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Title: Maoh, A Day Late
Summary: Yuri arrives in the other world late, and the race for the Boxes has already begun. Season 2.
Notes: Yuri acquires a sword.
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Part IV, Chapter 6
As you are
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Flying on dragonback was colder than Yuri had expected, but the wind nipping at his cheeks and nose did little to cool his excitement.
"Wow, what a view!" Yuri marveled. Before he could lean over too far, peering down at the island below them, Conrart carefully pulled him back onto the center of Pochi's neck.
Conrart's own eyes narrowed as he studied the far side of Van Da Via's smaller peak. He could just make out the narrow mountain path that led to the summit and the handful of hot spring inns just off that road. There seemed to be no other signs of human presence.
But there was something definitely strange about the view before them.
"Do you see it, Your Majesty?" Conrart asked, leaning in closer to let Yuri hear him. "That fog bank..."
Following Conrart's gaze, Yuri looked thoughtfully at the white haze that hung close to the summit of the smaller peak. He had glimpsed the edges of it from near Flynn's inn, but now he realized that something wasn't quite right about it.
"It's too high up to be fog, and it's all wrong for that," he mused. "But it's too low to be a cloud. Is it smoke? From the volcano?"
"We'll have to ask," Conrart decided.
Yuri nodded. "Right. Pochi," he called out to the dragon, stroking his neck, "can you take us down among the trees? Somewhere just off the road, okay?"
The dragon rumbled in agreement and wheeled around in a tight spiral, dropping altitude quickly. Yuri just hoped his illusion helped to conceal Pochi a little and let them keep an element of surprise. 'With all this practice, I'm probably getting pretty good at concealing stuff,' he thought wryly.
"Thanks," Yuri told Pochi, hugging him again as the two Demon Tribesmen dismounted. "You were amazing. Wait for us here, okay?"
They had wanted to approach quietly, without making a scene, but Yuri quickly came to second-guess that decision.
"Is this... really a... road?" he wondered, breathing heavily. The so-called road was almost absurdly steep, and Yuri felt like he should perhaps be climbing it on all fours instead of trying to walk.
He could only be glad they had landed most of the way up. Just the thought of climbing this thing from the bottom made him want to pass out.
"It's just a little further, Your Majesty," Conrart reassured him. He appeared annoyingly unbothered by the exercise, as if it had been just a leisurely stroll.
"Nngh," Yuri groaned, gripping the back of Conrart's jacket to steady himself as they crested yet another slope. He squinted, unable to believe his eyes. "Is that... a tea house?"
It, like much of Van Da Via, looked appeared bizarrely Japanese in construction, complete with a paper umbrella in front of the entrance and even a noren slitted cloth hanging in doorway.
Dropping on the bench out front, Yuri groaned again and called out almost deliriously, "Dango and tea, please."
"R-right away!" a surprised voice called from the tea house. A young woman in a waitress's uniform bustled out, a tray of biscuits and black tea in her hands. She peered at the two guests with interest.
Fortunately, Yuri had taken off his black jacket a while back and thrown an arm over his head, hiding his black hair long enough for him to remember to cover it with an illusion. Not to mention that the young waitress was far more interested in Conrart, who smiled charmingly at her.
Sitting up, now brown-haired and brown-eyed, Yuri nibbled on one of the cookies half-heartedly.
"Um, excuse me, sirs," the proprietress began, "but are you by chance with one of the foreign delegations?"
"Hm? Why do you ask?" Conrart sidestepped the question, smiling pleasantly at her.
'Wow, look at him work,' Yuri thought sullenly, watching Conrart with all the ill will of envy and exhaustion. 'What a lady-killer...'
The young woman flustered, fiddling with her tray before regaining her train of thought. "It's just that... I don't think you should go any further," she ventured. "You might get in trouble with the army."
'Big Cimaron's army?' Yuri frowned, staring into his tea cup.
Conrart's expression was politely curious. "Oh? We didn't realize there was anything like that here."
"I know! It's so strange!" the young woman agreed, becoming animated at the chance to gossip. "The spring at the top of the mountain has been closed off for years! But for some reason, the army suddenly took an interest in it. They even took some men I'm sure are prisoners up there! I thought it might be because of what happened at the end of the Fire Festival, but... that last man was definitely something else..."
"Why would they take prisoners up there?" Conrart wondered.
"You know, because..." The proprietress glanced around warily. "It's been cursed since a red light fell into it from the sky sixteen years ago. No one has been able to enter it since then. Their bodies would get numb, and burns would appear. Sometimes their hearts even stopped!"
"Sounds like a very dangerous magic," Conrart agreed, nodding.
'Uwaah,' Yuri thought, hiding his expression behind his teacup, 'look at those amazing listening skills. I wonder if he got them practicing interrogation or flirting.'
"It's terrible!" the young woman said. "I thought the army would get rid of it, but they just made it worse! They must have tried to use explosives - we felt the blast, almost thought it was an earthquake - but then the spring started boiling, like it did sixteen years ago."
Conrart and Yuri exchanged a look. Their next destination was clear.
They waited until the young woman had headed back inside before setting out again, to let her think they had simply turned back.
"Should I carry you, Your Majesty?" Conrart asked as Yuri groaned against the renewed exertion. He appeared entirely serious, but Yuri felt distinctly like he was being teased.
"I don't even let my brother carry me anymore," he grumbled. "I can walk on my own."
He tried to stalk off, only to fail miserably. If anything, the path had become even steeper, but it wasn't long before they reached the edge of the mysterious fog bank.
It was warm, like the steam in a bathhouse, making Yuri wrinkle his nose. It felt a little weird when it came in contact with his magic too. 'Well, I suppose it'll be good cover. We better be careful not to get separated,' he thought, reaching out to lay his hand on Conrart's back, oddly rigid in front of him.
Conrart made a strange sound at the contact, and Yuri quickly pulled away.
"What? What happened?" he whispered urgently.
"Ah, it's..." Conrart trailed off uncharacteristically. "Pardon me, but could you touch me again, Your Majesty?"
The request was so strange that Yuri couldn't help but put his hand on Conrart's shoulder in concern. At the first press of his fingers, Conrart sighed a little.
"It's strange," Conrart mused. "When I'm in contact with you, the sensation fades."
"What sensation?" Yuri wondered, careful to keep his hand on Conrart's shoulder.
The man glanced at him for a moment, apparently making some connection in his mind. "I see. You can't feel it. There is a faint burning sensation from the fog. It's probably the same thing that woman mentioned, but diffused."
'And you weren't going to say anything about it?' Yuri thought, frowning.
"I suspected that might be the case," Conrart continued. "Most likely, it's because Your Majesty's own magic is countering the effects of the spring's magic."
"Fine," Yuri sighed. "Just stay close to me then." Keeping in contact with Conrad, he slid his hand down the man's back to grasp at his belt, the best option he could think of.
The fog had hidden the exact layout of the upper levels of the path, so it was with some surprise that Yuri realized that they had been almost to the spring. Only a few steps further, they crested the final slope and stepped out onto what appeared to be a plateau. The mist had curled down over its edges, seemingly growing thicker as they continued on.
"Doesn't it seem too quiet?" Yuri whispered. "Why aren't there any soldiers here?"
"They probably don't expect anyone to make it this far," Conrart replied lowly, his eyes sharp as he peered into the white mists. "We must have flown over their outside perimeter." He frowned, thinking. "They might have also sent most of their soldiers to search for their escapee. I doubt they could have brought a large garrison here, so their manpower is limited."
It had been mostly luck, but they had probably chosen the best time to investigate.
The fog thickened as they moved further, to the point where visibility was almost zero. When Conrart stopped abruptly, Yuri all but ran into him in surprise.
"What's up?" Yuri wondered, peeking around the man's wide form. His eyes widened as he saw the reason Conrart had stopped - the ground suddenly gave way in front of them, leaving only a deepening pit.
Yuri frown, staring at the ravine. It looked strange to him, almost... "This is not a natural formation," Conrart confirmed, as if reading Yuri's mind. "Most likely, it was made by those explosions she mentioned."
"What are they trying to do?" Yuri couldn't help but wonder.
"The source of the spring's curse," Conrart said. "The red light that fell here sixteen years ago. It must be an artifact of great power, if it's causing something like this passively, just by its very presence."
'Well, it's better than a Box, but I don't like the idea of Belar having something like this,' Yuri thought. 'I guess there's no helping it...'
Shifting around carefully, he slipped his hand into Conrart's and moved to take the lead. He took the first step down into the crater and tugged at Conrart to follow.
"Come on," Yuri said, glancing back. "It'll be okay. Just stay with me, and I'll protect you."
He squeezed Conrart's hand, meaning against the magic of the spring's curse, and offered Conrart a confident smile. But Conrart gazed back at him with a strange expression that made something in Yuri's stomach turn.
"I'm counting on you to pull me out, if this goes belly up - or if I do," Yuri teased awkwardly, trying to lighten the suddenly heavy atmosphere.
Finally, Conrart smiled, though there was something rueful about it. "Of course, Your Majesty," he said, following Yuri down into the crater. "Then, I will guard your back."
"Sounds good," Yuri agreed.
In the thickening fog, he barely noticed as he stepped into a shallow pool of water, until Conrart suddenly pulled him back.
"What is it?" Yuri wondered.
"Your Majesty, the water is boiling," Conrart said quietly, with a forced sort of calm.
Glancing down, Yuri blinked. "Huh, you're right," he noted and bent down to stick his hand in. Conrart dragged him back again, but Yuri just studied his hand with interest.
"It's just warm," he informed him companion. "There's a strong... current, I guess, but it's pretty nice. Like a jacuzzi. Come on."
Conrart hesitated as Yuri marched onward, resisting for a moment before Yuri dragged him in. With each step, the water climbed higher, eventually reaching their calves, but that seemed to be the limit.
The pool they waded through was shallow, but large. Through the fog, it took Yuri a while to realize that they were making their way into a fissure carved out of the mountain side.
"The hot spring must have been in a cave," Yuri mused. He could just make out a few markings on what used to be the cavern walls. "I guess Big Cimaron excavated it with explosives."
"They must have needed some very powerful bombs for that," Conrart commented, his voice so calm Yuri easily missed the implication.
'As powerful as the one we saw go off just last night,' he thought, his expression darkening. 'Everything is lining up now. Even if we can't find any conclusive evidence, this should be enough to convince the other delegates...'
It was Conrart's turn to almost run into Yuri as the boy stopped suddenly.
"Your Majesty, is something wrong?" Conrart asked, reflexively tensing in preparation.
"Doesn't this look weird to you?" Yuri asked, staring at the area in front of them.
It was strangely clear of fog, despite the thick white veils that hung all around them. Stone spires thrust up out of the bottom of the pool, jagged and uneven. For a moment, Conrart thought they might have been stalagmites, but...
"This was done with earth magic," he realized, Yuri nodding distractedly. Looking more closely, Conrart could see what had instinctively seemed strange to Yuri. "And... judging by the debris, it was done after the cave was blown open."
"That's what I thought," Yuri said. "But I didn't know that was possible with esoteric magic."
"It's not, as far as I know," Conrart said. "And Big Cimaron doesn't employ esoteric skill handlers, in any case."
They exchanged an uneasy look.
"Come on," Yuri muttered, pulling Conrart along. He slipped between two jugging crags and proceeded onward. The water was climbing higher again. Broken pieces of wood bobbed against his knees. Trapped among the spires were the remains of several boats.
There, in the earth magic's epicenter, something glimmered gold at the bottom of the pool.
'A fish...?' Yuri thought. He shook his head. 'No, that's just dumb.'
He leaned down, reaching for the mysterious object, the angle forcing Conrart to lean over him as well. His fingers slid over something smooth and polished.
No, it slid under his fingers. It moved.
'Wait, what-'
"Aaaah!" Yuri screamed jerking back. He collided with Conrart, tripping the other man and sending them both tumbling into the pool.
"What happened?!" Conrart demanded, sitting up quickly and righting Yuri as well.
"It bit me!" Yuri exclaimed, half-disbelieving, half-horrified. "And it moved! It's got to be alive or-!"
A low moan rose from the water, echoing around them.
'Or maybe it's undead!' Yuri thought frantically. 'A ghost! A demon! A curse!'
"I'm cursed!" he wailed, suddenly feeling all his confidence slip away and clinging to Conrart.
A moment passed. Nothing happened. Another moment, and Yuri dared to peek back with one eye.
As if sensing his gaze, the source of the curse moaned again. In the silence that followed, Yuri thought he heard a faint scraping noise, like metal against stone.
Something glimmered in the water.
Conrart reacted almost instinctively, shoving Yuri away and drawing his sword. Metal screeched against metal as his blade locked with another, barely managing to deflect it. The sword that had shot out of the water, point first, ricocheted away and drove deep into one of the stone pillars.
Crashing into the shallow pool, Yuri sputtered for a moment before spinning around to check on Conrart. The man hadn't been injured by the strange levitating sword, but Yuri realized something a moment too late - they had separated.
Conrart groaned, gritting his teeth as the cursed water began to affect him again. He could feel the burning through his wet clothes, unbearably hot but also numbing, like some of Anissina's more malevolent experiments. He swayed, his legs suddenly about to give out.
Yuri darted forward and grasped at Conrart's arm. At the contact, the soldier drew a deep, shuddering breath.
"The effect is... much stronger here," he muttered. Yuri could feel him shake a little under his fingers.
"What just happened? Did that sword just attack you on its own?" Yuri wondered. His eyes darted nervously to where the cursed blade protruded from the rock spire, its golden hilt glimmering.
The sword moaned and shuddered.
Yuri let out a sound of fear, his hands clenching tightly around Conrart's arm.
"No..." Conrart said, watching the cursed object quiver again. "It was aiming for you."
'What did I ever do to it?!' Yuri thought frantically. A cursed, living sword was trying to kill him. It was almost too much. 'How do you even deal with something like that? Do you talk to it? Do you fight it? Does magic even work on a cursed sword? What should I do?'
His thoughts spun wildly.
Carefully, Conrart laid his free hand over Yuri's white-knuckled fingers. He offered the boy a kind smile. "It's alright, Your Majesty," he said reassuringly. There, again, was that strange emotion in his eyes. "I've got your back. And... I know you'll protect us."
Yuri blinked, somehow surprised but also steadied.
"Right," he said to himself. 'Right. I have to get it. There's no point in hesitating. I just have to try. Don't give up. It's not over yet.'
Shifting so that Conrart was free to swing his sword if necessary, Yuri took a wary step toward the quivering sword. It moaned again and wiggled harder. It sounded... almost pitiful.
"Alright, you!" Yuri shouted, trying to muster up some bravado. "You stay where you are! Don't even think about doing that flying thing again! Or biting me either! What was that, huh?!"
Surprisingly, the sword stilled, its sounds taking on a different tone. Yuri just hoped it was a good sign.
He dared to inch closer, reaching out with his free hand.
"N-now, I know some people have been bothering you, so you've been causing all this trouble to make them stay away," Yuri continued to ramble. It was, he imagined, like talking to an angry, scared animal. Right? "But aren't you sick of this place already? Why don't you come with us to the Demon Kingdom? If you like hot springs that much, we've got some really nice ones."
His fingers brushed the tip of the hilt, and it suddenly wiggled again. Yuri cringed, but nothing else happened. 'It's... moving closer to me?' Yuri thought. 'Does that mean it wants to go with me after all?'
The sword stilled as he let his hand wrap around the hilt. It felt strangely comfortable in his grip.
"There we go," Yuri told the sword. "That's better. You ready to go now?"
It moaned in response, and Yuri saw that the sound had been coming from an actual mouth - a very creepy face between the blade and the hilt. 'It's definitely cursed,' he thought, making a face.
He glanced back at Conrart, who immediately understood his intention and laid his free hand on Yuri's shoulder, letting Yuri grasp the hilt with both hands.
Grunting, Yuri pulled at the sword, but it wouldn't budge. "You're really stuck in there tight," he complained. "Can't you pull yourself out like you did before, or at least help me a little?"
The sword moaned and wiggled alarmingly in his grip.
"Nevermind, nevermind! I'll do it! Leave it to me!" Yuri yelled. 'That feels really creepy!'
He shifted his hands to get a firmer grip, grasping instead at the crossguard. With one foot on the stone pillar, he began to pull with all his might. It wasn't enough. Arms wrapped around Yuri's waist, and Conrart added his power as well, pulling at Yuri - along with the sword.
The sword's exclamations had become excited, and it seemed to be trying to do its part too.
"Come... on! Come on!" Yuri chanted. Putting his back into it, he grunted and yanked as hard as he could.
The blade finally slipped loose of the rock, and boy, man and sword went tumbling onto the water.
Coughing, Yuri surfaced and quickly pulled Conrart up as well.
"We did it!" he exclaimed, waving the sword triumphantly. It groaned, still creepy, but somehow more lively than it had been.
Experimentally, Conrart lifted his hand out of Yuri's. "It stopped," he noted, meaning the burning sensation of the water. "The curse on the spring must have been lifted."
"Thanks! Don't worry, we'll find you another nice spring in the Demon Kingdom," Yuri assured the sword, rubbing a hand along its crossguard as if he was petting a dog.
He paused in surprise, feeling something strange under his fingers. 'There's something engraved on the back,' he realized as he felt along the same area more carefully.
"'Call my name, and I will overcome all limitations,'" Yuri read slowly. "'My name is Willem Dussollier Eli D'Morgif. I will always remain a faithful servant of the Demon King and fight at his side, no matter the battlefield.'"
"Morgif? The Demon Sword?" Conrart repeated, staring at Yuri in surprise.
"Seems like it," Yuri muttered. "Wow, I could actually understand that. I guess I know the shape of letters, but not what they look like..." It must have been something the blind Julia had learned.
"Morgif is a legendary treasure of the Demon Kingdom," Conrart explained, realizing Yuri didn't know the significance of what they had found. "It was forged for the Great One and can only be used by the rightful Demon King. It was last used a thousand years ago by the 19th Demon King, Basilio von Rochefort the Cruel, and has been lost since then..."
"Wow, really?" Yuri wondered, looking down at Morgif with surprise. "Who would have thought you were so famous? You're not really much to look at. But what were you doing for all that time? I mean, you only crashed here sixteen years ago, right?"
Morgif grumbled something and made a face at Yuri, causing the boy to laugh awkwardly.
'Sixteen years...' Conrart thought, glancing at his sixteen year old king as the two of them made their way out of the spring.
Without Morgif's influence, the water had calmed and the mist was already beginning to lift.
"We'd better hurry, or someone will be sent to investigate," Conrart said. "It'll be harder to sneak out as well."
He glanced back when Yuri didn't respond. The young king was studiously focused on Morgif as he wrapped his black jacket around the sword and tied off the sleeves.
"There," he said, patting Morgif's wrapped form. "Everyone says black is a royal color for the Demon Tribe, so I guess you're looking really dashing."
Conrart waited patiently.
"I'll glad we were able to find Morgif," Yuri said, his tone a little distant. "Look at what a mess he made. It's good that we found him. After all, I'm responsible for him. Because I'm the Demon King..." He trailed off. After a moment, Yuri said quietly, "Conrart, in the spring... that was from earth magic, wasn't it? The kind that Demon Tribesmen use."
"Most likely," Conrart agreed. He could see where this was going, and the others would probably have been - would be - quite frustrated. But somehow, it just made him smile. Their king was truly unique.
Yuri nodded to himself. "We can't just leave them. That woman said a strange prisoner was brought up here, didn't she? If that's a Demon Tribesman, we have to at least check..."
"Of course," Conrart said.
Shooting him a suspicious look, Yuri said, "Aren't you going to tell me it's a bad idea? Or that I should tell Gwendal first?"
"If it is your will, then I will support you, Your Majesty," Conrart replied, repeating his earlier words.
Yuri looked away, flushing a little. "You guys are always saying that..." he muttered. "But if I'm totally wrong, you better stop me."
"Is that an order?" Conrart asked, his tone lilting.
"That's right!" Yuri told him, apparently deciding to face his teasing head-on. "And so is this: call me Yuri!"
"Of course," Conrart acquiesced, his smile fond and gentle, "Yuri."
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((I took liberties with Morgif. Let's be honest. Yuri had to strip to get Morgif purely for humor and fanservice. Also, he never bothered taking off the necklace. Maybe the pendant itself would be immune to Morgif's acid-water, but the cord wouldn't be. So... inconsistency, yay?))
Also, I mysteriously lost a Follower. Hm, the numbers have started going down, instead of up. And there was only two reviews. I guess it was a pretty terrible chapter. Terrible, terrible.