“Princess, are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you on the boat?” The soldier sounded rather worried.

“Yes, I’m sure.” She smiled back warmly, “Thank you very much for taking us to here, but you’ve done your task faithfully, and then some. If we asked for anything more, it’d just be too much.”

I see. So she’s like this when she’s around her subjects, am I reading the situation correctly? Honestly, if this was my first impression of her, I honestly don’t think I could find a proper comparison for a more fitting image of a princess, but in reality she’s much less serious and a huge klutz. Now that I know how she is in reality, actually seeing her act like a proper princess is a bit jarring, y’know?

“Ugh, alright…” He sounded a bit dejected before turning to us sharply, “And you! I want all of you to remember what I said!”

“Right, right – If even a single scratch is found on her when she comes back, it’ll be our heads on a stick, we know.”

“Good!” He then hopped back into the wagon, “Now princess, I want you to behave, alright? You told me to trust you, and that is what I fully intend on doing, but do remember what you’re here for.”

“About that,” Anna asked the soldier, “Why is she with us?”

Wuh-!? Anna, don’t just ask our enemy that all of a sudden! Obviously, none of us know the answer to that question, but what if he suddenly grows suspicious of us all and snaps?!

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.” The soldier calmly replied, “We’re under an oath of secrecy ordered by the King. If I let even a single detail slip, my song would end right this instant.”

“It’s that serious?” She gulped, “But then, why are you entrusting the Princess to us, the people you’re attacking? Don’t get me wrong, we don’t plan on harming her, but surely you understand how odd this situation is as well?”

“Ah, that.” He sighed, “Well, all I can say is that I’m acting according to plan. The Princess is rather zealous in her endeavors, so she might’ve done things a bit out of order, but at the end of the day, you shouldn’t worry about a thing. Whilst I can’t exactly give away the reason why we’re attacking Western Trivis Numerica, I can at least guarantee that you won’t be put in harm’s way. That is, unless you actively seek it, in which case I can’t really help you.”

Is that so? Well, if we’re not gonna get hurt, then I guess it’s fine… Not! This guy’s really part of a massive army that just attacked and massacred the town we live in for some stupid secret reason, feigns innocence by stating it’s all part of the King’s overarching plan, then has the GALL to warn us not to interfere?! Like hell I won’t! Just you wait, the moment I find a suitable plan, I’m returning to Stringwood and taking you all down!

“Of course!” I hid my vile thoughts behind an innocent smile, “We were spared thanks to the Princess, and we don’t plan on wasting that chance.”

“I see you’re one of the smart ones, then.” He waved as he started up the engine, “Well then, ciao!”

“Bye bye!” We waved back, before whispering amongst ourselves, “Damn that asshole…”

“Alright!” Vivia hopped through the dock, “Which ship will take us to your friend’s island?”

“Hold on there, young lady.” Arthur stopped her before she ran off somewhere, “In order to figure that out, we first have to ask the Captain.”

Thus, Arthur designated himself with the duty of talking to the kind gentleman with a Captain’s hat. They had a pleasant talk, or at least that’s what it seemed like, before the Captain finally let us board his ship. He was at first a bit hesitant to take us to Lichtenstelle, given its past history of being the Island of Exuul, but we managed to persuade him after a bit of convincing.

“Well, if you say so…” The Captain scratched his head as he let us aboard, “Thank you for the payment!”

After a couple more minutes of the Captain setting everything up, the ship had sailed off from the dock, and what awaited us was nothing more but the open sea. It’d probably take around about a week before we could get to the island, so we had to find all sorts of ways to pass the time.

We passed the time by playing your run of the mill traveling games, but they really only worked for wagon rides. That being said, stuff like Slug Bug and other similar games that would work wonders if you were to be riding a transport wagon were suddenly rendered useless on account of the ship simply not having any bugs to fly by. I Spy was also a game we tried for a couple minutes, but we soon ran out of things to spy, constantly repeating either something blue (the sea or sky) or something brown (literally everything on the ship). In the end, we wound up just sitting around and waiting for time to pass by itself.

“So bo~ring!” Vivia groaned, “Hey Blondie, got any interesting stories about that friend of yours?”

“Blondie?” I felt offended, “Hold on, my friend? Who’re you talking about?”

“Y’know, that Grim guy.” She answered back, “Or was it Lune…? Well, in any case, he sounds like he’s lived a way more interesting life than any of you did, so I’d rather you regale me with his stories than yours.”

This girl…! I’ll have you know that I’m still technically a General in ARA, the most well-renowned gangs in the Great Hiana Underworld! I visited a fair share of the world looking for a cure to Arthur’s illness, then I… I uhh, hold on. No, surely I did more than just that? Come on, wait a sec, it’s coming to me…

“I hate how right you are…” I slumped down in my seat, “But in any case, I really wouldn’t call his life interesting. It’s more depressing than anything, really.”

“Depressing?” Arthur tilted his head, “How come? He plans on traveling the world, has amassed the funds to do so comfortably, he’s extremely well-spoken, and…!”

“That’s enough out of you.” I rolled my eyes, “You’re only mentioning the good parts out of his journey while ignoring all the easily avoidable bad ones. When I last saw him, he looked like a completely different person. Lost a finger, pale as a ghost, skinny as a stick. Not to mention his Purple Iro.”

“Eh!?” Everyone suddenly yelled out, “His what?!”

“Did I… not mention this?” I tilted my head, “I could’ve sworn I did though, but yeah, he converted to Purple last time I saw him. And that was even before I shot Marina, so yeah.”

“You monster!” Arthur jumped from his seat to berate me, “And you call yourself his best friend?! You saw that he was in such a delicate state, and you still attacked him!?”

“What?” I raised my voice, “What are you saying, Arthur? I know what I did was wrong, but…!”

“No excuses!” He shouted, “Goddammit, if I knew you were gonna ruin his life this much, I wouldn’t have taken care of you back when you were still a child!”

“Grampa!” Anna couldn’t believe what she had heard, “What are you saying to Ed?! Take that back!”

“Seriously, Old Man, not cool.” Harper defended me as well.

“Not cool? Not cool?!” Arthur spat on my face, “What’s not cool is all Lune did for Edward, only to get verbally abused, beaten to a pulp, then had his pregnant wife shot in front of him! That’s what’s really not cool!”

“Ooh, drama!” Vivia clapped happily from the sidelines.

“Shut the hell up!” I turned to her, “Stay out of it!”

“Eep!” She recoiled back into her seat, tears practically flowing from her eyes.

“And you, Arthur!” I then wiped his spit from my face, “What’s gotten into you? You can’t be serious right now.”

“And why not?” He remained adamant about his stance, “Lune had the world in his hands, and you took it all away from him!”

“Wrong.” I calmed back down, “He didn’t have the world, he cheated on Cecily. Honestly, you’ve met both her and Nelly, so how can you say such a thing with a straight face? Are you excusing his behavior?”

“Ngh…!” He thought for a second before answering, “Of course not. Adultery is morally wrong, but I’m sure he had his reasons. Besides, it’s not like Nelly is his real daughter.”

Hearing this made me uncontrollably mad. Just thinking about that evening, when Cecily cried with all her might after Nelly asked her the gut-wrenching question – Who is daddy?... I don’t know what got into me, but before I realized it, I had already jumped from my seat and pulled him up by the cuffs of his undershirt. Anna and Harper were frantically trying to pull me away from him, all the while the Old Man donned a rather regretful gaze in his eyes. And while all this was happening, Vivia was… singing?

“Hmm~.” She hummed a rather odd tune.

“A boy, destined for his heights unreached,

Wits in his hand and philosophies unpreached.

Calls upon his greatest of friends

And so the story twists and bends.”

“Hm?” We all silently zoned out, listening to the in-tune voice.

“The friend a straight man, and he a fool,

They made chaos their stepping stool.

One went home, tired but unscathed,

The other continued, hungry for crusade.”

“The boys reconvened, happy as can be,

But said to one another insults a plenty.

A scuffle which led to death, the boys no longer whole,

One was with his family, and the other went home.”

“That song…” I stammered, “Did you just make it up?”

“Indee~d!” She sang back, “Oh, I based if off of the friendship you and Lune shared. Pretty catchy, right?”

“Uh, I guess?” I shrugged, “But wait, you got the story wrong, though. I didn’t kill both of them, just his wife. It was an accident, though…”

“Yeah, but I changed it up to make it more emotional.” She chuckled, “Y’know, having him die as well kind of makes it poetic in a way. It’s like a happy ending masked as a sad ending, since he’s reunited with his love.”

“I don’t like the insinuation.” I awkwardly let go of Arthur, “In any case, where were we?”

“Beats me.” Arthur looked around, “I was so surprised by her suddenly starting to sing that I forgot what made us argue in the first place.”

“Oh?” Harper teased him, “Finally going senile, are we?”

“You shut up, Doc!” He started bickering with her instead.

Well, I hate to admit it, but I guess Vivia somehow saved the day with that song of hers. Now of course I still remember why we were bickering, but I’m smart enough not to remind Arthur. I’m still not sure what made him say such horrible things to me, but I’d be a fool if I mentioned it again. He must just be tired from having to be this active at his age, I think. I know for a fact that what he said wasn’t true. He cares about me, and I about him. I know that, because I’ve seen him smile at me countless times ever since I was a kid. There’s no way he thinks that way about me.

“Hey, psst.” Anna leaned on shoulder as she whispered. “About Grampa… Please don’t take his words to heart.”

“Yeah, already ahead of you.” I chuckled, “Remember, sticks and stones. I know that what I did for Grim is not at all justified, so I’m sure that Arthur was just a bit shocked after hearing that Grim’s a Purple Iro now.”

“Yeah…” She got a bit quiet.

“H-Hey, are you crying?” I wanted to tease her a bit, but realized she actually was.

“Sniff, yeah…” She continued sobbing, “Everything’s just… gone bad. First the war, then Grampa’s temper, then the news about Lune… It’s all just way too horrible!”

“…Yeah.” I brought her closer to me, “But we’ll get through it. Things will get better.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Well…” I chuckled, “That’s what Grim would say in this situation. I mean, look at him! He converted to Purple, but he still continued pushing through, and despite me not having seen him in a while, I’m sure he’s still fighting on, stronger than ever.”

“Oh…” She thought for a moment, “But you know what they say about Purple Iros? They say once you convert to it, you can never go back to any other color. That means he’ll eventually succumb to his thoughts, and…!”

“And?” I reasoned, “He’ll kill himself? Do you realize who you’re talking about? Grim is the most stubborn person I know. He’s the last person I’d expect to off himself, so please have some faith in him.”

“Hehe, you’re right.” She finally let out a chuckle, “If you say so, I’m sure everything will be back to normal, and we’ll all be happy again. Just like before!”

“Yeah,” I looked at the distant sea in front of us, “Just like before…”