone was unexplainable.
Wasn't she supposed to be with the maids or Gwendal?
Not only Gwendal, where is everybody?
"At first, after I visited Anissinna with Gwendal, Gwendal brought me to Lasagnia and the others to keep me company. But they were busy chatting among each other, things that they're whispering about but I could still hear them, and it made me feel sad. So, I went out of the room while they were busy making tea and cookies for me. That's how I ended up here."
"Eh? Why would Gwendal do that?" Yuuri asked out loud.
Wolfram ignored Yuuri's obvious question and squatted down to match himself with Greta's height.
"You know Greta, I have a job for you. Are you willing to take it?" Wolfram asked, with a smile that Yuuri thought that could easily match with a demure lady.
"What kind of job? If it's something horrible or it's something that's supposed to keep myself away from you two, I'm not doing it."
Wolfram chuckled. "It's an important one. When we came back, I walked by the flower bed. Most of the flowers are thirsty. They lost their color and most of them are dried up. But they're still alive. It seems everybody's been busy and had no time to water them. "
Wolfram stood up, raised his head and looked at the sky. The sky was blue, but the clouds were little and the sun shone as brightly as it could, causing the blonde's strands of hair shone due to the sunlight. Wolfram closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before continuing.
"It's been humid lately and there's no rain, so would you take up this job and water them?"
"I was about to go there myself." The daughter pouted, crossing her arms. Yuuri figured that she learned that from Wolfram.
Wolfram chuckled again and patted Greta's head with the palm of his hand. "That's my girl!"
Yuuri watched as both Greta and Wolfram giggled together. Yuuri had not yet grasped this image of Wolfram before. The image of a young man, whom he knew him as an arrogant and prideful brat in the past, is laughing with a human child.
"But, where would you two be going? Are you going to leave me all alone again?"
The rumored royal couple faced each other, blinked and smiled in unison.
"You won't be alone, Greta! We brought friends! Notice the bearbees above us? They're going to keep you company." Yuuri said as he messed up Greta's hair mischievously.
The two bearbees went on and cuddled into Greta's arms. Greta laughed with joy as the bearbees licked her and rubbed their cheeks against hers. They knew that they couldn't follow Yuuri and Wolfram so instead; they decided to keep the lonely girl company.
"When you're done with the flowers, go back with Lasagnia and the others okay? We'll be back once we find out what's going on! I won't let my people die, so don't worry alright?" Yuuri kissed his daughter's forehead and walked away, with Wolfram tagging along.
"I'm going to Shinou's Temple and look for Murata. Wolf? You want to come along or do you want to visit Cheri first?" Yuuri asked awkwardly, as they walked towards the stables.
"I'm fine. I'll go with you. We'll visit Mother after we know what's going on."
The end of Chapter 8!
That was fun to write, it's been a while since I felt that hehe!
Chapter 9's coming up so stay tuned! :D
The mysteries of the plague would be revealed in the next chapter