Beast Knights (KKM Fanfiction)

Heading To The Capital

Right from the start, Yuri and the others could already tell that the island where the Kingdom of Esovia was located was truly mysterious and strange at the same time. However, Conrad had a different perception about the place now that he had seen it again after a long time.

Something was different.

The first thing he noticed as soon as they got out of the Forest of Illusions was the lake surrounding the capital. There wasn't a lake there 25 years ago. But soon after, someone was able to provide the answer to one of his unspoken questions.

"The Laurisian Valley isn't the only area on the island that changed drastically after the war against the Phantasma 23 years ago," Mari said in a grave tone.

This only made Conrad face the said young woman. "Even the capital suffered intense damage?"

Mari nodded. "Not only did the Phantasma nearly destroy the Roseberke Castle where the royal family once resided, but they also used their leader's elemental powers in an attempt to reduce the capital to cinders and rubbles. Well, they succeeded in sinking a quarter of the capital beneath the lake that they created. But that doesn't mean it became inhabitable after that."

The statement that Mari uttered was indeed confusing. But Rina pointed something on the lake and the rest looked to where she was pointing -- only to be surprised to see something truly fascinating.

"Are you saying that the sunken part of the capital can still be inhabited even if it's underwater?" Shori was the one who managed to ask the question.

"The last queen used the last of her powers to allow this to happen as she was already too weak at the time to raise the sunken area above ground once again. From what Klaus told us, even the previous Water Swordfish Knight used up her powers to make this happen even though she was already too weak and severely injured while protecting the capital," Rina explained.

"Don't worry. The place we're all heading to isn't located underwater. But we'll be using the yacht to get to the other side of this place to where the capital is."

The idea of crossing the waters to get to the capital was alright to Yuri and the rest. But it didn't appeal too much to Wolfram, which the two female warriors soon noticed.

"Is there something wrong?"

It was Yuri who decided to explain things to his mentor. "Ah, Mari-san, Wolfram is weak to ships and boats since he easily suffers from seasickness."

Of course, because of that, the two females looked at each other with concern in their eyes. Soon after, Rina took something from her pocket and approached Wolfram. The said blond stepped back a bit as soon as he saw that, almost done unconsciously.

But Rina just smiled somewhat amusingly before finally stopping just a few feet away from Wolfram.

"Is there something wrong, Rina-senpai?" Murata couldn't help asking as soon as he noticed the small but amusing smile on his mentor's face.

"Don't act as if I'm going to eat you or anything," Rina said which was meant for Wolfram. After that, she handed out a small pouch to the blond soldier who, in turn, only looked at her quizzically. "You better eat that before we get on board so you won't suffer from seasickness. The lake might look peaceful up here from where we're looking. But it tends to become rough even with our presence here since you people are unfamiliar with it and you are -- in more ways than one -- still considered outsiders. In a way, you could say that this lake was quite alive," Rina explained.

Wolfram took it only after looking at Murata who only nodded, indicating that it was alright and nothing was going to happen to him even if he ate whatever was in that pouch. To everyone's confusion, though, there were three leaf-shaped candies there.

"It's something I made for one of our trainees here since she also has seasickness," Mari was the one who talked this time. "She still has a hard time fighting it, that's why."

"Even in this world, you still like making sweets, huh, Mari?" Shori commented and the said woman only replied with a cheeky smile and a peace sign. "But why make it as a leaf design?"

"I only made a candy version of the very leaf with extracts that could minimize the effect of seasickness for a certain period. Since that leaf was sweet and edible, to begin with, I just decided to create something that'll make them easier to eat."

After that explanation, Wolfram ate just one leaf of candy as per Rina's instruction. She said that he could save the other two for the trip back to Shin Makoku. It didn't take long for them to reach the lake where a yacht was docked. But they noticed that only one yacht was there.

"Akiyama-san, you don't normally have visitors coming from outside the capital using this lake, huh?" Murata inquired as soon as they stopped.

"You're right. But that's only because they use the underwater pathways to get to the capital and they were all located beneath the nearby caves around the lake. Not to mention that a lot of things have happened in the past that even the capital was nearly sealed off from other Esovian Mazoku outside to protect it. Only Klaus and Hanz decided against the idea of doing so since one of the Beast Knight's duties was to protect the entire island and its inhabitants. It shouldn't be limited to merely protecting those that lived in the capital. Well, if you ask me, they had a point."

"I guess whatever it is that happened in the past was devastating enough for the others to decide something like that," Yozak commented quite nonchalantly.

"Well, losing not only the princess but also the queen and the three other Beast Knights because of the curse and the war against the Phantasma respectively... Don't you think it's enough reason for them to become afraid, if not cautious even from their kind?" Rina said before coaxing the Mazoku to ride the yacht. As soon as they all boarded the yacht, the said woman faced Mari who was looking at the still-standing Roseberke Castle with a blank expression.

Rina sighed and shook her head in response which Shori noticed almost immediately. "What's wrong, Rina?"

"I was just wondering if there will come a time that Mari here would stop doing this."

"Doing what, Rina-san?" Yuri soon asked the moment he heard those words from Rina.

But instead of answering Yuri's question, she just gestured to look at the woman who was the subject of their conversation. Indeed, they've seen an unusually blank expression on Mari's face as she was eyeing the Roseberke Castle.

"Does she do this every time?" Conrad asked the question, much to the others' surprise.

"From what Klaus and Hanz told me, there was never a day that she doesn't do this sort of thing. I can't even understand why."