Akatsuki Translations

The area in front of the sturdy, familiar prison gate was empty and deserted. Even at night, there should have been at least three or four guards stationed here. As a byproduct of the rabidaemon rampaging outside, Shuou was able to stand conveniently in front of the gate leading to the prison cells.

Picking up the key carelessly hung on the wall beside him, he entered. Treading through the darkness, he observed with calm eyes, for the first time from the outside, the place where he had spent his recent days. Along the corridor, tasteless torture devices, their usage unclear, lay scattered, uncared for and accompanied by traces of dried blood.

Many of those brought here likely died without ever tasting the air outside again. Shuou found a somewhat masochistic pleasure in the fact that he had been led out from here, gained his freedom, and now willingly set foot inside again of his own volition.

Peering into the back room, he found the person he was looking for. Shiga, the man he had conversed with during his confinement, who claimed to be a survivor of the extinct Ga tribe from the Southern Mountains region, appeared not much different from when Shuou last saw him. He hung by both arms, his head drooping limply.

Shuou kicked the cell, deliberately making a loud noise.

Slowly raising his head, Shiga’s hollow eyes seemed to float in the moonlight spilling through gaps in the ceiling.

“A dream?”

Asked by Shiga in a sleepy manner, Shuou silently shook his head in denial.

“Why are you…”

Shiga’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What happened with your duel with the old man? Did you lose and get dragged back here–“

However, as if realizing the contradiction in his own words, Shiga said,

“–Doesn’t seem like it.”

Shuou was standing freely alone, not being led by anyone.

Shiga clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Tch, what a pain… Just tell me, what the hell is going on?”

“There was an attack by rabidaemons. Right now, outside is in the midst of utter chaos.”

Shiga seemed unable to fully grasp the situation and looked puzzled. Perhaps because this place was built with particularly sturdy construction, the commotion outside hardly reached here. If one knew nothing, it might seem like just another quiet night as usual.

“I want to say it sounds like bullshit, but seeing you acting all carefree like that, I guess that ‘utter chaos’ must be quite something.”

Shuou nodded nonchalantly as if it were someone else’s problem.

“Yeah.”

“So–“

Shiga’s eyes took on a sharp edge.

“–What did you come here for? To flaunt your freedom and laugh at me?”

To Shiga’s sarcastic remark, Shuou showed the key he had concealed in his hand. Seeing it, Shiga’s gaze deepened with even more harshness.

“…You know, I’m sick and tired of that thing called ‘goodwill.’ Even those who put on a nice face and offer kindness always expect something in return deep down. If not, they pretend to help and then chain you up and throw you in a cell the next day. Spare me the pretty words. What do you want, what do I have to do for you to get me out of here? Spit it out.”

To Shiga, who was blatantly casting distrustful eyes at him, Shuou chose his words without any tricks.

“I want to take advantage of this commotion to ensure the safety of my comrades. To do that, I plan to secure the head of this place as a hostage.”

Shiga made a bitter face, suppressing his aimless resentment.

“That pig, huh.”

During the few days they had been imprisoned together, Shuou had grown tired of hearing Shiga boast about his martial exploits. Stories of crushing the heads of renowned soldiers with a single blow, of beating to death all of the fifty-plus pursuers – they were all hard to believe at first, but his extraordinary physique and the sunstone concealed by his gloves lent them a degree of credibility. However, after seeing him wail and scream just from having the tip of a dagger pointed at him by A Zan, Shuou wasn’t entirely convinced.

“You have a grudge against that man, don’t you? Don’t you want to capture him and lock him up in a cell, just as he did to you?”

Eyes as fierce as a starving beast pierced through Shuou.

“I want to kill him! I get it, let me out! I’ll help you. I’ll rip off that bastard’s legs and throw him in here!”

To Shiga, who was barking with bloodlust, Shuou directed a cold gaze.

“In this situation, I want as many comrades as I can get. But will you really be of use?”

“What are you trying to say…”

The heat in Shiga’s voice suddenly cooled.

“I’m asking if someone who wails and screams just from being shown something pointy will really be of use.”

Shiga abruptly averted his gaze, looking flustered.

“That’s not, th-that was!”

“I don’t intend to force you. If you don’t have the guts to make it through a bloodbath, it might be safer for you to stay in here.”

Shiga shouted as if to cover his shame.

“Don’t screw with me! If I wasn’t restrained, who would be scared of something like that? Sure, I might be a little… no, slightly… uncomfortable with it, but with both arms free, it’s nothing!”

After exchanging glances with Shiga, who was ranting excitedly, Shuou inserted the key into the iron door. Opening the creaking door, he entered and examined the restraints tying up Shiga’s arms. However, they were not something that could be removed easily with a little effort. Both had keyholes, but they were clearly different in size from the one he currently held. There was nothing else at the entrance besides this key, so Shuou surmised that A Zan himself likely managed them.

Unable to find any tools nearby to destroy the restraints, Shuou scratched his head. Shiga suddenly looked at his own left hand and said,

“The seal– take off the glove.”

“I see.”

Understanding Shiga’s intention, Shuou reached for the glove that covered his left hand along with the sunstone. The glossy glove fit tightly around the hand as if sucking onto it, but by rolling it up from the beginning, he finally managed to remove it, revealing Shiga’s left hand, which had turned purple. On the back of his hand was a sunstone with a color like the scorching sun.

The moment the glove was peeled off, Shiga pulled and tore off the chains hanging from the walls on both sides, along with the restraints on his arms. Ripping them off along with the stone walls to which the fittings were attached, Shiga tore apart the chains extending from the restraints and clenched his hands in front of him as if to confirm.

“Damn it, the numbness–“

As he said that and stood up, his figure was like a giant tree sprouting. Even for Shuou, who wasn’t particularly short, it was difficult to make eye contact without looking up.

Shiga, having risen to his full height, ignored the open door and grabbed the iron bars. Grunting, he pulled the sturdy two iron rods to the left and right, bending them like putty and creating a passage. It was a monstrous strength that belied the stories he had claimed.

“Getting rusty.”

Shiga gritted his teeth and stared at his own hands.

Shuou politely stepped through the unlocked door and stood in front of Shiga.

“Can you go on?”

Shiga turned a grim face towards him.

“I have no intention of following your lead. I’ll do things my way.”

Shuou swallowed the words he was about to say, that it was a breach of promise. Indeed, he hadn’t secured a vow from Shiga to obey orders.

“I understand. But–“

Interrupting his words, Shiga showed his tightly clenched fist.

“I know. If I find that pig, I just need to capture him alive, right?”

To the nodding Shuou, Shiga flashed a wicked grin.

“For now, I’ll keep him alive.”

Seeing the clouded eyes filled with resentment, Shuou felt relieved. Regardless of the outcome, if this man rampaged from the inside, it should bring some benefit to his objective.

　＊

“What an idiot.”

Hastily leaving the prison behind, Shiga quickly abandoned the man who had helped him escape and stuck out his tongue as he ran down the corridor.

He had no intention of repaying the favor of that pushy man.

That man had assumed Shiga held a fierce grudge against A Zan and tried to exploit it. That was fine, but Shiga did not value A Zan enough to obsess over him at the cost of throwing away all his gains.

Peering outside through the windows scattered along the corridor, he saw a giant insect causing a ruckus as if it were a festival. Seeing that extraordinary situation, Shiga stood still for a moment, dumbfounded.

“Hey, hey… is this for real?”

It was no wonder he didn’t see the soldiers who were usually everywhere. By the time that man had easily infiltrated the prison, there was already some truth to his story, but it was a tale Shiga couldn’t fully grasp until he saw it for himself.

Relaxing his stiffened face, Shiga laughed. For those who made this place their stronghold, it was a major event. But for someone who wanted to escape from here, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Shiga had narrowed his destination down to the stables, not to A Zan’s location. That’s where his “Triskelion” should be, left in their care when he was invited to this Uzumi.

Descending the stairs, he found a soldier crouching and trembling in the corner of the corridor. Still young, with an unreliable physique, the man had a pitiful appearance that clearly identified him as a new recruit. Shiga grabbed the man’s collar with one hand and lifted him up until his feet were off the ground.

“Aaaaah!”

“Where are the stables?!”

Baring his teeth and shouting, the man screamed in fear. Even though their skin color was the same, the man must have immediately realized that Shiga, who had spent some time as a prisoner, was not one of his comrades.

“Ah… ah…”

Shiga looked in the direction the trembling finger pointed, but he shouted that it was wrong.

“Not where they keep the fodder horses. I mean the special stables where they manage the horses of the commanding general and the like!”

“Eek!”

As the man’s finger shook and pointed in the exact opposite direction of southeast, Shiga, still gripping the man, started running toward it.

Passing through the stone-paved corridor leading outside, two sentries stood in front of a splendid wooden stable with a military flag raised. The moment their eyes caught sight of him, Shiga grandly threw the man he was holding in front of him. Taking advantage of the sentries’ momentary rigidity at the unexpected situation, he closed in on them with his long arms and legs and delivered a punch with his right fist to each of their faces. The punched sentries instantly lost consciousness and lay their bodies on the ground on their backs.

Opening the huge sliding door, the inside of the stable was filled with the light of expensive moonstones suspended from the ceiling in the center. The stalls lined up on both sides housed horses that looked high-class, anxiously shaking their heads in fear of the commotion coming from outside. The place seemed well-maintained, with hardly any smell of animal feces and urine.

“Wh-what the, who are you?!”

An older man, clearly not a combatant, came running from the back of the stable. Probably the stable master. Shiga ran up to him without question and grabbed him by the neck.

“Where’s my Triskelion?!”

“Wh-what are you… do you even know where this is–“

Shiga tightened his grip on the man’s neck. The stable master thrashed about as if clawing at his throat, making a choking sound with a pale face.

“Just answer what you’re asked.”

The eyes that had turned pale with fear pointed towards an isolated room set up at the very back of the stable. Still gripping the stable master, Shiga headed in that direction and was rendered speechless by the sight before him.

The large eyes he knew well had no signs of life, clouded white and completely still. Heavy-looking chains were wrapped around the emaciated body multiple times.

As he lowered his arm powerlessly, the stable master, freed from his grip, coughed violently while holding his throat.

“Why… is this…”

A Zan had wanted the Triskelion and sought information about it. He had even pretended to shelter Shiga, who was targeted by many countries, summoning him and leaving him in a state between life and death to learn how to capture the rare and valuable Triskelion. That’s why Shiga believed A Zan would take care of the life of the Triskelion he had obtained.

Stepping on the clothes of the stable master who was trying to crawl away, a terrified scream escaped from the man’s throat.

“Why did you kill it?”

To Shiga’s words, spoken quietly and heavily like stagnant cold air, the stable master looked up and shook his head vigorously.

“I-I didn’t kill it! It was thrashing around wildly and hardly ate any food.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

The stable master shook his head desperately.

“I-I don’t know! Who are you anyway?! This Triskelion was suddenly brought here and I was told to take care of it. I said many times that it would die if something wasn’t done because it was weakening! But Lord A Zan said he didn’t know, that he was leaving it to me… there was nothing I could do! What more could I do, I only know about horses–“

A Zan. The moment he heard that name, the blood deep in his head boiled. His calm thinking became hazy, and his reason was completely blown away from the root.

His raised fist was deeply embedded in the stable master’s face. The face was no longer recognizable in its original form. Thrusting up his fist, stained with bodily fluids and broken teeth biting into it, Shiga shook the air in the area with a roar of anger that rivaled the rampaging rabidaemon outside.