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Title: A Day Late

Summary: Yuri arrives in the other world late, and the race for the Boxes has already begun.

Notes: Yuri and company arrive in Francia, and he meets some familiar (to us) faces.

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Part II, Chapter 6

What is strength (I)

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"Alright, we're here," Fanberlain said, looking back at the procession that trailed after him through Francia's streets. His eyes flicked between them in a quick head count. There were the three boys from the Demon Tribe, gawking in various degrees but keeping mostly in line. There were his men, bringing the goods they would present to Francia's king, loaded in a large cart - just in case they needed to transport some bulk object back to their ship.

Nodding to himself, he turned to the Demon Tribesmen. "Just let me do the talking. There is a certain way of doing things here," he cautioned them.

Yuri forced himself to pull his eyes away from the Francian castle and acknowledged Fanberlain's instructions. Behind him, Wolfram tilted his parasol a little to watch the merchant, and Murata tilted his chin thoughtfully, light glinting off his glasses.

"The king of Francia, Antoine Jean Pierre, has a fondness for rare objects, which we'll be using to gain audience with him," Fanberlain explained. "Fortunately, we arrived ahead of whoever Big Cimaron sent, though we probably have a few days at most."

Yuri nodded in understanding. "But what's up with all these other people?" he asked, looking around the throngs of exotic and downright bizarre individuals that milled around them. "They look like they're not from around here."

"They're all from other human nations," Fanberlain said, frowning a little. "They must be foreign delegations. They're probably here for the same reason we are."

"Competitions, huh?" Wolfram muttered, tilting his parasol down again to hide his face and gripping the handle tightly.

"Don't worry! You've got a great advantage on your side," Fanberlain said with a roguish smirk. "My amazing skills!"

Putting on his best salesman smile, he advanced through the crowd toward the palace gates. As Yuri and Wolfram watched with interest and grudging respect, he quickly charmed the guards and the officials who manned the gate. In what seemed like no time at all, he waved to the Demon Tribesman, beckoning the closer.

Together, the four of them slipped into the palace.

"Wow, we made it inside," Yuri said brightly. He looked around the hallways they were lead through with clear admiration, especially toward the strange art pieces (?) that decorated them. "Way to go, Mr. Fanfan!"

Smirking, Fanberlain smoothed back his hair and adjusted his cravat. "It's just the first step. We've only made it into the waiting room, as it were."

Leading them into a large, airy gallery, the palace servant they had been following bowed low and said, "Please enjoy the royal collection. I will inform His Majesty of your presence. However, he has been feeling ill recently and may be unable to welcome you himself."

"Understandable! We are happy just getting a glimpse of His Majesty's collection. He has exquisite taste," Fanberlain agreed, smiling smoothly. Watching the servant depart, he added, "And now we wait."

"Is the king going to meet with us?" Yuri wondered.

"Maybe," Fanberlain allowed. "It depends on a few things. In any case, leave it to me. Just enjoy the sights. This really is an amazing collection."

He clapped Yuri on the shoulder and headed deeper into the gallery, leaving Yuri look after him with a somewhat dubious expression. 'Is it really okay to just hang around here and wait?' Yuri thought. He glanced around at his companions, but they seemed to have taken Fanberlain's advice and moved to study the art pieces (?) on display.

"Don't get so worked up, Shibuya," Murata suggested, not looking away from the vase (?) he was peering at. "Let him work his stuff. Hm, I think I recognize this thing..."

Starting to feel rebuffed and sulky, Yuri glanced at Wolfram without much hope. Indeed, the blonde seemed to be fascinated by one of the paintings. "These brush strokes are marvelous," he could be heard muttering to himself.

Yuri sighed.

Unlike his companions, he couldn't look at the exhibits for more than a few seconds before his thoughts circled back to the Boxes, to Big Cimaron on their way to Francia, to what would happen if they were too late. He paced back and forth restlessly, his thoughts churning uneasily, until he began to get dizzy.

As the gallery spun alarmingly, Yuri was forced to bend over, hands on his knees, and take deep breaths. He stared at the polished floor between his shoes.

'I can't just wait here,' he thought. 'I'm not just going to let myself get sent off to look at some trinkets. I'm going too!'

Nodding to himself, Yuri turned around once more and stalked off in the direction Fanberlain had gone. Murata watched him go out of the corner of his eye. 'It's got to be hard for you, Shibuya, but you're going to have to learn patience at some point,' he thought, turning back to the art piece in front of him.

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The gallery was larger than Yuri had expected, and it didn't take long for him to get completely lost. Coming to an intersection, he looked in each direction with exactly the same lack of recognition.

"I think that tapestry might be familiar," Yuri muttered to himself, looking at it closely. "Argh, I can't even tell where I came from, much less where he went!"

And even worse, he was really starting to get hungry. Placing one hand on his empty belly, Yuri drooped sadly. Even the bizarre artworks that lined the hallways seemed to be mocking him.

His head snapped up as he glimpsed a shadow move from the corner of his eye. Turning, Yuri brightened at the faint sound of footsteps. 'It's Mister Fanfan!' Yuri thought joyously. 'I'm saved!' But before he could make his way toward the other presence, another thought occurred to Yuri, stopping him short. 'What if it's someone else?'

Yuri's brow furrowed in thought. 'It might be one of those people from outside, from another country. They're after the Box too. But what are all those other countries like anyway? I don't even know why they want the Box. Are they like those Cimaron places? Or do they just want to avoid what happened in Caloria? I need to find out.'

Coming to a decision, he nodded to himself.

One hand up in a seal, Yuri took a deep breath and carefully drew on his magic. What he had said was true - as far as using magic went, he was still a beginner. All he could reliably do was temporarily fool the eyes. But he understood the theory behind concealment.

Wrapping his magic around himself, Yuri carefully took a step in the direction of the other presence. His footsteps were distinctly muffled, and he smiled proudly. 'Nice! This should at least make it harder to notice me,' he thought.

He stuck close to the wall as he made his way to where he thought the other party would be. Pausing at a corner in the hallway, he could see two shadows against the far wall.

"... be patient," one of them was saying, the low voice indicating an older man. His shadow shifted as he turned away, and the rest of his words were too quiet to hear.

Frowning, Yuri tried to edge closer. Carefully, he peered around the corner.

In the next instance, the other shadow moved. Before Yuri even realized what was happening, a sword was poised at his neck, just short of drawing blood.

Yuri's eyes moved up the gleaming blade, taking in the man tall, powerful man holding it. His clothes were simple and functional, all in subdued, dark colors. His face was obscured by a mask. With some surprise, Yuri realized that only one eye was visible through the mask.

"A child?" the swordsman noted, his single eye narrowing.

'He noticed me so easily,' Yuri thought frantically, his heart pounding, acutely aware of the blade at his neck. 'Did I mess up? It should have worked...'

Shaking away his own surprise, the swordsman's companion came up behind him and laid a restraining arm on his shoulder. "That's enough," the second man said. "I'm sorry about that. My bodyguard is very... dedicated."

As the swordsman pulled back, Yuri slumped in relief and smiled tentatively at the other man. "Um, that's okay. I guess I surprised him," Yuri said. The swordsman was still watching him, something distrustful and calculating in his mostly-hidden expression. "I was just looking for Mister Fanfan," Yuri hastened to add, taking a reflexive step backwards.

"Fanfan?" the nicer man repeated, stroking his goatee thoughtfully. "Oh, you mean Fanberlain. Well, I'm afraid he's gone and vanished. I imagine he's using his considerable charm and persuasive skill on the staff to get that appointment with the king."

Yuri slumped. 'I'm really starting to feel like an idiot. A useless one,' he thought with a sigh. 'How uncool.'

"Are you one of his employees?" the man asked, then smiled. "Oh, do forgive me. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Heathcrife, a merchant from Hildyard, here representing Cavalcade." And to Yuri's shock, he took off his hat... along with all his hair. His bald head gleamed in the afternoon sunlight.

"I... I..." Yuri stammered, surprised and uncertain. 'Name, name,' he thought frantically. "I'm Ernst," he blurted out the first male name he could think of. The swordsman behind Heathcrife narrowed his single eye, his glare piercing into Yuri. 'He knows I'm lying,' Yuri thought frantically. But to his surprise, the man only shook his head and turned away.

"Well met," Heathcrife said lightly, replacing his hat and hair. "You look quite young. You must have just started with Fanderlain. He's one of my best trading partners, but I don't think I've seen you before. Is this your first time in Francia?"

"Oh, I'm just... traveling with him," Yuri said, trying to stay vague, the way Fanderlain had told them to. 'I wish Murata was here,' he thought. 'What would he do in this situation.' Trying to imitate his friend, Yuri tilted his chin down and smiled. "How come you're representing Cavalcade? They're Francia's neighbor, right? Don't they have an embassy here or something?"

"Embassy?" Heathcrife repeated, and Yuri wondered if they even had things like that in the other world. The older man's expression became a little strained and saddened. "I am here regarding a rather difficult matter. It's precisely because Cavalcade is Francia's neighbor that they asked for a third party to negotiate, as it were."

"That makes sense," Yuri agreed, nodding. "What kind of problem is it?"

Heathcrife studied him thoughtfully, making Yuri fidget a little. "I imagine it's the same reason Fanderlain is here," he finally said. "Where did you say you hail from? If you don't mind me saying, your features are quite... unusual."

'Features? Unusual?' Yuri thought dumbly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his bangs and they appeared to still be brown. He was sure the man hadn't see through his illusion.

Yuri laughed nervously. "I was born really far from here. You could say it's like a whole other world," he said.

"I guess some things you hear about even in another world," Heathcrife said. "For example, this amazing collection. The king of Francia has truly amassed many amazing objects."

"I guess so," Yuri said, glancing around. The sudden conversation change confused him, and he couldn't quite shake the feeling that Heathcrife had seen through his disguise. But the man wasn't yelling anything about the Demon Tribe, which Yuri had surmised would have been the usual reaction.

'More to the point, I've got to remember what I was trying to do,' he reminded himself, his expression shifting to determination. 'I need to find out if he's after the Box and why.'

"We heard about what happened a few weeks ago, too," Yuri said suddenly and with a little too much force to be subtle. Heathcrife glanced at him in surprise. "The earthquake in Caloria, I mean."

"Yes, that was a tragedy. Even though it... ended, I hear that resettlement has been difficult. It's like the land itself has become cursed," Heathcrife said, tilting his hat down gravely. "The tidal wave from that reached even Hildyard and here in Francia. My little girl was so scared. We were lucky to be further inland when it happened, but..." His mouth twisted, and Yuri had a feeling that Heathcrife had also seen a scene of devastation that would remain in his memory forever.

"It was terrible," Yuri agreed, glaring at a painting of a mermaid. "Something like that can never be allowed to happen again."

Heathcrife smiled at him, and again Yuri felt like he had just blown his disguise. "Everyone has an obligation to make sure it doesn't," he said. He glanced behind him, toward his bodyguard, and the two men shared a long look.

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The best answer to last chapter's question came from tsume. As they correctly pointed out, the original uses Japanese naming order, with the family name first. Usually it's easy to tell because the last name is followed by "-kyo" ("Sir/Lord"), but guys like Josak make it much harder because they're commoners. I guess in some cases, the translators simply got confused and didn't flip the names. Yaaaay.

So, hey, I was watching episode 77, and man, the Originators/Great One lie, like a cheap rug! He "created" Julia's soul? But that's bullshit. We know from Julia and Yuri that Keys are tied to souls, which I guess get reborn in the same bloodline (no one states this, but the link between "Julia had the Key", "Yuri has Julia's soul" and "Yuri has the Key" is made clear). So then, how can Julia's soul have been created after the Boxes were sealed? It couldn't. The Great One is just lying while he's talking to Yuri. Which is kind of psychological warfare, I guess.

Not that this is in any way important, but I thought it was an interesting thing. Of course, the entire ending is anime-original, so...