“Oh, it is nothing like Aryakan Sumo. Ours is but a shoddy rural martial art.”
“I still want to hear more about it. Do you have something like a dojo?”
“We do. In fact, wrestlers should be training there right now. Would you like to come see it?”
“Absolutely!” spoke the prince and I in unison again.
We looked at each other and smiled.
After passing through thoroughly interwoven cave roads, we entered a hall where dwarves practiced sumo. Small but stout dwarves, male and female, were grappling and throwing each other. They wore slightly short tops and only shorts or underwear below. There was no ring, so it looked more like judo or a similar martial art. The dwarves were all small but muscular and had low centers of mass, so their training was an encouraging sight to behold. Seeing them use throws and foot throwing techniques made me think about how all humanoids used similar techniques in wrestling-type martial arts.
“Hey, Werner, who are these guys? These training grounds are sacred!”
“Watch that tongue of yours, Mamiana. This is the Crown Prince and Crown Princess Candidate of the Kingdom of Aryaka!”
The dwarven girl apparently named Mamiana kept staring at me, unfazed.
“So you’re the yokozuna of that fake sumo they do in Aryaka, huh.”
“Stop it, Mamiana!”
“Oh, knock it off, Werner. I hate liars. All wrestling around the world, including all forms of sumo, originated from Dwarven Sumo!” She turned to me. “And look at you—you’re all skin and bones! There’s no way a form of sumo in which you hold the title of champion could be legitimate!”
“Oh? Are you sure about that? Why, then, I’m sure you know what a sumo wrestler must do at times like these,” I told her.
“Wh-What, you’re gonna fight me? Sure, why not? Let’s do sumo!”
“Gladly.”
“Someone, give her the outfit,” Mamiana called out to her fellow female wrestlers.
It would be immodest of me to wear clothing fit for an individual the size of a dwarf, however. And so, I transported myself to the usual dressing room and put on my mawashi, then returned.
“Wh-Where did you disappear off to just now? And what’s with that belt?”
“It’s a mawashi. The official outfit worn in Aryakan Grand Sumo.”
“That’s what you wear? And on top of a dress that flutters so much?”
“Yes. Because sumo is done with spirit.”
“You talk big, but let’s see how you fight!”
Having the deeply ashamed Werner be our referee, Mamiana and I entered a grapple. It appeared that, in Dwarven Sumo, they started bouts after grappling each other rather than from the squatting position.
“You lose if your head, shoulders, or back touch the ground.”
“Okay.”
“A-All right. Go!”
At Mamiana’s cue, the showdown between Grand Sumo and Dwarven Sumo began—and I threw her down with a kubinage. With the bout over in an instant, the other dwarven rikishi cheered for me.
“Wh-Wh-Why?”
“That was a headlock throw,” I explained.
“Damn it! Let’s go again!”
“As many times as you wish.”
I continued to throw Mamiana time after time. She was very strong and knew good techniques, but lacked experience. It was obvious what technique she was about to use, and she didn’t do a good job of trying to throw me off-balance. Wait, why am I doing sumo on my date with the prince? An awkward smile surfaced on my face as I threw Mamiana down for the umpteenth time. It always came to this. Oh well—I was an indefatigable sumo wrestler first and foremost.
“I’m terribly sorry, Lady Floortje!” apologized Mamiana eventually, prostrating herself. “I deeply apologize for boasting to a personage of godlike skill such as yourself.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. You can’t know how strong someone is until you have a bout with them.”
Mamiana cried while pressing her forehead to the floor.
“I was but a frog at the bottom of a well! Ah, I’m so ashamed of myself!”
I embraced the dwarven girl and helped her up.
“That’s not true. You’re a great sumo wrestler.”
“Thank you so much!”
Her tears were hot as they landed on my shoulders.
“Come to Aryaka once this whole mess is over. I’ll teach you Grand Sumo.”
“Really?! Thank you!”
“So don’t cry.”
“Okay!”
I patted the head of this good girl. Young female dwarves were only as tall as primary schoolers, even if they were of age, and they had strong builds. They would surely make good sumo wrestlers.
“Thank you for opening my sister’s eyes, Lady Floortje.” Werner lowered his head to me.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
It was almost as if I had put a cheeky dwarven girl in her place through sumo. Perish the thought! Oho ho!
“Mamiana is really gifted,” said the prince.
“She is. This trip hasn’t done much for diplomacy, but we’ve found some good rikishi material. Can’t wait for the day we’re all working hard at Aryakan Grand Sumo together.”
Boorman from the elves, Mamiana from the dwarves... And, surely, Kukuri would rejoin us from the Demon Lord’s army. World peace forged through sumo was such a beautiful thing.
I had the dwarven siblings, Werner and Mamiana, show us around the Dwarven Great Caves. It was fascinating just how different things were in the rock-drilling levels compared to topside: tens of thousands of dwarves lived here. The temperatures didn’t change much in the caves, so it was apparently cool in summer and warm in winter. We visited a large workshop where numerous dwarves made whatever hardware they wanted, a dwarven school, the water and sewer system, and some other places. I was told this place was originally a large mithril deposit, and that as they excavated it, a village was built, then a town—and eventually, it grew into one of the few great caves on the continent. Extremely impressive as it was, the only issue I had with the place was its winding roads. The connections were so three-dimensional it was hard to keep track of where you were.
We did some window-shopping at the central shopping district and drank cave tea at a café. The shopping district was very crowded—not only with dwarves, but with humans and elves too. There seemed to be many merchants who stocked up here and resold goods in their own towns.
Cave tea was made by brewing moss and had a surprisingly good aroma and flavor. You were meant to drink it with hard, sweet cookies. We had a most relaxing teatime as I looked out the café window to watch the crowds walking by. Touring cities for the first time was nice even by itself, to say nothing of doing it together with my beloved prince. I felt warm and fuzzy all over.
Arima had said we would be having one more tournament, but I had to wonder how they were going to go about setting it up. Wouldn’t we be out of their reach once we boarded the Magic Train?
“Don’t worry, Floortje. No matter what happens, I’m here with you.”
As I was lost in thought, the prince became worried. I’d better stop this.
“Thank you, Your Highness. That makes me happy.”
“Since before the goodwill visit, I’d been planning to propose to you once we were back. And when we cross the border, I intend to do it.”
“Oh my! Th-Thank you!”
Ah, dosukoi dosukoi! My cheeks were hot. The prince had taken me by surprise. Dosukoi dosukoi!
It had been a long two years of waiting. But it was probably for the best. I felt that there was less distance between us thanks to our most recent experiences. An engagement... We would be another step closer to happiness. And my chest was filling with happiness already.
“♪ Haae... Let’s gather flowers and dance... ♪ Haae... January, the blessing of the flowering Adonis... ♪”
Oh no, I was so happy I couldn’t keep from singing a jinku again.
“That brings back memories. You sang that song to me when we first met.”
“Oh, I suppose I did.”
“We’ve come so far since that day, Floortje. Let us continue our journey through the rest of our lives together from now on.”
I was so overcome with emotion I could almost cry. The two of us would finally attain happiness... It was like a dream.
The prince was looking at me with a gentle smile. My blushing self was reflected in his eyes. And he was surely reflected in mine. Werner and Mamiana sitting near us looked like they had overdosed on sugar, but I didn’t care. For we were a pair of sumo wrestlers head over heels for each other. Dosukoi dosukoi!
The magic lanterns in the caves gradually grew dim. They were linked to the amount of light outside, and were only about half as bright at nighttime. You couldn’t tell day from night inside a cave, so that must’ve been the dwarves’ way of letting the locals know what time of day it was. Still, even at night the brightness wasn’t so low you couldn’t see around you.
Werner escorted us back to the state guest house. The roads of these caves were like a labyrinth, so we would definitely have gotten lost without a local there to guide us.
“Welcome back, milady.”
“Bark, bark!”
Holding Barkus to her bosom, Adela greeted us in front of our room.
“Have you gotten some rest, Adela?”
“Yes, Barkus and I had a good nap.”
She must’ve had it rough, having to drive the coach all the time. We couldn’t have made it out of the Town of Yggdrasil without her help. Thank you as always.
“A messenger from the chief came earlier to invite you to dinner.”
I considered the offer. It had been my intention to try what the locals downtown ate, but it would’ve been rude to turn down the chief’s invitation.
“All right. It’s a diplomatic opportunity, so we’ll have dinner with him.”
“No objections from me, Your Highness.”
“Understood. I’ll go let him know,” said Adela.
I took Barkus from her and relaxed on the sofa.
“After we board the Magic Train tomorrow, we’ll be at the border with Aryaka in half a day,” said the prince.
“It’s that fast?”
It surely wasn’t as fast as the bullet trains from my previous life, but it seemed to have about as much speed as a locomotive. It was a big help.
I patted Barkus’s back. Ah, it was such a wonderful, relaxing sensation. Mmmmm...