Short Story: The Brothers’ Conspiracy

“I must say, Brother, you have gone and made a rather bold decision indeed.”

I said to my brother, he and I both still moving our pieces atop the shogi board.

Though he was king, it wasn’t as though he was busy from morning to night with government affairs. While some meetings tended to drag on, at other times such talks would be wrapped up quicker than expected. When left with such free time, he had taken to playing shogi with I, his little brother. It was gradually becoming somewhat of a daily routine for him.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“The matter with young Touya. I am surprised you would approve of Yumina’s proposal to the boy so easily.”

My brother folded his arms, staring intently at the piece I had just moved.

“To be frank, I had been worrying over the matter of Yumina’s wedding for the longest time now. It’s her Mystic Eyes, you see. I could not risk even a meeting between the girl and any who would seek her hand in marriage for fear of the repercussions. In contrast, the boy Touya has already earned her approval. I believe that should he marry into the royal family, it would be to the great benefit of the country and its people.”

“I had thought such might be the case.” Young Touya, a mysterious boy with total mastery of non-elemental magic and strange knowledge of things I had never seen nor heard of before. In fact, this very game called shogi, and the socalled Swiss roll foodstuff that he brought along with it that day, were of that young man’s invention.

He was as mysterious as they came. Were it not for Yumina’s Mystic Eyes, I may have been far more apprehensive of him. The boy in question seemed utterly oblivious to all of the suspicions surrounding him, however.

“The problem remaining is the difference in social status between the commoner adventurer, Touya, and the country’s princess, Yumina. In order for the populace to approve, something must be done about this… Perhaps we could find a childless family of nobles and have him adopted by them… No, that seems somewhat unfeasible.” My brother moved his piece with a clack. Hrmm, so it all comes down to this…

“Why not make the boy himself into a noble? For the one who saved the king’s life, a rank of nobility hardly seems a stretch for a fair reward.”

“Perhaps, but I am sure the boy would simply refuse. He is not the type who longs for power, wealth, or status. Were he so materialistic, my Yumina would never have approved of him in the first place.” There was truth to those words. Were Touya the type to seek guaranteed success in life or fame among the people, then Yumina’s Mystic Eyes of Intuition would have seen straight through such greed long ago.

“Well, I’m sure there is no cause for alarm either way. That boy will undoubtedly become a renowned adventurer before too long. Once he’s risen through the ranks, you could assign him direct requests on behalf of the country and have him perform distinguishing services that no noble could turn a blind eye to. With such a background, I find it hard to believe there would be many who would fail to approve of his marriage to the princess.”

“Alas, he and his party are based in Reflet… It is somewhat far removed from the capital, so I cannot help but worry.”

“You have sent a guard to watch over them, have you not?”

“Yes, although I have made sure to keep it secret from Yumina. It is helpful that Touya visits with relative frequency using that teleportation magic of his, but…”

It was a five day wagon trip between Reflet and the capital. It would be far more convenient to have Touya remain in the capital, lest another emergency situation break out. Sue would surely be happier with such an arrangement, as well. In which case…

“Then, as a gift of thanks for having saved your life, Brother, why not bestow upon him a place of residence in the capital, instead?”

“A place of residence…? I see. That certainly might work. Were he to live in the capital, Yumina would practically be right back by my side, as well. You can be quite the schemer at times, Al.”

“Perhaps, but I have a ways to go to catch up to you, Brother. Aha, checkmate!”

“Hmm?!” My older brother returned his eyes to the board and let out a strained groan. Declaring ‘checkmate’ against an actual king was an amusing joke that I might never tire of.

Some days later, as payback for having lost to me at shogi, Brother made me handle all of the paperwork and formalities for arranging a place of residence for Touya. My brother could be truly childish in those sorts of situations. Not that I was one to talk, hohoho.