Chapter Text
2006 August 14 [New Calendar 0065]
This evening seemed little different from any other evening, in the new cycle of lives in the Yagami home. Hayate was sitting on the couch, braiding (badly, having little practice) the long pink hair of her senior knight, as Signum sat in front of her, reading a library book. One who knew her history might be surprised at Signum doing something as prosaic as reading a tall and wide children’s book on the ancient Romans, but then, all the rolling and bloody centuries Signum had seen had provided little precedent for her current life.
After dwelling on two particular pages unusually long, she suddenly asked, “Does anyone on Earth still do these gladiator games?”
“No. I don’t think anyone did things like that after the Romans fell,” replied her master. (And if one wonders how a nine-year old girl knew anything about gladiators, why, the answer is simple: she had read the book first.)
“Really? No one? You have two hundred countries on this teeming planet, and not one?”
“If you mean people fighting to the death, or throwing them to wild animals, then I am pretty sure not. At least not in public, I can’t speak for some criminal underground. We have boxing matches, and fencing, and lots and lots of teams pushing balls around. But no one’s supposed to die.” Her hands paused while she looked briefly into the distances. “Though, hmmm, I don’t know how the boxers manage, punching each other in the head all the time. You’d think that’d be bad for them. Anyway, the balls are a lot more popular than the boxing and fencing.”
“What is the fencing like?”
“I think it’s mostly poking each other with sticks? With big face masks, for safety? Not at all like a real swordfight.” Hayate dropped the hair, to make wild chopping gestures with her hands, and whoosh noises. To their left and right, Shamal covered her mouth, eyes crinkling, while Vita gave a snort.
“Hrmmph.”
“You sound disappointed, Signum.”
“I thought I’d found a point of cultural similarity. Belka used to have many such combat games, at many levels. From high magical duels of aerial knights, mostly safe, down to arming prisoners with knives and having them fight to the death… At any level of power, the death games were the truest form, a raw struggle for survival.” Signum’s voice was warm with recollection. “And I think most preferred by the gamblers, too. Little risk of a fight being thrown, with the loser’s guts on the line… But real knights would be too valuable to throw away like that, save in rare moments of extravagance.”
“And if they were strong enough, too powerful to be forced to fight to the death,” Vita cut in.
“Well, there’d be ways. Threats to family, appeals to honor, a lord’s superior power… Anyway, it was most mostly prisoners or weak soldiers who would provide the blood spot.”
“And… you thought it was okay to have prisoners fight to the death?”
“Why not?” Signum sounded puzzled. “Their lives were forfeit anyway. This way they provided entertainment, and got a chance of winning more time.”
Shamal sniffed. “I think it was a waste. Better to use them for biological research, or medical practice.”
“You could combine goals. Try to save the lives of the losers.”
“I suppose. It’s not very controlled, though.”
“Neither is the battlefield.”
Above Signum’s head, Hayate was staring glassily at the wall.
<Uh, guys? I think you’ve shocked her again.> Vita thought at them.
<Oh, dear.> “Sorry, Hayate-chan, we didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Uhhh… I-I’m just… I don’t know…”
“How does Japan execute criminals?” Signum asked.
Hayate blinked. “Umm… I’m not sure. I want to say electric chair. But I think I read about hanging in a newspaper? The chair might be from old movies.”
“How would the chair work?”
“Um, I think it passes a lot of current through so the victim fries.” Shamal winced.
“I’d prefer a knife,” Vita murmured.
“If, uh, you’re really curious, I g-guess we could ask the reference librarian. O-or look in an encyclopedia.”
“Master, are you all right?” Signum asked.
“S-sure, haha, it’s just that, you’re so different,” Hayate said, her voice cracking.
Lying on the floor across the table, Zafira spoke up. “If it helps, think of us as from your Sengoku period, with magic, technology, and more centuries of war.” (Zafira had been reading rather more than Signum.)
Hayate blinked a few times. “Huh… that does help. But,” Hayate’s voice firmed up, “you can’t go behaving like that now, okay? Different time, different values. That’s an order.”
“Of course not. We wouldn’t kill anyone without our master’s approval,” Signum said.
“…good, good.”
“I thought you didn’t want to give us orders,” Vita said.
Hayate sniffed. “I didn’t know who I had to deal with, then.”