Tatakau Shisho-Volume 7, Chapter 5: The Liar is Laughing – Part 2

He stayed at Kwane’s house for the night. His only supper was corn cereal. He added to it milk received from the farmer’s daughter.

You’re a True Man, so eat something better, thought Minth. They provided plentiful funds to Kwane, but he used everything on his research.

“By the way, Minth. What about the third True Man?”

Kwane asked while moving his spoon.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with you. Just complete your rocket.”

“Are things not going well?”

“Fool. I’m simply leaving it to Laty. She will make it work.”

Minth became sullen. He hasn’t worked much on the third True Man, Mani. He left it all to Laty.

“Why? Give it your best. You’re the Overseer of Paradise after all, Minth.”

“Mani will be scared of me since I look like this.”

“No way. I believe it’ll be fine. Or is there another reason you can’t go there?”

He’s stupid but strangely sharp sometimes.

“…Doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Minth mumbled.

When he looked at Mani he would end up being reminded of Noloty. The fact that Noloty had tried to protect her village passed through his mind.

There was no need to be nervous. Minth was going to protect Mani’s village. He was proud of his work as the Overseer of Paradise now. However, he couldn’t help but be conscious of the fact that he was the successor to the Overseer of Paradise who had killed Noloty.

Perhaps Laty also sympathized with him. She didn’t ask Minth for an escort even when she went to meet with Yanku.

“Go and do it, Overseer of Paradise. I believe that the Indulging God Cult needs you.”

“…Yeah.”

The next day, Minth flew to the southern frontier. Strangely, the day he arrived was the same as the meeting between Laty and Yanku. Minth wondered whether to show up at the meeting or go to Mani’s village.

In the end he chose neither, and went to the new land. The preparation for the villagers’ migration began a few months ago.

As he landed there, he saw a familiar face.

“Huh, is that you, Director?”

Minth was somewhat surprised. Why was Hamyuts there? She was loitering around the island.

“Oh, Minth. What’s wrong?”

“That’s my line. What about work?”

“Since it’s the year’s end there’s not much work left. I have some free time.”

Saying this, Hamyuts walked around the island. For the time being Minth also followed her. It seemed like she came to see the current situation of the island’s development.

“Unexpectedly it didn’t progress much. Never mind the time, it seems like more money is needed.”

Hamyuts said.

“The Indulging God Cult will put more money.”

“We don’t really need it. We’ll just have everyone give it.”

Hamyuts said.

The Indulging God Cult was not the one to carry OUT the development of this island. The ones to put out funds and to carry out orders were the Armed Librarians.

They were not orders officially made by Bantorra Library; people who were close to Noloty, such as Mirepoc and Kyasariro, started it all out of their own pockets.

All Armed Librarians were grateful to Noloty. They all acted with the wish to repay her fight and her death if even only a little bit. Even villains like Mattalast and Bonbo have cooperated with only the best of intentions in that plan.

“Sorry. Thanks for your help.”

“This isn’t done for your sake. It’s for Noloty and Mani-chan.”

Hamyuts said.

Suddenly, they saw a rowing boat approaching from the horizon. It took a long time to come near the island.

Mani and her mother were on board. Arriving on the island, the mother bowed her head many times in front of Hamyuts.

“Why did you come here, is something wrong?”

“Once she heard the Director was here, this child wanted to meet you no matter what.”

The mother said and urged Mani.

“Hello, Overseer of Paradise-san and Hamyuts-san.”

“Hello, Mani-chan. What’s the matter?”

“I made this, so please accept it.”

Saying so, she presented a handmade doll made of paper. Hamyuts received it with a somewhat troubled face.

“Oh, but I didn’t bring one for the Overseer of Paradise-san…”

Hamyuts then spoke while smiling.

“It’s fine. Minth will come by again, so you can give it to him then.”

“Okay. Sorry, Overseer of Paradise-san. Please come again.”

“…Ah, well, yeah.”

Minth couldn’t look Mani in the eyes. He wasn’t good with kids.

Minth, Hamyuts and Mani talked while walking around the island. Speaking about their memories of Noloty or the new life after the migration… only such idle chats.

When he had first seen Mani’s soul using his Sacred Eyes, Minth was surprised.

Mani was unselfish to a surprising extent. She had a wild animal-like soul that was satisfied with just food and warm air.

Her one and only wish was to be able to live together with Yanku, her mom and the other villagers. She wished for nothing other than everyone living in peace without fighting and quarreling.

The moment he met her Minth decided to welcome her as a True Man. Mani had no interest in how the Indulging God Cult could grant any and all of her wishes. She was simply happy at the fact that if she joined it, the lost peace of her village could be restored.

Minth could do nothing for her as the Overseer of Paradise except a single thing. Just letting the villagers migrate to a new ground and live normal lives. A truly easy True Man, he admired.

“…Oh, what’s wrong, Mani?”

Suddenly Mani seemed to be mumbling something.

“I have a certain worry, Hamyuts-san, Overseer of Paradise-san.”

They both urged her to speak.

“Big Brother Yanku seems to be worried about something lately. But he won’t tell me about it.”

“Oh my, what a naughty kid he is.”

“Big Bro’s a good person.”

Mani strongly denied Hamyuts’s words. Hamyuts hurriedly apologized.

Minth was also concerned about Yanku. Would he approve of her becoming a True Man? Yanku would probably never forget Noloty’s death for his entire life. Would he even forgive the Indulging God Cult that had killed her?

“He seems to be worried about the Indulging God Cult. I don’t get why.”

“…I see.”

“He seems to be angry for some reason. But I don’t know why. He probably feels that the Indulging God Cult are bad people. I want you to discuss this with him, Overseer of Paradise-san.”

“Me?”

“I’ve sent a letter to a great Armed Librarian to consult with, but I still haven’t received any reply. Maybe it hasn’t been delivered.”

Minth patted Mani’s head.

“Mani. There’s no need to worry. There are many circumstances in world of adults.”

“…Overseer of Paradise-san, are the Indulging God Cult bad people?”

Minth should tell her that was wrong. However, there was no answer to that problem inside him yet. He still hasn’t forgotten the battle from a year ago. He also knew well about happenings such as the Shiron incident and the Seven Kings Rebellion. He wondered just how much tragedy they had produced.

He didn’t want to lie to Mani. So he answered honestly.

“Mani. What’s wrong and what’s right is a truly difficult matter. The more you become an adult the less you know. Even I don’t know if the Indulging God Cult is in the right.”

“…?”

Mani didn’t really understand. It was a difficult subject to discuss with children.

“Even if they don’t understand, people have to move. If they stop in place just because they don’t understand something, they would end up dying without doing anything.”

Minth did not yet throw away all of his doubts. He still hasn’t fully devoted himself to the duty of bringing Books to Heaven.

However, he had no hesitation only when it came to bringing happiness to Garlze, Kwane and Mani. He would never think of their pure, awkward happiness as something mistaken.

This feeling was probably the most important thing to have as an Overseer of Paradise.

If he simply devoted himself to creating Books, he would stray off the proper path like Kachua. He would end up piling sacrifices for the sake of the True Men’s happiness. The important thing was to have a heart able to be glad of other people’s happiness. Mattalast probably found that inside of him.

“I don’t know myself. Therefore I do what I want. I will fulfill my duty as the Overseer of Paradise, make you a True Man, and revive your village. That’s it.”

“…I don’t really understand.”

“Ah. If you don’t then that’s fine. When Yanku comes back, try asking him.”

“Yeah. Because what Big Brother says will definitely be correct.”

“Well, then asking him should be fine.”

Minth thought of Yanku who was on the other side of the sea.

He will probably be mad about the survival of the Cult. If he were to know the truth, he would also turn that anger towards the Armed Librarians. With his reckless personality he might also consider fighting them all by himself. He would worry too much, throw his life away and killed by them.

However, Yanku’s true intention was to protect Mani and their village. Even if it would be painful to accept, he would probably understand it. So Minth believed.

The power of the Indulging God Cult was not enough to keep the village alive. There were also people who could reshape and guide the decaying hearts of the villagers. It needed a human with a righteous heart and a sense of justice.

There was none other but Yanku for that role.

“Laty, Yuri, please talk to him well. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Minth muttered this towards the sea.

During the same time, on an uninhabited island several tens of kilometers away from where Minth and the rest were, Yanku and Yuri were engaged in mortal combat. Yanku was able to see through Yuri’s trap and conversely cornered her.

The distance between them was thirty meters. This was within Shlamuffen’s range. Yanku swung the Magic Blade with enough vigor to cut through the defense of the Decay Wave.

However, the causality-destroying invisible blade was not created. Yuri used that opening to escape from the mud. Yanku missed his chance for a decisive blow.

Why wasn’t the blade formed just now? Shlamuffen is supposed to respond to its wielder’s will and attack.

It can’t be… did I hesitate? 𝑓re𝘦𝔀𝗲𝘣𝘯𝘰νℯ𝒍.c𝗼ｍ

Yuri’s Decay Wave assaulted him. He intercepted it with mud.

While cornering the running Yuri, Yanku was thinking. Why had he hesitated? He should have already been determined to kill the Armed Librarians. He needed to avenge Noloty. His determination was supposed to be genuine.

“…”

He knew why. Both Laty and Yuri did not want to hurt Mani. They said they wanted to protect her and the village.

So what? Yanku scolded himself. He would be the one to protect Mani, not the Indulging God Cult. No matter what they said, no matter what they planned, they were his enemies. The Armed Librarians who were controlling them were his enemies as well.

While running, Yanku reached the edge of the island. He ran after Yuri through the coastline.

“I won’t let you escape again!”

He once again swung Shlamuffen. Yuri was exhausted. He should be able to kill her.

But the next moment…

Yanku heard something tearing through the air. It was the sound of a bullet flying from afar. Shlamuffen’s automatic defense was activated and tore the bullet apart.

Yanku looked around to see where it had been shot from. Yuri was as surprised as he was.

“…Who is it?”

Another flying boat passed overhead and a black figure jumped down from it. Although the flying boat lost its pilot, it kept going forward and splendidly landed on the water surface. The black figure even went so far as to calculate its path after jumping out of it.

Yuri muttered to herself as she looked at the man standing atop the rocks.

“Mattalast-san, why…?”

The hat that flew off of him as he jumped out was carried by the wind and fell down. Mattalast Ballory caught it and wore it on his head again.

“It’s uncool to ask the hero that while he makes his entrance.”

Mattalast joked. Yanku readied Shlamuffen again.

“By the way, the answer is that I’ve heard about this from Yukizona. When I looked for Yanku, he told me that you were also here.”

“Why did he know…?”

Yanku asked, followed by Mattalast’s answer.

“The truth is I received a letter from a girl called Mani. She asked me about what’s going on with you.”

Saying this, Mattalast pulled out a letter made of straw paper from his pocket. That letter was written by Mani with the letters she learnt.

When he had come back to the village, Yanku told Mani about Mattalast. He said that he was his supervisor and a reliable person.

At the time he knew nothing about the Armed Librarians’ conspiracy. What a blunder, Yanku gritted his teeth.

Mattalast took one step closer to him. He returned the letter to his pocket with great care.

“Yanku. Mani’s your important little sister, right? You can’t let her worry like this.”

Yanku was angered at his words and invoked Shlamuffen without thinking. Mattalast easily evaded it.

“Hey now. Have you forgotten your displine? You mustn’t be violent.”

“I have nothing to discuss with you!”

“You can’t do that, Yanku. Words are important. Words are for living in peace without using any violence.

By using words you can speak about the truth… as well as make lies.”

Even while evading Shlamuffen’s attacks Mattalast kept speaking normally. In order to dodge its attacks even Hamyuts had to run with all of her power. Yet Mattalast accomplished it as if he was merely playing around.

Yanku then recalled: Mattalast’s Predictive ability was the one most suitable against Shlamuffen among all of the Armed Librarians.

He belatedly understood his desperate situation. The opponent standing in front of him was the worst one he could imagine.

“Now, Yanku. We’ve fought a bit, but let me ask you again.”

Mattalast drew his gun with his left hand. He assumed the fighting position of his twin pistols style.

“You’ve probably spoken to Yuri and Laty-san already. We’re not going to do anything bad to your village. Our goal is to bring peace to it.

Will you still fight in spite of that? If you will, what are you fighting for?”

Without replying, Yanku sank into silence for a while. Mattalast kept talking.

“You should be able to actually understand this. Joining the Indulging God Cult and devoting yourself to Mani’s happiness is the best path for you. Since you know that, why are you fighting?”

Yanku couldn’t think up a good answer, and so he simply spoke up his mind as is.

“Because Big Sis Noloty died. That’s why.”

Mattalast laughed. It was a scornful laugh. One you would make when you saw someone completely beyond any help.

“So there’s no choice, huh. Shall we fight?”

Mattalast threw both of his guns to Yuri who was watching silently from the side.

“Mattalast-san, even if you give me those…”

Yuri was confused. Even if she used guns she wouldn’t be able to pass through Shlamuffen.

“I’m not telling you to use those. Just hold on to them for a while.”

“Why?”

“I’ll fight him unarmed. Because if I don’t do so, it wouldn’t be a fair fight. Right, Yanku?”

Mattalast twisted his lips and smiled. Yuri had no idea that there was a man who could smile like that.

“This isn’t enough of a handicap like that… so I’ll add another one.”

While saying this, he pointed at his hat.

“If this hat falls off, it will be your win. I’ll give you my neck along with it.”

“Wha…”

Yanku became speechless.

“How greedy. Are there not enough handicaps already?”

“Don’t underestimate me!”

Yanku swung Shlamuffen. At the same time he produced mud and assaulted Mattalast.

“Who of us is underestimating the other, I wonder?”

Mattalast moved. His speed right now was completely incomparable with his movements from before.