Evil Black Maria - Chapter 69. A Boat Ride Across The Lake

“We’ll be off then.”

 

On the morning of the day of the departure for the labyrinth city, in front of the entrance of the base of the third unit of Black Maria.

Shizuru said that to Lady who had come out to see him off.

 

Behind him was Casca, who was carrying a large bag, and Mary, who was carrying nothing at all.

They, like Shizuru, had been included in the temporary unit.

 

“……huh? Oi,tiny brat, where’s your luggage?”

 

With a stay of more than a month expected, the luggage should be reasonably bulky.

But she carried nothing at all. Mary turned her head away and didn’t respond to Casca’s extremely straightforward question.

 

Casca was annoyed by the blatant disregard but, having just eaten breakfast and feeling too lazy to move around much, she only gave a slight snort.

In the first place, it’s not unusual for her to be disliked or hated by someone. It’s the disregard that annoys her, but she doesn’t care about that.

 

“Damn……you’re really not a cute kid.”

 

By the way, the reason why Mary is empty-handed is that her luggage is packed together with Shizuru’s.

And Shizuru’s travel bag was carried by Casca, who could not bear to see him carry something so heavy.

 

“My dear…”

 

Despite the small argument happening in the background, Lady’s voice was filled with wet tones of sadness.

She understood the situation, but she still felt lonely. Ludmila, who was leaning against the wall behind her, didn’t look particularly happy either.

 

“Let’s see, I’ll bring you a souvenir. How about a Great Labyrinth Manju?”*

 

Shizuru, trying to cheer them up, said this with a cheerful smile on his face.

He spoke as if he were going on a trip. The same old calm and serene attitude.

It was not the expression of a man on his way to avenge the deaths of his comrades.

 

–But it’s natural. Sisel lacked any kind of ‘anger’.

It’s not something that happens rarely nor is it contained within.  It was completely absent.

 

Neither resentment nor vengeance were present in Shizuru.

So, although he is saddened by the deaths of the men of the 7th, it is only to an extent.

That is why he was the one that Richelieu called “the perfect assassin”.

 

“Wickerman sent me one a long time ago, and it was delicious.”

 

Among the gathered faces, only Ludmila looked at Shizuru with a slightly saddened face, but others didn’t even seem to care.

 

Even if the name of the murdered comrade was mentioned, the atmosphere did not turn heavy at all.

Black Maria was an organisation where this was the norm.

 

“Oh, dear……! I  don’t want you to leave.Let’s replace that idiot with me right now, that would be a good idea!”

 

“Who’s a f**king idiot?　I’m gonna beat the sh*t out of you before I leave!”

 

She was angry at being ignored by Mary and now Lady insulted her, Casca threw her bags away and jumped on Lady.

Suddenly, a fight broke out. Even the newcomer, Ludmila was not surprised to see the high-ranking monster, who was sometimes compared to natural disasters.

The fact that Casca could go toe to toe with such a monster made her truly inhuman.

 

“Cassy, let’s not waste our energy before we go. Your clothes are all torn up.”

“Shut up!　I thought, if I’m going to go on a trip, I might as well get a new suit!”

 

Casca gave a distressed excuse as she slipped into her brand new tailored jacket.

By the way, she wore the jacket without fastening the buttons. It was not only troublesome to fasten and unfasten the buttons, but it was also difficult for her to breathe if she tightened her short tank top any tighter around her huge breasts, which were so tightly packed that they would rip the top apart at any moment.

 

“Come on, let’s get a move on, Shizu. The thought of not having to look at your f**king pet for a month makes me want to dance.”

“That’s my line. In fact, you don’t have to come back from Labyrinthos at all, Casca.”

“ Oh!You look like you really want to get smashed to death!”

 

“Please, stop trying to kill each other, both of you.”

 

They were running late and they hadn’t even departed yet.

With a wry smile, Sisel calmed both of them ,who were about to clash again.

 

“Haha …… we’re off then, Lady, Ludmilla. Take care of things while we’re gone.”

 

“Yes, I hope you have a safe journey too.”

 

Lady,in her human form, hugged Shizuru.

After a few moments, she gently pulled away.

 

“……..be careful.”

 

Then Ludmila, in a hard voice, told him.

She stared at Shizuru with a stern look in her eyes, holding back the anxiety she felt inside.

 

To put it bluntly, she was worried about him.

They were going to investigate and retaliate against those who had destroyed a unit of the Black Maria.

As for Ludmila, she would be crazy not to worry.

 

And it was hard to be away from Shizuru.

 

“…… and come back early, if you can……and comfort me again.”

 

“Yes, princess. I’ll be back, okay?”

 

Their first destination was the port in the southern section.

This was a regular ferry port with a direct connection from the Capital to Labyrinthos.

 

“We’ll be off then.”

 

With a smile on his face, he turned on his heel and, hand in hand with Mary and accompanied by Casca on the other side, Shizuru began to walk.

 

And so the three of them set off as the morning sun quietly emerged.

 

To the south of the royal city of Rosario, a huge water body stretches in a circle nearly a thousand kilometres in diameter.

It was called Lake Tarrasque*. It is the largest lake in the world, so big that it looks like an ocean.

 

Along this huge lake, to the east, west, north and south, were the four major cities in the Kingdom of Si Levant.

 

Rosario, the Royal city in the North.

Colosseum, the Gladiatorial city in the south.

The mining city of Aisen in the west.

The labyrinth city of Labyrinthos in the east.

 

The capital was the centre of the kingdom, and the three neighbouring cities were connected by the lake can be reached directly by a regular weekly boat service.

 

With a few exceptions, it was much quicker and easier to travel by water than by land, so it was natural that Shizuru and his friends used this liner to get there.

 

Two days of elegant sailing to the Labyrinth City.

Despite the disturbing objective of vengeance, it was a truly spectacular voyage.

 

“Gimjiga bad ……”

 

Except for Casca, who got seasick within an hour of setting sail.

 

“I can’t even spit it out ……, why did I eat so much breakfast ……?”

 

Casca clutched the deck railing, her legs were shaking and she had a pale complexion that looked as if she was about to die.

 

Shizuru gently rubbed her back.

 

“Cassy, are you okay? Okay, just breathe slowly……”

 

“ubu…… huuu, haa……”

 

She did as she was told, breathing slowly and deeply, and took the water and anti-sickness pills that were handed to her.

As a simple person, Casca felt a little better just from the fact that she had taken the pills.

 

“Ugh …… I am dying ……”

“I know you’re going to suffer for a while, but hang in there. There’s nothing that can’t be done with a healing spell, but at this rate you’ll probably get sick again soon. You’d better get used to the shaking.”

 

For the first time in her  life she was travelling by boat.

She had no idea that it would be so hard.

 

Mary, who had also never been on a boat before, was in good spirits and seemed to have no problem with the rocking.

 

“Mother. She’ s really annoying.”

 

“Shut the f*ck up, you little …… twerp, unless you want to get killed….”

 

Mary pointed at Casca with a dumbfounded look and made fun of her in a nonchalant way.

Casca, on the other hand, snapped at her, but her voice lacked its usual gruffness.

She looked very weak.

 

“Oh, I’m so sick of this……sh*t, I’m going to sink this ship…..”

 

“Let’s not take it out on everyone, please.”

 

Shizuru puts his hand gently on her tightly clenched fist with a wry smile.

 

Even in this situation, her fighting ability was more than enough of a threat. It would take only ten seconds to sink a ship over a hundred meters in length.

He didn’t want to swim to land from here, where the capital had already turned into a pea sized place.

 

“If it’s too much for you, you can lie down in your room. I’ve even brought you some sleeping pills that will help you despite your high tolerance to drugs.”

 

“Ugh……I’ll do that……”

 

Before their departure, Casca had been relaxing and drinking on the boat, but now she could not bring herself to drink in such a state.

 

Shizuru wondered if they should take the land route home, even if it took longer.

 

“I don’t want to go on the boat anymore. ……I want to get off, someone get me off!”

 

“Sorry Cassy, we can’t get off until we get there. Come on, let’s go to your room. I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep.”

 

“I won’t sleep here……”

 

“Yeah…..”

 

After Casca had fallen asleep in her cabin, Sisel went out on deck again with Mary beside him.

 

It took a monstrous effort to get out of the monstrous hug, but he managed as he could attach and detach most of his joints at will.

 

It’s one of the results of a long series of body modifications over the years. However, he could not help feeling that he was using it in the wrong way.

 

“The breeze feels good, Mary.”

“Yup.”

 

Mary was in a foul mood earlier because she had lost Shizuru to Casca, but now she was in a good mood because she had him all to herself.

 

They looked down at the surface of the lake where the waves were dancing, licking ice cream from the on-board restaurant and occasionally spotting a fish jumping, which was very cute.

 

“Heh heh …… Mother.”

 

Mary nuzzled against Shizuru like a well-adjusted kitten. Shizuru stroked her head.

They may not look like each other, but to those around them, they looked like brother and sister or father and daughter.

 

— and at such a moment.

 

“Lala la la, la la la la, la la la la la”

 

A humming sound reached their ears over the breeze and the sound of the waves.

They turned to see a small girl, not much older or taller than Mary, walking towards them.

 

“Yoo-hoo! Hi, Shi-kun. It’s me, Ilse!”

 

The side-tailed girl greeted him with a mixture of hand waves and a wink, in a light-hearted manner that almost sounded like a “chirp”.

 

Her name is Ilse. At only fourteen years of age, she is the sub-leader of the  Black Maria 4th Corps.

 

And she was one of the members of the temporary unit.

 

“’Hello, Il. Did you enjoy exploring the ship?”

“Of course! I’ve done a great job, haven’t I?”

 

Twirling around on her tiptoes, Ilse speaks in a loose, playful manner.

This childish behaviour often made her seem even younger than she is.

But she was one of the best killers in Black Maria, and even Richelieu recognized her abilities.

 

“Mmmm? Well, well, well, what happened to Ms. Casca?　Is it possible that her bad deeds have finally brought her to the brink of death?　It’s like she has fallen asleep?”

 

“No, she is sleeping in her room as usual”

 

“’Ha-ha-ha! I see, I see. Tsk!”

 

He was not sure how much of a joke it was, but it was a deliberate tongue-lashing.

She and Shizuru had known each other for a reasonable length of time, having been part of the 3rd Corps when she was a new recruit, but it was a difficult relationship to understand.

 

“If that’s the case, then can Ilse play with Shi-kun alone-?”

“… Mother will play with me.”

 

Mary, whose presence has been quickly disregarded, indignantly clings to Shizuru’s arm.

 

And when she was told to go away, Ilse retreated in an extremely vain manner.

 

“It’s terrible. Your making me leave. Ilse just wanted to play with Shi-kun again, but you’re not letting me!”

 

“Eh….”

 

Ilze pretends to break down in tears.

Shizuru’s smile twitches as he struggles to react.

 

But that’s only for a few seconds.

Ilze’s demeanour changed and she stood up as if nothing had happened, with a smile on her face.

 

“Well, we’ll play some other time, won’t we? Anyway, Shi-kun, let’s play catch!”

 

“I guess that’s part of the fun. …… Well, okay.”

 

There are many things he would like to say, but if he were to say them to Ilse one by one, two hundred years of his life would not be enough.

 

Shizuru laughed at her as she was already a few metres away and patted Mary on her head to calm her down.

 

“All right let’s play it! Oh wait, on second thought, Ilse doesn’t have a ball.”

“Well, you can’t play catch without it, can you?”

“We’ll use Ilse’s underwear instead-”

 

Ilse quickly reaches underneath her skirt and tries to take off her underwear.

-However.

 

“Oh. I’m sorry, but Illse isn’t wearing any panties right now!”

“Eh?..”

 

She wore a mini-skirt, which was not a good idea, so he made her wear it properly with underwear.

 

Why is it that there are only troublemakers in Black Maria?

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TL note:

Manju is a japanese sweet.

Tarrasque is the name of the dragon defeated by Saint Martha.

You can find more details by googling them.