Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [308]
Trone would’ve continued if the young Knight standing by the desk didn’t suddenly lash out at him with his fist. At least he didn’t draw his sword, Wataru thought. The other Knight standing guard quickly moved to stop him, and another ran in from outside. Immediately a great brawl started, rowdy enough to shake the building. Wataru slid across the floor past Trone’s feet and hid under the desk.
Wataru was breathing hard with the effort required to keep the barrier up. He let it fade. Clasping his mouth with both hands, trying not to make a sound, he breathed with both shoulders heaving.
When the shouting and yelling and punching had died down, Wataru saw Trone’s feet lifting off the floor. There was a heavy slam above his head. They must have pushed him onto the desk.
“You’re welcome to your ridiculous delusions…” he heard Captain Ronmel talking, his voice calm, as if nothing had happened. “But we have sworn our allegiance to the Senate, and we act with their full authority.”
“Oh? I wonder about that,” came Trone’s reply, undaunted, even if his face was pressed to the desk.
“Not only did the four high branch chiefs not heed the Senate’s admonition and send their Highlanders out without authority, but we know they planned terrorist activities against the Northern Empire. High Chief Gil is already in our custody. We are currently interrogating the Highlanders who were with him about this plot to assassinate Gama Agrilius VII. You’ve been caught red-handed, Trone.”
Captain Ronmel’s voice cracked with emotion for the first time. Wataru hunched down beneath the desk. So High Chief Gil had been arrested.
It was over. At least Kutz was still free. Hopefully we can keep her that way.
“You’ve known Kutz a long time,” Captain Ronmel said. “So you must know her past. You know that I was also once a Highlander, one of her trusted partners. An incident drew us apart, but I always had the highest respect for her work, and I do not wish to see her unfairly treated. More than anything, if she plans these acts against our country’s best interest, I will have her stopped.”
Trone was silent. Wataru could hear his ragged breathing.
“Tell me, where is she? I want to help her. If she does not surrender herself now, she will be marked as a traitor. She’ll be hounded wherever she goes in Vision. Do you really want to put her in that position?”
Kutz and Captain Ronmel. Lovers forever, but always a step apart. Wataru felt a stab of pain in his chest, though his breathing had finally become more regular.
Trone sighed softly. “I’m pretty sure Kutz doesn’t want your help, not anymore.”
Wataru heard the clatter of Captain Ronmel’s armor.
“I don’t know how it was in the past, but you and Kutz see different things from different places now. Your hopes, your ideals—everything you hold important, you hold alone. Kutz knows this. It looks like you don’t.”
Trone muttered something about men being like that, before continuing, “Looks like the cowards down at the Senate are clucking and fretting about these powered boat designs reaching the North. They want to form some sort of peace treaty before the North can attack, is that it? You know the Senate is filled with sympathizers, even I can see what it is they’d do. So, what exactly are they planning to offer the North in exchange for peace? You can’t say you don’t know what the emperor is doing up there. It’s bloodshed—worse, genocide. Beastkin are made to work like slaves, ripped away from their homes in the light of day. And you’re happy with all this?”
“We are trying…” Captain Ronmel began, but Trone cut him off. “Then again, I suppose you wouldn’t care so much. No matter what the beastkin in the south have to face, it won’t affect the Knights of Stengel, will it? You’re not here to protect the south. You’re here to protect yourselves, the ankha.”
“You are wrong!”
“Am I?