Now sixteen, the prince had grown not only physically, but emotionally too. No longer was he the little prince who would hide behind me. The man at my side was Crown Prince Richie—a proper member of royalty. Come to think of it, n-now that he’s sixteen, perhaps once this goodwill visit is over, he’ll p-propose to me...you know, maybe.
“♪ Haa... Auspicious young pine... ♪”
Oh dear, I couldn’t keep from singing a jinku normally sung at wedding reception banquets. Dosukoi dosukoi!
“Heh heh. You never change, Floortje. Always with the beautiful songs.”
The prince smiled gently. I felt embarrassed.
“You’re red as a tomato, milady.”
Silence, before I bring you down with a minor inner footsweep.
Anyway, I wanted to at least put out the fires. The Elven Forest Republic would collapse at this rate.
The town gate came into view at the end of the road.
“There it is, milady, Your Highness! The gate!”
I set my thoughts aside. No doubt there would be demons or monsters guarding the way out.
“Two enemies ahead! A big one and a small one!” shouted Adela.
Two monsters stood in our path, blocking the road.
“Stop! This west gate is closed! No one is allowed through!” announced a huge red-skinned monster in front of the coach.
The big monster was an ugly red giant, while the small one was a beast-man with the body of a green frog. Adela stopped the coach. The three of us sat at the front of the coach, so the monsters could no doubt see me and the prince too.
“You must be from the Demon Lord’s army. This coach bears members of the Aryakan royalty. Aryaka is not at war with the demonic realm; thus, we have nothing to do with what is happening here. We ask you to let us through.”
Adela attempted to negotiate with these standard lines, but I didn’t expect this to work, since those monsters surely had their sights set on us. The monsters laughed loudly.
“Well, aren’t we lucky, Givun?”
“We sure are, Aikio. It’s only our third gate duty and we’ve already won the lottery.”
The red giant, who was apparently named Aikio, shook with laughter. What looked like sparks flew from his body with every shake.
“These two might be trouble, milady. This red one is a hellfire troll—a troll capable of combustion. It must’ve been him or one of his kind who set fire to this town.” Adela sure knew a lot of things. “That green one is known as a poisonous frogman. He can cover his skin in poison. Both of them would be difficult to defeat in sumo.”
Fire and poison... These certainly weren’t the easiest monsters to fight.
“Mwa ha ha! So you want to leave this town, Aryakan yokozuna Floortje? Well then, why don’t we have a bout in sumo?!” Aikio, the hellfire troll, raised his large hand. “Come forth, black dohyō!”
From the ground between me and Aikio rose a pitch-black dohyō. Wow, monsters can summon these too?! I thought sumo was supposed to be sacred... But I quickly shook off that thought.
Though sumo is a sacred ritual, it also involves putting one’s ara-mitama—one’s rough and violent side—on display. Even in Shinto in Japan, not all gods are sacred. Many of them are malevolent—with Susanoo topping that list. A being can be wicked and evil, but so long as it is a strong warrior, it qualifies to participate in sumo.
This was exciting to me. I felt a smile creep onto my face.
“I accept your challenge.”
My opponents smiled at my words. Despite their fiendish appearances, smiling made them look kind of cute.
“Mighty generous of you to accept fighting on a black dohyō without any resistance. Guess they don’t call you the Aryakan yokozuna for nothing,” spoke Aikio.
“Same thoughts, ribbit. Wrestler Floortje, this will be a team competition, ribbit. On this side it’s me, Givun, and my pal Aikio. What about your team?”
I looked at Prince Richie. He nodded with a smile.
“Very well. I, Floortje Hobbema, and Crown Prince of the Aryakan Kingdom Richie, shall be your opponents. Do you find that satisfactory?”
“No backing out of this, you two. We finally have a shot at glory,” said the troll.
“If either team wins both bouts then that settles it, but what if the score ends up being 1-1?” I asked.
“Then each side picks the wrestler it wants for the decisive bout.”
So it was to be like the team competitions in sumo at the National Sports Festival of Japan. Personally, I wouldn’t have minded facing the two of them on my own, but such were the rules.
“Now wait just a moment, please! How can we be certain you’ll let us pass if we win?!” asked Adela in a sharp voice.
“Well, maid, you’ll just have to trust us on that one.”
“That’s right, ribbit. I know we’re baddy monsters and all, but we wouldn’t break our promise when it comes to sumo, ribbit.”
“Reeeaaallyyy?” pursued Adela.
“It’s a rule in Dark Sumo. Break a promise and you’re branded a failure of a rikishi, unable to ever receive sumo buffs again.”
“The demonic realm is seeing an unprecedented sumo craze, ribbit. Those who don’t do sumo aren’t popular with the ladies and don’t get any respect, ribbit.”
I was surprised to hear the sumo buff was a thing even in Dark Sumo. It meant I had to be cautious in the upcoming bout.
I approached the black dohyō. It seemed it was still made out of Arakida soil as it should be, being merely different in color. Touching its surface made me feel like my sumo powers were being drained.
“Heh heh heh... That’s a black dohyō for you. It sucks out light sumo powers and grants dark ones. How do you like it?”
“This isn’t fair! It’s not fair at all!!!” protested Adela.
“Well, maid, if we fight on an Aryakan dohyō, it will be us drained of power and your side getting stronger instead. Gotta be one or the other.”
I raised my hand.
“Come forth, dohyō!”
I felt the usual dohyō surfacing. The white and black dohyō mixed together, ending up in the form of the yin-yang symbol—one side white...and the other black.
“Whoa! I had no idea it would end up like this if you mixed the holy and the wicked!” exclaimed Aikio.
“Good, good, ribbit! This makes it more of a game, letting you pull opponents into your territory or dodge so they enter it themselves, ribbit!” added Givun.
“Well done, wrestler Floortje! I should’ve expected no less.”
“Now the bouts will be fair,” I said.
“All right, glad to have that out of the way. Now let’s do sumo! Being able to face off an Aryakan yokozuna... It’s like a dream.”
“You really like sumo, eh, pal? Ribbit.”
Aikio entered the black side of the ring and performed shiko. It was a pretty impressive one. I looked forward to my first match against Demonic Sumo, which monsters also appeared to be capable of. As we prepared for the bout, a group of elven soldiers showed up.
“Commander Aikio! I see you’ve captured the Aryakan Crown Prince and Crown Princess Candidate! We would like you to hand them over to us!”
“Forget it.”
“Wh-What?!”
“I’m going to fight these two in sumo. If I win, I detain them. If I lose, they have permission to go through that gate.”
“What?! Is this really the time to be playing such stupid games?! The elven revolution is at stake!”
“Shut your mouth! You better stay quiet and watch. Intervene and I’ll burn you to a crisp!”
Aikio waved his hand, and a flame shot out with a roar, burning the ground beneath the elven commander’s feet. Wow, he can even shoot fire?! This troll was clearly a formidable opponent.
“All right—decide who you’ll be fielding, and when. On our side, I’m going first, and Givun goes second!”
“Hmm...” I pondered.
If I were to bring down Aikio and Prince Richie brought down Givun, it would mean a clean sweep. The frogman had a small stature, so I was sure the prince wouldn’t have trouble with him.
“Let’s talk strategy, milady.”
“Huh? But Adela...”
“Let’s talk strategy!”
“Okay.”
What’s with the pressure? Was this really Adela? The prince and I went behind the coach to hear what she had to say.
“His Highness should go first.”
“Me? Can I win...?”
“His Highness is at a disadvantage against Aikio. He has a better chance of winning against Givun, does he not?” I argued.
Adela extended her index finger and waved it left and right while tutting.
“Your Highness, win if you can, but get out of the ring if you’re at risk of being burned.”
“Are you asking me to lose, Adela?”
“Yes. This is a team competition. It’s the team’s victory that matters at the end.”
I could see her point.
“His Highness should not fight the frogman because that monster uses poison,” continued Adela. “We don’t currently have anyone around who can magically purge poison, nor do we have antidote potions.”
The prince and I reacted simultaneously. “Oh.”
It was something I had failed to consider. Had we won the bouts but succumbed to the poison afterwards, it would’ve all been for nothing.
“You have your ranged skills, milady—namely the Harite Catapult and the Tornado Beltless Arm Throw. His Highness can use them too, but they aren’t as powerful in his execution as they are in yours.”
“Good point. Wow, Adela,” I said, surprised.
“Even should His Highness lose, you can just take down that hellfire troll yourself in the decisive bout and that’ll be that.”
“Impressive, Adela. How are you so good with tactics?” asked the prince.
“Th-That’s a secret.” Flustered, Adela put her index finger to her lips. “The important thing is to win this series, all while avoiding injury. Because too much damage, or poison, would spell the end of our escape. So please don’t get hurt.”
“Okay, Adela. Thanks,” I replied.
“All right, let’s go with that, Floortje.”
“Gladly, Your Highness.”
I loved seeing the prince act so sober and dignified. Dosukoi dosukoi!
As I wondered who would be the referee for the upcoming bouts, a black ghost of a referee appeared on the black side of the ring. At the same time, a regular translucent referee appeared on the white side of it. And as I wondered what they were going to do, the two of them looked at each other in surprise before deeply bowing to each other and fusing into one referee clad in a gray suit. After a few moments of confusion, I decided not to think too hard about it. Sumo was a ritual, after all—such things were surely par for the course.