The Culprit [Part 2]
“Is this alright, Your Highness? To put them in prison arbitrarily.”
House Lance had a fair share of influence amongst the nobles. There’s no way they would stay silent when Robert, the next heir to the title, was put in prison.
“…House Lance and disgusting insects. I have an inkling about those two. If those were the insects released by Robert, then the one who will receive punishment is not Robert alone.”
The Prince answered with cold eyes that could even make Arthur, who had always been with him, feel a chill run down his spine.
If the insects are really that,
If those insects were really released above Emma’s head,
Even suppressing my anger feels difficult.
And if what Robert and Bryan were looking for were those insects…
If by any chance those insects are lost…
He won’t be able to get away with it, even if he is the son of a duke.
“ I will report it to Father, His Majesty.”
The culprit was a student of the academy. However, it had become a problem that could no longer be merely settled as children’s mischief.
♠♠♠
“Koumei-san, Koumei-san. Can you come here for a bit?”
“Meow?”
Emma went towards the desk even though she would usually be in bed at this time.
She spread out a large piece of paper, which could cover the entirety of the disk’s surface, and began drawing some shapes with all her effort as she scoured her memories desperately.
“Errr… I couldn’t remember three. There’s supposed to be eight of them, though… Umm… I wonder if anyone knows them? Uhh… Ah, hold on… Koumei-san? Just one more sec, okay? Forgive me.”
“Meow?”
A large part of the paper Emma was drawing on was under Koumei’s body. The more Emma concentrated on the shapes, the more Koumei stretched her body on top of her drawings and got in her way.
“Ah, hey. See? The ink got in your tail, didn’t it?”
“M-Meow?”
“I know, I know, I’ll go to bed soon. Let’s sleep together on my bed. But just let me finish drawing t-this square… okay? Koumei-san, your right forefoot… Was that on purpose? AH, n-nails, your nails! Retract them fully, Koumei-san! Put them away, okay?”
“M-Meow?”
“Yup, just five more minutes. We will sleep together after that, okay?”
Emma had already got on her bed and entered the most comfortable position to sleep a while back. But when she recalled the formations of the tailless whip scorpions under Koumei-san‘s command, she suddenly thought of a fun game.
Perhaps not pleased with how Emma got out of bed and started to be engrossed in drawing something even though Koumei thought they would be sleeping together, the cat took up a spot on the desk and refused to budge. The pressure is real.
Emma finally completed the five shapes that she could recall while having a silent tug of war with Koumei.
“The other three shapes… Let’s give it up for now…”
“M-Meow?”
“Yes, I’m done drawing. It’s all finished! Koumei-san, let’s play with this tomorrow, okay?”
“Meow?!”
“Koumei-san, too, remember it well, okay. This V shape is the Crane Wing Formation, and this arrow-like shape is the Fish-scale Formation!”
“Mew, meow?”
“That’s right. Let’s play Takeda army tomorrow!”
“Mew, meow meow meow?”
“Uh-huh. Takeda army… Huh? Shokatsu Koumei* comes to mind when looking at this? Ehh? I think I have an unreliable memory…”
[*T/N: Zhuge Liang in Chinese]
“Meow!!!”
“Ah, yes, you’re right. We should sleep. I won’t be able to remember the other three shapes now anyways. It would be nice if we could match the mood somehow.”
Since the Stuarts had already received the message that the academy would be closed tomorrow, Emma could play to her heart’s content.
♠♠♠
Author’s words:
One is disturbed by a cat from working.
Even so, one shall not put the blame on the cat.
Emma was drawing the ‘Eight Battle Formations’ developed by Takeda Shingen during the Warring States period of Japanese history. The ‘Eight Battle Formations’ used in Japan were Takeda Shingen’s easy-to-understand interpretation of the battle formations that had already existed in the historical records of China. The original battle formations Takeda had adapted from were Zhuge Liang’s ‘Eight Gates Formations’. (That’s why Koumei said that the eight formations were Zhuge Liang’s, while Emma only remembered Takeda Shingen as the creator.)
Here’s a comparison between Zhuge Liang’s ‘Eight Gates Formations’ and Takeda Shingen’s ‘Eight Battle Formations’.
