The Letter
“Hear me, you wicked bandits who prey upon the people!”
At a bandit stronghold nestled in the mountains, someone had appeared at the entrance early that morning, making a tremendous racket.
“Driven mad by nothing but greed, you have plundered the property of the innocent! The evidence is plain for all to see! I, Edward of Basilite, shall bring you villains to justice!”
“What the hell is with that guy? Has he lost his mind?”
“Does he even know where he is, running his mouth like that? Hey, you little punk! You'd better scurry off before I catch you!”
The bandits on watch duty had been scoffing—until their eyes went wide.
“Wait a minute! Come to think of it, that guy!”
“You know him?”
“Th-that's him! The Fool Prince!”
“What? That's the Fool Prince?”
“Yes! Yes! That's him, no doubt about it, the Fool Prince!”
“A whopper of a catch, goddamn it!”
A deep horn blast shook the entire stronghold.
“It's the Fool Prince! The Fool Prince has appeared!”
“Seriously?! Boys, let's go catch him, quick!”
“Where?! Where is he?!”
“A fortune beyond imagining, right before our eyes! Ahahahaha!”
“Our luck is in today, lads!”
Bandits wielding all manner of weapons came pouring out of the stronghold in a thunderous horde.
Watching from a good distance away, Edward hurriedly pulled on a black mask and shouted.
“Catch me if you can!”
With a hearty burst of laughter, he began to run.
Blinded by visions of gold, the bandits chased after him in a frenzy of excitement—only to lose him somewhere in the forest.
“Where'd he go?”
“Hey! Any of you seen that guy?”
*Hah, hah.* No idea. We came running from over that way, and nothing.”
“Ah, you little bastard, where the hell did he bolt off to? Sly little weasel.”
While some thirty bandits cast about wildly with fire in their eyes, a rustle came from the underbrush. A man dressed exactly as Edward had been—black mask and all—stepped out into view.
The bandits let out a roar of triumph in unison.
“The whopper! The whopper of a catch is here!”
The bandits swarmed him, closing in from every side.
But what was this?
The Fool Prince they'd assumed would be easy prey was astonishingly strong.
Every time the Fool Prince swung his fist, screams erupted from somewhere in the melee.
“Forget the ropes! Just stab him! Don't worry about hurting him! Break a leg first—just make sure he can't move!”
The bandit chief bellowed himself hoarse, urging his men on, but the Fool Prince was not a man that blades could touch.
It wasn't a battle. It was a slaughter.
The bandits were beaten down, one-sided and utterly.
At some point, fewer than ten of them were still standing on their own two feet.
The ground was strewn with those who lay dead or unconscious.
“Th-this isn't the story I heard. Are you really the Fool Prince?”
Confronted with a situation they had never imagined, the bandits lost their nerve and began to flee—though all they managed was to scurry back into the stronghold and hide.
The Fool Prince pursued them all the way inside and wiped out the lot in the blink of an eye.
And so the same scene repeated itself day after day.
Edward appears first as bait, then Maru emerges in an identical outfit and annihilates the bandits.
Rinsing and repeating this formula, Maru and Edward swept through bandit strongholds without meeting a hint of resistance.
Then, about two weeks in, the two reported their results to the royal court.
The ministers gathered in the great hall could barely contain their astonishment at the sight before them: a mountain of gold and treasure piled in the center of the hall, stacked so high it nearly brushed the ceiling.
“Wh-what is all this?”
“I'm told these are the spoils of plunder carried by the bandits His Highness the Prince has subdued.”
“His Highness has destroyed this many bandit strongholds?”
Maru stepped forward before the dumbfounded ministers and began, just as before, to inflate Edward's exploits to outrageous proportions.
“His Highness the Prince was truly magnificent. His movements were swifter than light itself. Whenever a bandit swung his blade—thwack!—he blocked it, and—crack!—he hammered him down. Hardly had he finished one foe before he was already dashing toward the next: shing! Shing! Thwack! Bam! It was like watching Lady Alexia the Hero herself. And then…”
“Ooooooh!”
The further Maru's tale went, the louder the ministers cheered and applauded.
The King watched the spectacle with deep satisfaction, and the Queen seated beside him clapped silently at intervals, her face radiant with delight.
“And that concludes my report, in my capacity as the royal administrator who serves at His Highness's side!”
The moment the report ended, the looks in the ministers' eyes as they regarded the prince had changed entirely. One and all, they gazed at him with admiration and respect.
Edward swept a hand gracefully back through his hair and flashed a satisfied smile.
Truly, the thickest-skinned man alive.
“Administrator Maru. Next time, do tone down your account of my exploits a little. I find it rather embarrassing to listen to. Hohoho.”
“S-such humility…!”
One minister stared at him reverently, then cried out at the top of his lungs.
“Long live Prince Edward!”
The rest of the ministers were swept up in the mood and roared along with him.
“The light of our Basilite Kingdom! Long live Prince Edward!”
Rumors that Prince Edward had annihilated a great horde of bandits spread swiftly beyond the palace walls.
“You know that Fool Prince? Turns out he did all this, apparently.” (whisper whisper)
“What~? Oh my, he's like a whole new man~”
Everywhere, people could hardly meet each other without falling into chatter about the prince.
Public opinion, once sour, began shifting steadily warmer and more favorable toward him.
The King, too, eventually heard word of his subjects' hearts through his people and nodded with a contented smile.
“I chose my man well.”
With the King's trust running deeper, Maru's life in the palace grew all the more comfortable. When the King relocated him to a larger, more splendid room than before, the people of the court took the hint and treated Maru accordingly. Whatever Maru did, hardly anyone moved to stop him.
“Is that for His Highness, I take it?”
A maid passing through the corridor asked this upon glimpsing the silver tray Maru carried in both hands. On the tray sat a bottle of wine, some fruit, and a roast chicken.
Maru flashed a quick smile.
“That's right.”
He passed her by and headed for the prince's chambers, rapping on the door twice with his foot. It opened at once.
“Oh, there you are.”
The prince greeted Maru with a bright grin.
“What have you got there?”
“Food for me. Mind if I use the table?”
“Help yourself to as much as you like.”
The moment he stepped inside, Maru set the silver tray down on the table and dug in.
“Come have a drink with me.”
“I'm all right. I have to see His Majesty later.”
The prince was absorbed in picking out what to wear for the next bandit raid.
“For this next sweep, I really must dress grander and more resplendently than ever. Clothes that will lift my standing to even greater heights, you see.”
“The vanity has well and truly taken root, hasn't it. Guess you're actually enjoying this business?”
“It's the life I've always wanted. The ministers look up to me, and Mother and Father think well of me now. Thank you, Maru.”
Maru smiled quietly and drained his cup.
“Anyway, if you're switching to a new look, don't forget to get my outfit matched to it exactly.”
“But of course. We're two hearts beating as one, are we not?”
“Two hearts beating as one?”
A hollow laugh burst out of Maru. What utter nonsense.
“By the way, weren't you supposed to introduce me to the princess? It's been weeks and I haven't caught so much as a glimpse of her. You do actually have a sister, right?”
“Hahaha. Leave it to me. Apparently she led a trade delegation down to the provinces on business before we even arrived—what am I to do about that? She'll be back before long.”
“Exactly when?”
“From what I've learned, she's due about now. At the latest, the day after tomorrow; at the earliest, perhaps today.”
“I hope it's today.”
Maru tilted the bottle, filled his cup, and drank it down in one long pull. After that, he traded this and that with Edward, and as the wine began to warm him, his mother drifted into his thoughts.
Come to think of it, I never sent word about myself. The island vanished—she must think I'm dead.
He glanced back at Edward, still prowling before the enormous wardrobe.
“You wouldn't happen to have any letter paper?”
“Letter paper? Over there. Look in my desk.”
Maru rose and went to the desk, where he found fine-quality paper and what looked like an expensive quill.
“Just like a prince—only the good stuff. I like it.”
“Glad it pleases you, since it pleases me that it does.”
Maru pulled out one of the antique chairs and sat down at the desk.
“I'm going to write a letter—give me a moment alone, would you?”
“Hm? But I still have to pick out my clothes?”
“It's a letter to my mother. I'd be embarrassed with you here.”
Before long, Edward—neatly dressed for a stroll—gripped the door handle and smiled.
“Having someone in my chambers while I'm absent—how novel. Very well. I'll be in the garden; send for me when you're finished.”
“Don't go hiding in some corner.”
“I'll be by the fountain in front of the palace, then. Write well.”
Once the door closed, Maru took up the quill and set his thoughts flowing onto the page. Having been apart from her so long, there was so much he wanted to say that the words came without pause.
Dear Mother,
It's Maru, your son.
I was sharing a properly respectable drink with a friend of high standing when you came to mind.
Every time I drink, I remember how you used to hover at my side, pouring for me with your own hands and cooing about how handsome our prince was. Your gentleness has never felt more dear to me than it does today.
Carlyle may well have reported that I died. Please don't be alarmed, and rest easy.
I am alive and well, living happily in a place called the Basilite Kingdom. (Under NO circumstances are you to send anyone.)
And a little while ago, I saw something wonderful here.
I saw you, Mother—from your younger days, younger even than I am now.
The feats you accomplished in the days when you were free as a bird—I sighed in admiration to myself, again and again. Truly remarkable.
It makes me so happy to be your son.
And at the same time, it makes me want to be even more like you.
I want to accomplish something great of my own, just as you have, and give back to our kingdom… (the rest trails off)
In time, Maru rolled up the finished letter.
“Ah, why does it sting so much.”
He sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, then stretched long and slow.
“Maybe I'll step out for a bit.”
He would have to go out alone to send the letter.
Since it was addressed to his mother, he had written the recipient's name as Helen, a woman living in a rural village back in his homeland—the secret drop point that agents operating abroad used to quietly communicate with the royal court.