[V10C30] I Ain’t Crying Over You
Translated by Jodas 10: A Job for a Con ManAs he danced his specialty Poppo Dance, the third-rate con man Smoke Fox panicked internally.
It wasn’t that the crowd wasn’t getting excited at all. Things were started to heat up ever so slightly, and more people were coming to watch. People who heard a commotion going on would naturally be drawn to check it out.
Thanks to that, the audience had nearly doubled, but they still weren’t fully invested yet.
He sensed that most in the audience were feeling ‘Would it really be okay to join in on the fun here?’
(Damn, just a little more… I need something. Anything…)
While he searched to see if he could come up with a new trick to pull out of his sleeve next, the Poppo Dance drew to a close.
Then, a booming voice echoed from the outer edge of the crowd.
“Nice poppo!! Nice poppo!!”
Shouting that was a young man with tanned skin. Rikard Oks of the Extermination Office.
Half of him felt relieved to see such a critical battle asset arriving in time for the final fight.
The other half was thinking ‘Wait, Rikard, how the hell do you know that call?’
(Ohhhhhhhh, now I remember! He was that kid! That dark-skinned boy who always got so excited by the Poppo Dance! …Ah shit. Does this mean my identity is exposed? Can I still make this work? Can I?)
“Thank you, Poppo!” He replied with a wink, eliciting a delighted “Poppo! Poppo!” in response.
For now at least, it didn’t look like there was a chance of Hütter’s identity being exposed here.
And thankfully, Rikard’s “Nice poppo!” marked a drastic change in the crowd’s mood.
If someone like the Extermination Office’s famed Rikard Oks was shouting, people figured they might as well join in on the action too.
(Here it is, this is what I’ve been waiting for…!)
Whenever crowd’s energy started to feed the performer, and the performer’s energy carried back through to the crowd, it always got his blood pumping.
The next song would be ‘Sleep in a Pigeon’s Embrace.’ It would be a slower song, slotted in because his body could not withstand too many intense songs in a row.
He had been a little worried that the mood might dampen a little if he played a slower song, but this was going to work. He was confident.
Poppo Four, by far the shiest and most well-behaved of the Poppos, flapped her wings fruitlessly as she wandered the Empire’s Eastern skies.
(Pyee~n… I’m sorry, master~. I’m all lost now~. Pyen, pyen. Three is gonna be so mad at me now~)
Four was sad, tired, and felt as if she might fall out of the sky at any moment.
(But, but… I wanted to see Master’s face… At least one last time…)
Just as she started to flutter down towards a perch, Poppo Four’s ears picked up on the voices of a lively bunch of humans.
It sounded like everyone was all gathered together and having a whole lot of fun. “Poppo, poppo!” they shouted.
When she was feeling down, Poppo Four had a habit of flitting off to any place that seemed lively and fun.
(That sounds fun…)
As she got closer and closer, Poppo Four noticed something.
In between the lively poppo calls, there was a cool, calm, stoic, and splendid voice… Wasn’t that the voice of her beloved Master!?
(Master~~~~~~)
Poppo Four fluttered over towards her Master.
“In the arms of a pigeon~~ Sleep~ soundly~”
While he sang his heart out, a single pigeon emerged in the corner of Hütter’s vision.
Of course he wasn’t quite talented enough to pick out one of the Poppos out of a flock of pigeons by sight, but this one had a band tied to its feet.
(Poppo Fouuuuurrrr!!)
Just as he brought the song to a close, Hütter started to stomp thunderously on the stage. This was a signal to his accomplices, Sombart and Armster.
Hütter let his robe billow out and screamed.
“POPPO!!”
Along with his shout, four pigeons came flying out from his robe.
“It’s chantless illusion magic!” shouted someone in the audience.
Still dancing, Hütter let Poppo Four land on his finger. The audience’s attention was all focused on the pigeons emerging from Hütter’s robe, so Poppo Four attracted no attention when descending from the sky.
Hütter spun around so his back faced the audience, and promptly removed the letter from the pigeon’s feet and confirmed its contents.
Then, he tossed the letter to Armster’s doll hiding beneath the stage.
Armster’s doll handed it to Sombart, and Sombart got to work.
(I’ll buy time with my dancing!)
Just when the music reached a crescendo, Sombart lit the flame for a smoke signal.
Hütter hollered at the top of his lungs.
“POPPO FIRE!!”
Two red smokes and one yellow smoke.
Perhaps the audience assumed these smoke signals were part of the performance.
But these were actually the sign directed by the Black Lion Emperor’s response. In the message Poppo Four heroically brought back to them.
“If you fall for me, you might just get burned! Poppo!!”
First Rikard, and then the rest of the crowd joined in by responding “Poppo!”
The crowd was now genuinely hyped up. Keeping the mood high, Hütter sang and danced for who knows how long.
When calls rang out pleading for an encore, a mage of the Investigation Office came running up and shouted.
“I’ve got news! Urgent news! We’ve got reinforcements! The Black Lion Emperor sent reinforcements, around three hundred of them! They’re on their way as we speak!”
The crowd hummed with energy, albeit a very different kind than when they were singing and dancing.
They’d been told not to expect reinforcements, and yet reinforcements have come regardless. Everyone was surprised, barely unable to believe their ears.
Spiremaster Abel turned to Hütter on the stage and asked:
“These reinforcements… Are they also illusions?”
Hütter flicked his bangs off of his sweat-soaked brow and smirked.
“The Dream Mage’s chantless illusions… can turn into the real thing.”
Pigeons landed on Hütter’s shoulders and head, cooing.
“Whoa!” The crowd cheered.
Among the jubilant cheers of the crowd, Ella started tearing up in relief.
“I– I can’t believe it! Reinforcements… I thought they would never make it in time…!”
To Ella’s side, Sophie looked up at Rose and asked him.
“Hey, hey, how much of that do you think was Mr. Hütter’s illusions~?”
“Y’know, I’ve been wondering about that. Maybe that song Mr. Hütter and Tia did was some kind of choral magic?”
“I’ve never heard of magic that lets you summon humans~.”
“Hmm, yeah. Though I’ve got some friends who can summon Spirit Kings…”
While Sophie and Rose chatted about inconsequential things, Julius stepped out from behind them.
Unwilling to do the Poppo chant, he spent the whole time hiding behind Rose’s immense form and sheepishly poppo-ing.
“Kuku… Now the tables have turned, hm? Now we’ve got enough troops to surround the Wedge Tower. This means one of Sevil’s concerns is now solved.”
As Julius said, Sevil had raised two concerns.
First, was the dearth of forces on the human side. The other was the question of undoing the seals on Rose and Sophie.
In short order, the first problem had now been resolved.
Even the Spiremasters, who had so fervently rejected the Black Lion Emperor’s influence before, would have no option but to plead for his support under these circumstances. This was, after all, a problem that concerned the whole Empire.
Ella squinted her eyes behind her glasses and cast her gaze out in the direction the messenger had come running from.
Atop the hill, she could faintly make out the shapes of an an army of mounted soldiers with their banners. She wondered whose banners they could be.
Ella asked Gerald, who had good eyes.
“Gerald, can you tell what army those banners are from?”
He did not respond. Gerald’s eyes shot wide open beneath his long bangs and he froze in place.
Before long, Ella heard the voice of the messenger shouting.
“Leading the vanguard is the Margrave of Warmberg, Henrik Blanke!”
Gerald’s eyes went white and he fainted.
Shouts of the reinforcements arriving could be heard even from inside the buildings.
Kneeling down beside Miriam’s bed, Otto let out a long sigh.
“Oh come on, that’s not fair, Mr. Hütter…”
The sword he had drawn now laid beneath his feet.
“Quite the… boisterous… song.”
Murmuring, Miriam, who had lifted her upper body off of the bed, set down her pen.
She folded the message she had just written into a tiny square, then pulled a small bottle out of her pocket and packed the paper into it.
Otto couldn’t bring himself to kill Miriam.
How was he supposed to when all the poppo-ing started the moment he bared his sword? All the tomfoolery sucked all the energy out of him… And, as if that wasn’t enough, right as the tomfoolery ended, reinforcements miraculously arrived. How could he possibly keep his mind focused on the kill after all of that?
(…Ah, no, that’s not it. I wanted someone to stop me.)
When he heard Hütter’s voice, his first thought had been ‘Oh, he’s here to stop me, thank goodness.’
On the bed, Miriam coughed. Her voice was exceedingly weak between each cough, and he could tell that death was soon approaching. Miriam took a deep breath, and said:
“…Everything I have done has been by my own free will.”
‘What’s the point of saying this now?’ Otto frowned.
For as long as he had known her, this woman has been as stubborn as steel. She had the strength and resilience it took to stick to her beliefs.
“I would like to preface this by letting you know I have no intention of making excuses or begging for your forgiveness. With that in mind…”
Miriam closed her eyes, then continued.
“…I believe there is a possibility I have been under the influence of mental interference magic.”
“Huh?”
“…A voice has been whispering to me, telling me that Fiene is the Daughter of God… And it was not the voice of God.”
Otto felt the blood drain from his body.
Had Miriam said “Oh, it wall all because of the mental interference magic. I was just being puppeted this whole time!” Otto would have killed her right then and there.
But that was not what she was saying.
Miriam pressed a wrinkled hand onto her forehead.
“Someone was whispering, telling me a God was needed…”
“Hold on, Is there really anyone who could cast mental interference magic on you of all people…!”
“I need you to tell the Dream Mage, Caspar Hütter. Tell him he was right.”
Otto had no idea what relationship Miriam and Hütter shared. Nevertheless, he was certain that Hütter, in all his wisdom, would be able to understand those words.
This woman had no desire to explain everything for Otto’s sake.
“I will resent you to the very end, Lutz Otto.”
“Me too, Miriam. I’ll hate you until my last breath.”
He did not expect to settle their business later. This was the end. And, as it was the end, they both sought to cut each other with their words.
“I would prefer it if you did not grieve for my death.”
“Yeah, sure thing. I ain’t crying over you.”
“Indeed, that is how our relationship should be.”
Miriam pressed the little bottle to her forehead and closed her eyes.
Like the final prayer of a devout believer.
“…Oh, God… Thank you for sending him… the Dream Mage to me… in the end.”
And with those words, Miriam breathed her last.
All the while, gripping tightly to that precious, precious bottle of candy.