Chapter Text
Sato Masaki
I am the narrator YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!#@^%*&
LET ME TELL YOU THE STORY OF HOW I BECAME QUEEN!
Sato Masaki was squirming in her binding. She didn't like this one bit, and her captors totally deserved having an obnoxious prisoner. She made noises as she was attempting to slide the ropes in at least one direction. Maybe if she distracts the guards with her noises, she could focus on escaping...
"Maachan seriously..." Haruna sighed, "we do need to figure out something though..."
"Blast our way out?" Duu suggested. "Maachan and I could get a fire started..."
"We don't even know what's outside of this ... wagon..." Haruna looked around. To be frank, they were stuck in nearly complete darkness, surrounded by all sides save for a couple cracks on the sides, showing a little light.
"Maachan, how many people do you sense?"
Oh gods a question directed at her. Maachan had to hone in on Haruna repeating her question to really make any sense of it. People? Sensing?
She closed her eyes and so much noise came into her at once. Water. Trees. Demons. Ground. Water. Trees. Demons. Ground. They must be near a river. How many demons were there...
"SQUIRREL!" Maachan screeched, causing the other two to wince. There was a squirrel on the tree nearby.
"How many demons are there?" Haruna repeated, though still reeling from Maachan's high voice.
She loved her high voice. Her high voice is all. It could see beyond the cosmos. Maybe if it was high enough, she could talk in a completely different realm...
Demons though. How many were there...?
1...2....3...4...5...9...20...10...11...13...
"Wait, I don't know how to count, you know that, right?"
"A little, a bunch, or a lot?" Duu clarified for her.
"A loooooot! Just like how many we got at the orphanage!" Maachan showed it by stretching her hands out in front of her, showing through the length of her arms.
Haruna and Duu stared at her.
Dumfounded after moments, Duu finally spoke up.
"...When did you get out of the rope?"
"After I found the squirrel," Maachan smiled gleefully.
Haruna and Duu shook their heads. Maachan was fantastically magical. There was no explanation. The explanation was all and nothing. The explanation was Maachan. Maachan was the explanation.
"So maybe we should wait til we come out to judge..."
"I was just thinking that, Duu," Haruna said, "They haven't given us food since we left. They have to do it if they're interested in a long haul... And not damage us, the product..."
Such big words. Maachan did not understand it. Haruna must have realized for she repeated it.
"They didn't give us food because we're important."
"We're impotent!" Maachan reiterated.
"Important."
"Important!"
"I dunno, I still say we set this on fire, they'll HAVE to let us out," Duu leaned her head back against the wall.
"Okay!" Maachan raised a finger and a lone candle-like flame popped up.
Haruna shook her head vigorously, "NO not yet!"
"You need to untie us first!" Duu leaned forward and headbutted the poor high pitched girl.
"Fiiiiine!" Maachan pouted before proceeding to help the others untie themselves.
Once the rope was off and in the center, Haruna began once more.
"So if we get rid of the cart, it would mean we'd have to travel in open air right? That gives us a the upper edge. And then we..."
Maachan began to tune out the other. Why must plans and stuff be so long and boring? All she could see was the tall girl's lips moving and anything that comes out sounds like blah blah blah blah...
"SQUIRREL!" Maachan snapped her head to the left, zeroing in on the location.
"...and that's the plan," Haruna finished, pinky in her ear, attempting to undo the damage of Maachan's scream.
"So what do I do? Do I get to set everything on fire?" Maachan rubbed her hands in anticipation.
"Nothing, you do nothing." Both Haruna and Duu looked at her straight in the eye when they said that in unison.
"Ok."
After rubbing her wrists from the itchiness of the rope, Duu stuck one finger up and a tiny flame lit up above. Carefully, she moved it to her corner. Once the fire started catching on, she moved away and all three waited on the opposite side of the fire.
Thanks to the bobbing of the cart they were in, the fire didn't take long to consume that entire corner. However, the smoke was consuming all the oxygen in the area.
"I... forgot to account for that..." Haruna wheezed, keeping her nose as close to the crevices as possible.
But it was also thanks to the smoke that the lid was finally pried off.
"What the hell!?" One of the bandits cried out as he saw the flames. "What did you idiots do!?
"SAVE US!" Maachan immediately latched onto the demon bandit, feeling the wind knocked out of her because she slammed into a his bony shoulder. The bandits rescued the rest quickly and thoroughly.
Unfortunately for the bandits, half of the wagon was lost to the flames. In truth, it was actually hilarious watching them scramble. There were no buckets or anything so they couldn't use one to get water from the stream. It wasn't until Duu kicked the wagon into the stream that the bandits congratulated her wit.
Maachan was praising Duu along with the bandits until Haruna set her aside, away from the noise.
"The bandits don't seem smart, they might be easily fooled by a lie..." the eldest began, but Maachan's brain did a metaphorical simulation of what the fire just did.
YES. SHE MUST. IT WAS CALLING OUT FOR HER TO DO IT.
"HOW DARE YOU IMPRISON ME!" She bellowed in a squeaking voice. All the bandits turned to look at her.
"I AM THE DAUGHTER OF THE ROYAL FAMILY!"
Haruna and Duu facepalmed.
"But why were you in an orphanage...?" One of the bandits asked, stroking his wild beard.
"Because I was sent away by my family for safety. See, I have this evil uncle who tries all he can to..." what's the word again... "umurp the throne. Since I'm the only heir, my dad sent me to this orphanage because they knew Yasuda-san would teach me well like a good lady so I can be ready to refume my role as the queen! But really, I am the missing girl in the royal family up north, so you guys BETTER treat me as one or else daddy will send the best guards to take me back and they will slice you all into 165 little itty bitty pieces which will be bad because you can't eat when you're sliced in 165 little itty bitty pieces cuz your belly needs 165 little itty bitty pieces of food to help but you're never gonna find it here so you will live a life of miserable because your 165 itty bitty pieces will roll forever and ever in search of food."
Haruna looked ready to die at all of the inaccuracies in her speech. Well it's not Maachan's fault that the lessons were boring and she zoned out throughout most of it!
"So a queen..." the bandit began, but Maachan didn't let him finish. Maachan never lets anyone finish if she has something to say!
"HOWEVER, if you bring me along with my slaves back, I'll be sure to let daddy know of your amazing good deeds and if you're lucky enough, he'll rewahd you all with lots of riches and stuff so you won't have to be sliced into 165 little itty bitty pieces and become a Stacy or have to roll around in search for food like a beggar but then again the beggars aren't in 165 pieces so they don't really need to roll to move unless," Maachan gasped, "They're magical and can fly so it's like dust but in meat chunks! But then if you get caught in a noodle dish you're screwed."
Words couldn't even describe Haruna and Duu's faces right now.
When a bandit moved, Maachan pointed a finger at him, "INJECTION! HOW DARE YOU MOVE WHEN I'M TALKING!"
The bandit looked scared out of his mind.
"SO, I DEMAND THAT YOU ALL TAKE ME AND MY SLAVES BACK TO MY FAMILY OR ELSE YOU GET SLICED INTO 165 LITTLE ITTY BITTY PIECES AND I WILL EAT YOU ALL WITH MY MISO SOUP!"
"Y-yes..." the bandits complied...
"But we still need to deliver at least someone to the lair..."
The three gulped.
"Royal families don't care if the servants are gone right? It's just the one queen who they will pay for..." another bandit said methodically.
"How about we send the four of you guys with the queen and the rest of us will take these two down to Satsuma?"
The other bandits discussed the rest with each other before agreeing with a hearty "OHHHH!"
Immediately, one of the bandits hoisted Maachan up on his horse, belly first on the saddle, and the four of them road off to the distant north.....
AND SO BEGINS MY EPIC JOURNEY TO THE NORTH!!!!