Yuri smiled mockingly, "Yes Shori, tell your niece what that is."
Shori heatedly glared at him and then looked at Greta who was looking at him with big innocent eyes. There was no way he wanted to explain it to her. Especially, when this world was currently in its earth's equivalent 'middle age'. Obviously, no one knows what a computer is. That would only make the task at hand harder.
Knowing that he can't keep silent, he ultimately replied, "Um… I'll explain it to you when you get older. Ok sweetheart?" Greta was not convinced and decided to use her ultimate weapon. So, she drew all the skills she could manage and gave him an inescapable, heart-shattering puppy look which made Shori extremely uncomfortable. But there was no way he was falling prey to it, or so he told himself.
Not impressed with Shori's elusiveness, Yuri decided to answer it himself. Although Yuri would have preferred not to let Greta hear such things at her age, but thanks to Anissinna he'd finally learned to accept that in spite of her harmless appearance, his cute little daughter was no less a monster than that red haired demon under whose calculating eyes she spent most of her lifetime playing.
'Guess it's time to let Shori learn it for himself too.' Yuri mentally snickered. 'Greta is an unstoppable force of nature, once given the right nudge in the right direction. Maybe…just maybe Shin Makoku could use her for their advantage in case war broke out.' Yuri shook his head quickly discarding that train of thought.
"It's like one of those Anissinna's machines, only it lets you pretend as if you were dating girls." Yuri said snidely, sideways eyeing his older brother.
Greta looked very intensely at Shori for a moment, making him sweat drop and then very quietly and cutely asked, "Can't you get a real girl to date you, Uncle?"
That was the last straw and Yuri fell down on the floor, clutching his stomach, laughing as if his life depended on it. One of Shori's temple veins puffed in indignation.
"Um…I just haven't found the right girl to date, that's all." Shori defended himself. He hadn't wanted to talk about all this to either Greta or Yuri.
Shori glared at Yuri in indignation. And watching his baby brother holding hands with another man in an intimate gesture, with the said man trying to stifle his own laughter wasn't helping any. He hated that man's guts. His anger flared beyond all reason and so grabbing his wrist, he dragged Conrad out of the room. If Conrad wasn't a trained soldier, constantly on his watch, he would be wiping the floor with his ass.
"Let's talk." Shori fumed.
Yuri grabbed Shori's wrist, holding their advance. "There is nothing to talk about. The discussion is over." Yuri was livid too and he hadn't let go of the past incidents out of his mind yet. But Conrad, understanding this, smiled dazzlingly to calm him down and said, "It's alright Yuri. We'll be back soon."
"But…"
"Do you trust me?" Conrad asked.
"Of course. With my life… more than myself…" Yuri replied, cupping one of Conrad's cheeks in a very intimate gesture.
The action fueled Shori's rampage and went berserk. Fuming at this rather intimate public display of affection between the two, he gave a harsh tug at Conrad's arm and pulled him away and out of Yuri's sight.
Yuri sighed, having no choice but to trust Conrad. But he swore to himself that he'd destroy anything and anyone if his Conrad ever got hurt again. Even his own brother…
x-x-x-x-x
On the other hand, with his mind to protect his baby brother from all monsters (he looked sideways at Conrad as he thought this) perfectly set, Shori was mercilessly dragging the aforementioned man along the long corridors of the castle, drawing more than one astonished or worried glances from the passersby, much to Conrad's embarrassment.
But Conrad understood Shori's feelings very well. When Yuri had unintentionally proposed to Wolfram, he realized, a bit too late that he should have explained to Yuri what slapping Wolfram had meant. As Wolfram was his dear younger brother, he had always worried that Wolfram might become too attached and possibly fall in love with Yuri (which to some extent had happened) while it was clear that Yuri would never return his feelings. But alas, what was done was done. Yuri being his younger brother too, he guessed, Shori must have been feeling the same right now.
Personally, Conrad had never thought even in his wildest dreams that he could ever be with Yuri as a partner in reality. But now that it'd finally become a reality, he decided that he'll cherish this blessing at every moment for the rest his life and fight to protect it.
Being an older brother himself, he understood Shori's concerns and was determined to resolve them all. After all, if he continued to allow Yuri to fight all of their battles, especially one like this, then he wouldn't be a very good bodyguard or boyfriend. He also knew that he'd never gain Shori's respect or trust in that case. He had wasted enough time as it was; now he was going to win his beloved at all costs.
Once they were outside and alone, Shori stopped. He didn't want to go all the way to the courtyard and draw any more attention than necessary.
"All right." he said in a no nonsense tone. "Explain why are you dating my little brother instead of protecting him as a bodyguard? And what happened to Wolfram? How did he ended up getting married to Murata?"
Conrad blinked, "You know about that?"
"Shinou. Now just answer."
Conrad was surprised. He didn't know Shinou was such a blabbered mouth. "It was all Yuri's decision."
"Excellent. Blame it all onto Yuri now. Huh? Way to go…"
"No. No, I didn't mean that. What I want to say is that he and Geika performed a ceremony, known as a switching ceremony." Conrad left out the potentially dangerous part on purpose.
"But… Why?" Shori stammered. "Why now? I don't know exactly how long they had been together but my understanding is they've been engaged for a while, not that I exactly approved of that either. But at least Wolfram was Yuri's age." At that Conrad couldn't help but smirk slightly. He knew Shori would flip his lid if he found out that Wolfram was 82 actually.
"I have no idea what made him decide to do this now and for me at that. Can you imagine?"
'Stop looking so smug.' Shori thought.
Shori was about to remark when suddenly he hid behind Conrad surprising him in the process. Turning around, Conrad saw Satsuki the new maid coming towards them…or more like stomping towards them with full force. He remembered that Gwendal was in one of his infamous dark moods that day after having a session with one of Anissinna's projects. When that woman came needing a job and shelter claiming to be a good cook, Gwendal gave her a dark scowl (which the girl(?) returned with a smoldering look of her own. Conrad shuddered). Gwendal had blindly accepted. After Effe was hired he didn't think there was a need for any more staff but he chalked it up to Gwendal's nerves being shot that day as he normally doesn't hire that many new people.
Watching Satsuki's (come hither sexy?) look, Conrad sighed. 'Maybe Gwendal should have said no that day.'
x-x-x-x-x
Meanwhile Wolfram, Murata and the two guards had, after a long day's journey, finally made it to outskirts of Liefde Circle.
"What the hell? I thought that stupid Waterfall was on the outskirts of the town. I don't see any waterfall here." Wolfram complained hotly.
One of the guards spoke, "Perhaps it is on the other side of the town, sir."
"Yes, you said so yourself sir that the maps are very old. The town must have changed or grown or moved since then." The other guard supplied helpfully.
Wolfram looked at Murata, "Well Ken? Where do we look for this Venus Waterfall."
Murata sighed, knowing that if he didn't help Wolfram then he would start searching the area even if it took forever. "I can't be positive. A lot of things may have changed over the years, but it's probably this way."
Murata led them to an area where they found what looked like a dried up old waterfall. There was water at the base that once connected the falls but that water could easily be contributed to the recent rain. But one thing that could be said about the waterfall without doubt was that it was enormous. It must be at least a 100m high and 25m wide with shrubbery grown all over its dried surface now. It must have been a sight to behold.
Wolfram frowned as they all got off their horses to look around. "What happened to it?"
As if hearing to his enquiry, an old prospector passing by walked up to them and replied. "I'm afraid if it's the Venus Waterfalls you folks are a looking for, then I'm afraid you're a bit too late. The falls suddenly dried up a few years ago with no explanation. People have gone looking but all they could find were some huge boulders blocking the river, every time they removed them and let the water flow again, it's like the rocks suddenly grew back as if by magic. We gave up after a few times."
Murata's eyes went wide at this information. He recalled a specific instance in his memory that came from a very long ago. An elderly man was scolding his young son for removing a Salatine stone from the river. In a grave voice he spoke, 'Salatine Crystals are a lot like Aphrodite crystals. But Salatine are used for keeping water spirits happy. If they are ever removed, the spirits would be angered and never allow the water to continue to flow. So you must never hunt for these crystals.'
Wolfram, more interested in interrogating the old man, did not see Murata's reaction and continued asking, "Have you seen any crystals in the area?"
"Perhaps I have. Perhaps I haven't." the old man replied. "What kind of crystals are you looking for?"
"We're looking for Aphrodite crystals."
"Aphrodite crystals? Hmm… Can't say that I've ever heard of them. What color might they be?"
Wolfram stared blankly at him having no idea. Turning to Murata, he shouted, successfully bringing the sage out of his deep revere. "Well, don't just stand there. Tell him."
Murata sighed, "They are pink, more commonly known as the love crystals."
"Love crystals you say? Well, I might have some 500 back at me place, and fixing this waterfall here for me will just give you access to 'em."
Wolfram got red in the face, "No way. Do we look that stupid to you? Stop trying playing tricks on us. We won't fall."
Murata dug in his pocket and pulled out a nickel and a quarter. He held up the nickel "If you show me what's in your bag, I'll give you this coin."
The man took it and bit into it and looked it over, "What is it?"
"It's something rare that no one else has. If you agree to the bargain, you'll be the only one around here who will have such a strange and new item. So, what do you say?"
The man had to admit that he'd been around for quite a long time and had never seen anything like it before. "So, who's this feller here on this thing?"
"Now, now." Murata smirked cunningly. "…that would ruin all your fun. If I told you the truth then people will expect you to tell them the truth as well. This way without knowing, you can claim it to be anyone you want, even your own father."
That seemed to grab the man's attention and allowed Murata to look in his bag. There were some pink crystals but it was hard to judge if they were the real thing or not without getting a better look. But the blue crystals were defiantly Salatine crystals.
Knowing they needed access to them, Murata played the trick again. He held up a quarter and said, "And this one here is in exchange for the blue crystals in your pouch."
The man eagerly agreed. Such strange round objects that no one else has would certainly sell for a fortune, way more than he'd get for these crystals. So he eagerly handed over the blue crystals.
Getting greedy, the old man said, "Say… if ya got any more of those strange coins, I might be persuaded to give the pink crystals too." He flashed his toothless smile innocently.
Murata was hesitant about that but finally agreed and for several more coins got all of the crystals. Wolfram snatched them up before he got the chance to do anything to them.
"Now that we got what we came for let's get out of here." Wolfram stated as the old man took off for parts unknown with his new bounty.
"What about the waterfall? Murata asked.
"What about it? We got what we came here for, why did you want those crystals anyway? They are not part of our list."
"No their not, but they should probably save this waterfall here."
"Save it? Don't be stupid! We don't have time." And with that Wolfram sped away.
Murata, ignoring him, threw one crystal to each side towards the top of the waterfall, barely hitting the rocks up there.
"What do you think you doing?" Wolfram yelled from distance, watching him. "Those crystals could help with the ceremony."
At that Murata used all his rage and hit rock protruding out in the middle of the falls. "These crystals are only good for appeasing water spirits nothing more."
"Then why are you shattering them?" Wolfram thought Ken had finally lost his mind and was planning to drag him away once again.
"So that no one else can steal them from the sprits." Murata replied.
No sooner did he say that, the water started gushing again at full force from the fall, creating fog and a gorgeous rainbow in the process. Clear blue water reflected the sun rays back into the atmosphere producing a beautiful landscape.
"I'm done here, let's go." Murata was positively glowering and Wolfram couldn't understand why.
Murata seriously started to doubt now that Wolfram would ever accept him. And he wasn't exactly happy with the thought.