Baka-Tsuki - User contributions [en]

Zero no Tsukaima:Volume7 Chapter5

2008-09-19T19:43:10Z

Fynal fyre: Edited naming conventions, punctuatuion and spelling. Other than that Good Job TL.

Roughly a mile out from the battlements of Fort South Gotha, at the staging area for the assault, the three hundred and fifty troops of the De Vinuiyu Battalion were awaiting the horn to signal the beginning of the attack.

Today, fifteen days after the landings, the Allied Army was finally launching their offensive.

Leading the Second Company, Guiche was shivering from head to toe, staring intently at the mist-covered city of South Gotha.

“Company commander, sir!”

The sergeant on guard at his side, Nicola, spoke in a soft tone.

“W-w-w-what is it?” Guiche stammered.

“You dropped your wand.”

Guiche immediately looked below at his feet and saw his rose-shaped wand lying on the ground.

He frantically picked it back up and shoved it into his chest pocket, while trying to maintain the solemn expression on his face.

“Company commander, sir!”

“W-what is it?”

“Although it might not be my concern, I still think it would be better for you to go take a leak first.”

Guiche immediately glared at him and exclaimed:

“I’ve already gone!”

“That’s good, then.” Nicola replied while grinning.

“There’s nothing to be nervous about. According to the reports in the past few days, the enemy’s cannons have all been destroyed by our fleet’s bombardment, and they’ve only deployed Monstrous humanoid creature [Editor's Note: The best I can do here] troops to guard the streets”

“Those M-monstrous humanoids are incredibly ferocious, and their bodies are massive.”

“But they are foes that are incredibly easy to lure into traps.” Nicola remarked while watching ahead.

Guiche observed the small man carrying his arquebus. This was the first real battle he has participated in, and there was no one else he could rely on. With such thoughts in his mind, the man in front of him appeared to be larger than any lunkhead he knew.

“However… from where could we start our assault? The whole city is surrounded by those huge rock walls…”

Hearing Guiche’s concern, Nicola nodded his head.

“Someone’s going to come ‘open a route’ for us soon.”

After some time idly passed by, a fleet of battleships appeared in the skies above. The ten battleships, by then all neatly lined up in a row, proceeded to begin bombarding the wall with cannon fire. In the face of the floating battleships’ firepower, the enemy was completely powerless.

“Boom—! Boom—! Boom—!” Accompanied by the thunderous roar of cannon fire and thick clouds of smoke, the walls began to crumble and cheers could be heard erupting from the soldiers assembled at the staging area. Under the barrage of cannon fire, the walls along the battlements collapsed.

And then, appearing right in front of their eyes, was a group of huge mud golems.

“They must be golems made by Triangle Class magicians.” Guiche thought to himself.

Since he himself was a Dot Grade magician, he could never create such large golems. He looked up at it in admiration – Although it was slightly smaller than the mud golems created by Fouquet of the Crumbling Dirt, whom had once rattled the whole of Tristain, they were still huge. The mud golems, with a height of roughly twenty meters, solidly stumbled along, gradually nearing the collapsed walls.

On the backs of the mud golems were flags bearing the family emblems of their respective creators, and Guiche, upon noticing a familiar emblem amongst them, instinctively yelled out loud:

“That's brother's! That is brother’s mud golem!”

Bearing the emblem of the Gramont family, it must belong to his second brother who was attached to the Royal Army. The flag fluttering on its back, bearing the emblem of the Gramont family, ‘A Rose and Panther’, was glowing brightly.

At that instant, with a whoosh, a large object of some short flew straight towards the mud golems approaching the wall. Wham! One of the mud golems had its abdomen shot through into a gaping hole. The golem immediately lost its balance, and collapsed into a heap onto the ground. The metallic lights shot towards the approaching golems one after another, felling many of them as they were struck by its fire.

“What in the world was that?” Guiche gasped.

“It’s a giant ballista.” Nicola replied immediately. “I’m afraid they're probably operated by the orcs. It's a three meter-long weapon based on the crossbow, capable of shooting giant bolts. If a human were to be struck by it, they will surely be smashed into pieces. But then again, they were not designed to be used against people.

Guiche worriedly watched his brother’s golem. A bolt stuck out of the golem’s leg, but fortunately, the mud golem still remained standing.

“Is company commander...a member of the Gramont family?” Nicola asked, noticing Guiche’s excitement.

“I’m the youngest son.”

Hearing Guiche’s reply, Nicola's eyes opened wide in astonishment.

“That means you are the Marshal’s…! What a surprise! What brought you to a lowly gun battalion like ours? With your father’s name, whether it be the knights, or an elite regimental headquarters, wouldn’t you be able to join any battalion you desire to?”

“If I were to use my father’s name, does it not mean that it is no longer because of my merit?” Guice replied as he looked to the front.

Nicola was unable to say anything, but after a while, he grinned and slapped Guiche’s shoulder.

“I like your kind of attitude, young master. Since that’s how it is, we ain’t returning back home till we win our merit and glory!”

Soon after, a troop of dragon knights arrived as well. Heading straight towards the ballistae upon the battlements, with magic and dragon fire, they quickly silenced the ballistae.

Finally arriving at the foot of the collapsed wall, which had been turned into rubble by the cannon fire earlier, the mud golems began clearing away the rubble.

“They're making an entrance.”

His men would soon breach into the city through that entry. Guiche’s entire body began to tremble uncontrollably.

“You are shaking?”

“…E-even though I would really like to say it is due to the excitement… but it is most probably because of fear. Uh…”

“Heh, being honest is a good thing, you will never succeed on reckless courage alone. But, you can’t be too cowardly either. Regardless, just let me take care of it.”

Nicola raised his hands towards the roughly hundred arquebusiers behind him. Another fifty or so pikemen acted as their guard. This company numbering roughly hundred and fifty men, were the soldiers under Guiche.

“Prime and load your cartridge—!”

The arqebusiers then leisurely loaded their barrels with the bullet and gunpowder.

“Company commander sir, might I trouble you to light this?” Nicola pulled a length of slow match towards Guiche.

Guiche nodded, and cast an ‘Ignite’ spell on the cord. Accompanying the sizzling noise of the slow match smouldering, a burning smell hung in the air. Nicola called a soldier over, and handed the ignited cord over to be distributed amongst the other soldiers.

“This is a slow match given by our company commander! Make sure it is not extinguished!”

The response that returned lacked any sense of enthusiasm.

Rumble—! The golems cleared away the wall. At that moment, Nicola poked Guiche in the waist and said:

“Company commander sir, let’s go.”

Raising his wand whilst still trembling, Guiche yelled out:

“G-g-gramont Company, forward!”

The veteran arquebusiers followed behind with staggering footsteps. It was only then that Guiche realised – it was only his own company that was charging forward! The order to charge hadn’t been passed down from the top yet!

“Hey, sergeant—“ He was about to voice his complaint, but stopped upon noticing Nicola’s calm and confident expression.

Once a company has begun advancing, it was almost impossible to halt their advance, and thus they could only continue moving forward.

A few seconds later, an order to “Charge!” resounded from the ranks behind.

Like a surging tidal wave, soldiers, knights and assorted others all stormed in their direction.

“We're all old veterans after all. If we don’t start out a bit earlier, we won’t be able to catch up.”

Probably due to the reason that they had set out earlier, Guiche’s company was the first to reach one of the breaches along the battlements. But a couple of knights chased past them, storming into the city.

“But we were the first to get here!” Guiche shouted as he prepared to storm inside, right before Nicole grabbed him.

Immediately afterwards, the knights which had just charged in were sent flying back out together with their mounts, landing in front of Guiche in a miserable state. It seemed that on the other side of the wall were club-wielding orcs, waiting for simple-minded fools like them to deliver themselves to their doom.

Enormous monsters with a size at least five times that of a human, the group of orcs spotted Guiche's party and immediately stormed towards them. Guiche remembered the time when he had gone treasure-hunting with everyone; how they had been ambushed by orcs like these as well. His bronze golems had been pummelled into oblivion by them back then.

A sense of dread welled up within him.

“Fire! Fire! Quickly, fire!” Guiche began to yell frantically.

“Don’t fire just yet! Company commander sir! Use an incantation to knock over that guy furthest at the back! Quickly!”

Then, acting accordingly to what he had said, Guiche waved his artificial rose. Erupting from the ground below, a hand grabbed a hold of the leg of the orc at the back.

With a "Crash!" right in the middle of the narrow breach in the wall, the orc tripped over.

“First platoon! The leading group is your target! Fire!”

Without delay, Nicola issued the order to pour volley fire onto the orc at the head of the approaching group.

The thirty or so arquebusiers fired their guns in concert at the leading orc, shredding it to a honeycomb. The other orcs at the forefront were felled onto the ground as well, blocking the advance of the group behind them. Not the type to let such an opportunity go, Nicola bellowed his next order without hesitation.

“Second platoon! Fire—!”

Although the orcs were capable of waving their clubs about even after a barrage of bullets, they still couldn’t endure the impact of the dozens of bullets fired at such close quarters.

The orcs which were trailing behind decided to retreat, but within the narrow breach of the wall, the orc at the rear had been knocked to the ground by Guiche’s magic, unable to move. At the front, they were obstructed by the corpses of their allies. Just as they stumbled and trudged through the corpses to charge through, they were greeted with the volley fire of the remaining arquebusiers.

The last few remaining orcs were then met with the charge of the pikemen and quickly eliminated.

Staring at the twenty or so orc corpses on the ground, Guiche voiced out in admiration:

“S-so powerful...”

While he instructed the arquebusiers to reload their bullets, he revealed a grin.

“It's because these guys are very simple-minded- once they spot the enemy, they’ll come charging straight at them.”

The veteran sergeant laughed as he patted Guiche’s shoulder.

“Company commander sir, look, now you can earn the highest merit.”

And just like that, the Ragtag Battalion demonstrated an extraordinary level of solidarity. Meanwhile on another front, was the solitary ‘Trump Card of the Allied Army’.

It was Louise and her familiar.

South Gotha was built upon a relatively high mountain. Encircled on all sides by a wall, a main road shaped like a five-pointed star was constructed within. Legends say that this was the first city built by the Founder on the continent of Albion; whether this was the truth or not, it is impossible to know.

However, it was only the five roads of that pentagram that displayed that elegant geometric design, within it was a complex of countless side streets and disorderly alleyways. It was no different than the other cities that could be seen all over Halkeginia.

At the moment, Louise was running frantically through a small alleyway. Saito could be seen by her side with Delflinger firmly in his grasp, followed closely by the various members of the dragon knights in disguise.

Chasing them from their rear, were ten or so huge trolls and fang-bearing ogres; both were giants that measured roughly five meters tall.

Fortunately, this being a small alleyway, the beasts seemed to be struggling to squeeze through. Because they were crashing through protruding walls and windows alike as they chased through, it took them quite a while. If it had been a wide open plain instead, Louise and them would surely have been caught up to in an instant.

To find out why Louise was running back and forth through the maze of alleyways within South Gotha, we would have to begin from the mission that they had accepted.

In the simplet sense, their objective coincided with that of the assaulting main force: Infiltrate the city from the opposite side, with their original purpose to use ‘Illusion’ magic to create a phantom army, thus plunging the enemy into disarray…

“Why did you have to suddenly yell out like that?! Hey!” shouted Louise as she ran.

Three hours ago, they had snuck into the city under the cover of darkness.

“Didn’t I already tell you? No matter what you see, don’t act surprised! Hey!”

“B-but... It's too big! That troll thing! That ogre or something!”

The thing is, Louise’s Void magic required an exceptionally long incantation period.

Just as she was chanting the incantation on a street corner whilst pretending to be preaching, an Albion noble responsible for patrolling went over to inquire:

“Who are you guys supposed to be?”

“We are participants in the Founder’s Rite of Passage, which has brought us to this ancient city of South Gotha. We wish for Albion to achieve victory, and thus we are currently praying to the heavens.”

Although René had said so without blinking an eye, the patrolling magician, with a peculiar expression, still asked..

“Don’t tell me... you're spies sent by Tristain and Germania?!”

Louise hastily shook her head rapidly.

René also shook his head.

Then Saito, noticing the huge troll standing behind the magician, inadvertently cried out loud:

“So big! Just what is it?”

The magician immediately brought his face closer to Saito who had unwittingly cried out. “A very rarely seen face...”

I’m suspected, Saito thought, assuming a straight posture. The magician meticulously measured Saito up.

“Let me ask you, who is the general who commands the Second Army of the Holy Republic of Albion.”

Saito tensed up.

General!? How am I supposed to know things like this? Looking around him, all he could see were the beads of the sweat on everyone’s foreheads. Crap, the success of the mission depends all on my answer. But... I have no idea what the general’s name is.

The enemy magician pressed his face closer, and glaring fiercely at him, said:

“What’s wrong? You don’t know? You don’t even know the name of the Sir General who protects this place? Do you really hail from Albion? Spit it out!!”

Saito’s mind began plunge into disarray. And, having plunged into disarray...his mind was completely blank.

“Tokugawa Ieyasu.”

He made up such an answer. When it came to general’s names, he only knew this one.

“What Tokugawa Ieyasu!? Where’s he from!? Why couldn’t you give a more appropriate answer!" shouted Louise as she ran.

“It’s not like there was another choice! He was the only one I knew!”

“Whatever, I won’t blame you for now.”

No, rather it was all his fault, but nothing could be done. Louise continued:

“Why don’t you just take care of them like usual! It’s only so few of them!”

When Saito had replied “Tokugawa Ieyasu”, the magician was taken aback, before yelling “Suspicious persons!” and launching a sudden attack with the troll.

Saito was originally going to block their attacks...but was sent flying by the troll in one hit.

The overwhelming strength of the gigantic monstrous humanoid creatures...it was difficult to endure even as Gandalfr. Furthermore, there were almost ten of those monsters. Even if I can’t kill them, I should be able to resist their attacks... However, today’s Saito was not the same as his usual self.

“What’s wrong, Partner? Why do I sense that you have no enthusiasm?”

Zero no Tsukaima:Volume7 Chapter5

2008-09-08T18:40:59Z

Fynal fyre: Changed grammar and sentence structure and spelling. That's about it. Please finish soon ^^

Zero no Tsukaima:Volume7 Chapter1

2008-08-26T15:30:26Z

Fynal fyre:

===Chapter One: The Temperature Difference between the Two===

A young lady with peach-colored hair was lying horizontally on the bed, with only a thin cape wrapped around her bare skin.

She is the one whom they call "Louise of the Void", otherwise known as Louise Françoise, and only a few high ranking officers of the royal army knew of this secret.

It's now the end of the year, the second week in the month of Wein. Going by Halkeginia's climate, it's now the equivalent of autumn... It's still not considered very cold in the tent. Winter will have to wait until the coming of the new year. It's also because of this that she can dress so sexily without the fear of catching a cold.

On a simple bed made up of a piece of cloth draped over straw, Louise bit her small finger, and sulked indignantly. This gesture of hers has an unbelievable cuteness to it. On that porcelain doll-like face of hers surfaced a peach color, arising from discontent. Louise sat up, and hugged her knee.

This gesture of hers had a cuteness akin to a god's. With her feelings immediatly written on her face, Louise cannot hide completely the uneasiness in her heart. This uneasiness caused some sort of dramatic change in Louise's girlish air, adding to it a layer of perfume called "sexiness".

Louise's hands nonchalantly touched her long slender legs beneath the cape.

The fingers touched the toes, and returned to the knees.

Unknowingly, Louise did such a seductive move, even gently tugging the cape covering her upwards- exposing her legs and slim yet sexy thighs- All this, was done unconsciously.

Beneath the cape was her skin, a young maiden's skin now full of charm, due to her passion.

Which is to say, she's wearing nothing. To ask why; that's because Louise only wears pajamas when she sleeps, so since she forgot to bring her pajamas, she had to replace it with a cape and if she were wearing her undies, she would not be able to fall asleep.

Although the sexy and cute pose from Louise is spreading out an irresistible charm...It's a pity that the other person in the tent took no notice of it.

On the back of the cape covering Louise, was the lily emblem of Tristain. This cape was different from the one worn in the academy. The emblem, a way to distinguish friend from foe, clearly indicated that this area was a battleground.

As a female officer directly under Her Highness's command, Louise was assigned her own personal tent. In the military port of Losayes, buildings resembling hostels were rare, so tents were put at every stop. Such treatment was equal to a general‘s, but since Louise‘s legendary magic element ‘void’ was considered to be a last resort, it was normal.

Inside the tent illuminated by a magical lamp, was a simple bed made up of a piece of cloth covering some straw, a foldable dining table, a small cabinet for clothing and accessories and a bell for ordering the accompanying soldiers. In the battlefield, items like that inside a tent can be considered "luxurious" type.

In a corner of such a tent, Saito was staring blankly in front of him, feeling low.

<center>***</center>

"Hey, Saito."

No reply.

Louise sat up, and called him again.

"Hey, I'm going to sleep soon. Come here, quickly."

Although Louise was red in the face as she called him, there was still no reaction.

"It's already past 10. We'll have to be up early tomorrow morning to inspect the frontlines. You'd better sleep now."

Even so, there's still no reply from Saito.

This familiar of Louise, who came from another world, was now sitting crossed-legged on the floor, his face full of depression. He was already like this since a week ago. When Louise recalled the battle which caused Saito's depression, she felt a dull pain in her heart.

A week ago, the combined armies of Tristain and Germania successfully occupied this port-town of Albion. As the main force of Albion's armies were attracted to the northern port-town of Talnis, there were only about 500 defenders in Losayes. The landing party, numbering 60,000, effortlessly destroyed the defenders and set up camp in Losayes.

During the enticing of the enemy into battle, Louise's "Void" magic showed its power.The Void spell "Illusion', is a spell that can create huge illusions.

Louise used the "Illusion" spell to create illusions of the combined armies landing in Taldanis, causing the enemy forces en route to Losayes to turn back.

But... in order for Louise and others to reach Taldanis, some sacrifices had to be made. That, was the 2nd Dragon Cavalry Company, attached to "Varsenda", the flagship of the Albion expedition.

It was because of their engagament of enemy forces, that the Zero Fighter carrying Louise and Saito could successfully escape the pursuit by the enemy's dragon cavalry.

The price for this battle's success....was the annihilation of the 2nd Dragon Cavalry Company.
Although dragon cavalry were very expensive, compared to the possible losses while landing in enemy territory, this sacrifice can be considered minimal. The commanding officer was even rewarded as a matter of fact! This too, was also something to be happy about.

The thing is, for those who took part in that battle, and witnessed the destruction of the company for themselves, it was an entirely different feeling.

Louise observed Saito, and pouted her lips.

Of course, it was a sad thing that had happened, but…

During the landing battle, there were sacrifices as well. War definitely brings Death along with it. If every death is mourned, there will be no end to it.

In Halkeginia, there were wars almost every single year.

For Louise, although death was something sad, it was also something very close to her.

Louise stood up. Under the dim glow of the magic lamp, the room was rather dark. Under such conditions, even if the cape didn't cover certain areas, the body should still remain unseen.

Louise crossed her hands in front of her, as if hugging herself, and held the hems of the cape tightly. She walked up to Saito, who's hugging his knees as he sat, and said, "Buck up, alright."

<center>***</center>

"Emm." Saito grunted lifelessly.

"But, I can't help it. After all, it happened right before my eyes. Although it's for the execution of the mission, still...."

Saito was really down in the doldrums. It was only then that Louise remembered: those teens were about Saito's age.

Saito… he must have projected himself onto them. This kind-hearted boy from another world, with what's going on in his mind being a mystery, must have been hurt by this self-projection.

Just as how Saito had comforted her before, Louise felt that this time, it was her turn to comfort him. But, she didn't know how to go about doing it.

Louise squatted, and sat back-to-back with Saito. (See illustration)

"That.. Although you may find me cruel by saying this.. Compared to the deaths of the company, what makes me sadder is to see you being so depressed. Although I shouldn't be thinking like this, facts are facts. However, maybe because…you are my familiar and were by my side, I really felt very sad."

Saito slowly turned his head, and stared quietly at Louise.

" Death may sadden people.... But that was a glorious death in the battlefield... for honor. They died for a great victory. They're too pitiful if you felt sad about their deaths..."

"Do you mean what you say... regarding this?"

He felt that something was amiss when Louise started talking like this.

”Of course not, but we have to. We're now at war."

Louise's right hand let go of the hem it was holding, and gently patted Saito's forehead, now that he has turned around. Her fingers caressed the streaks of dried tears on his cheeks.

Saito shook his head, and cried.

"I... I didn't even know their names."

Instead of calling it an unbearable pain, it was more of the inability to forgive.

''To die for the mission, to die for honor.''

He couldn't imagine the feelings at all.

''Doesn't Louise understand this?''

He recalled Colbert's letter. The teacher wrote: ''Never become used to death, never become used to slaughter.''

He was wondering at the time "How is it possible that one could get used to such things?"

As Louise looked at Saito's forlorn face, she felt terrible. What she had just said were not lies. Although she felt sad for those youths who had sacrificed themselves, but they had died for the victory of their country.

Louise, who had grown up receiving the education of the nobility, and Saito, who grew up in Japan on the peaceful Earth: there was an obvious gulf between them.

Louise felt pain seeing Saito’s crying face. Compared to mourning the dead, she had a greater desire to heal the pain of the living. If Saito's tears were a kind of gentleness, then perhaps this can be said to be another type of gentleness.

Louise thought of -

What should one do at a moment like this? How does one comfort a boy who had been hurt?

And...

''If it was that maid, what would she do?'' She used just a little bit of her imagination.

''She would....use the warmth of her body! It's all that commoner can come up with.''

On this train of thought, she suddenly became angry.

''That... that sort of thing... I can do that too!''

Recalling that time where he pushed her to the floor, and kissed her a few times on the neck, Louise's face became red at once.

Since at that time, he was being excited all of a sudden (That's how Louise saw it), Louise hadn't forgiven Saito for what he did, definitely not.

He said something about liking her; surely he said it with doing that sort of thing in mind. Once her mind was on this thought, a burst of anger erupted from within her. After that, she couldn't even forgive herself. Although she was affected by the mood at the time, she actually lowered the hand which had risen to slap him.

''That means... that is to say.....''

But, at the back of her mind, Louise shook her head furiously.

''That doesn't mean that I've accepted him.''

''Because he wanted to do it the hard way; he's doing it unconsciously. That's right! Unconsciously!''

Although Louise didn't know what "unconsciously" actually meant, she hugged Saito tightly, her face crimson-red. Hugging a familiar is something which isn't supposed to be done, due to the difference in status between the two. Yes... letting him sit beside the dining table could be said to be a form of pity. But, hugging him like this wasn't pity.

Louise shook her head. She thought, “What am I doing?" The incredible thing was that her heartbeat was quickening. Her racing heartbeat seemed to be dissolving the cruel atmosphere of the battlefield.

Despite all this, Saito was still depressed.

''Is it still not enough?''

''Is simply hugging him tightly not enough?''

Hoping that he would pucker up didn't mean that she liked him or anything. However, if a familiar was like this, it would affect missions in the future.

Louise intended to try her best at imitating Siesta. She is trying hard, even putting aside her noblewoman's pride. Although she didn't have any other feelings for this familiar, she didn't want to lose in battles, no matter what. However, there was no movement in Saito's vision.

She remembered what she was wearing now. Underneath the cape was her skin.

No undies.

Louise took a deep breath. It's only a tiny bit. If doing this could comfort Saito a little, isn't it worth a try?

''No way Louise!''

How can you show others your body when you're unmarried?

''If you treat him as a familiar, that's still alright. But what are you doing now?''

If he sees it, there will be trouble!

''You'll have to marry him, those are the rules.''

I want to marry?

''Marry who?''

This familiar?

''No way! Impossible! He's a commoner from another world!''

Her brain began to fry, as if it was about to explode. Saito stared at Louise in her current predicament, his eyes emotionless.

''Sob...''now even Louise was feeling down, she really wanted to heal this wound of Saito's.

''Does Saito really like me…To think about it, although he did say that he liked me…but that was for taking advantage of me…But does my body have that kind of charm…Aaahhhh! This is frustrating!!''

Louise grew more and more confused; her brain was really going to explode soon. Just as she was loosening her grip on her cape.....

Just as the gentleness of the mourner, and the gentleness of the comforter for the living, are about to meet....

Whoosh!

A sudden gust of wind blew the tent away.

"What.. what's going on?"

"What!"

Saito and Louise shouted at the same time.

Looks like something just landed beside the tent.

On a closer look, it was a wind dragon.

On its back, one could see the silhouettes of dragon knights.

"Ene... enemies! The enemies are here!"

Saito grabbed his sword hurriedly. At this, a man peered out from the dragon's back, and said to Saito in a soft voice," Oh, you're..."

Upon seeing his face, Saito's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets; he was stunned.

"Aaahhh!"

The men sitting on the dragon were the dragon knights that had been thought decimated.

Saito's mouth fell wide open. He asked softly,

"Wh.. Why?"

"It's... a long story."

<center>***</center>

That was the reply from a plump dragon knight. The rest of the knights bowed their heads, as if in embarrassment.

"We'll talk again later. So…so sorry to have interrupted the two of you…" The plump knight captain said shyly.

Louise, with only a cape covering her, was blankly leaning against Saito.

Louise hurriedly kicked Saito away, and screamed,

"We...we... we didn't do anything!"

Perhaps, it's the miracle caused by this temperature difference between the two types of gentleness.

The dragon knights, thought to be deceased, were standing before them, with not a single men missing.

Besides the dragon which they rode on, the knights lost the rest of their dragon mounts... But no matter, all the men returned safely.

Before Saito and Louise felt relieved, could hardly speak with their mouths now wide open

"You all... Why..."

"No... Well... actually, we aren't sure ourselves."

Seeing the sudden return of the knights, the senior officers in the dragon cavalry's headquarters tent nearly had their eyes popping out of their sockets.

From the day they were annihilated, a week had passed.

Furthermore, this is enemy territory - the land of Albion. Their survival was already written off as hopeless.

Count Kirnumel, the commander of the 2nd Dragon Cavalry Battlion, in charge of three dragon cavalry companies, was the first to open his arms and welcome the return of these warriors, who have miraculously survived.

"Never mind! Regardless, returning alive is something worth being happy about! It really is incredible! A miraculous survival, I say!"

Immediately, applause and cheers rang out inside the tent.

Standing beside Saito and Louise, who brought the whole lot here, a young knight with a shy expression said in a loud, clear voice,

"Actually, even I find it hard to believe myself…even the wounds on our bodies were healed completely!"

A knight took a closer look at the survivors, and exclaimed,

"You're right!"

"Was it the enemy who treated you guys?"

"I... don't know. Regardless, I shall first narrate my personal experience of the battle."

As the leader, the young knight began narrating his report to those in the tent.

The 2nd Dragon Cavalry Company was surrounded by more than a hundred enemy riders...One by one, the riders fell to the enemy's magic attacks.

Almost every knight and dragon mount was severely wounded, and lost consciousness as they plummeted to the ground.

"So, what happened after you guys regained consciousness?"

"At the time, I was already riding on the dragon's back, along with the rest, all the way to Losayes. It's only upon reaching here did I realise that a week had already passed."

"You're saying that you guys have no memory of what happened from the moment you guys were shot down till today?"

The knights looked at each other sheepishly.

"Yes, sir. Absolutely nothing."

"Hey... Don't tell me you guys lost an entire week's memories?"

"That's exactly what happened."

The knights nodded in shame.

"That one remaining dragon mount... Who did it belong to?" Enquired one of the officers.

A knight raised his hand, saying, "It's my Beyael." He was one of the twins. Kirnumel started to focus his attention on the youth.

"What was the situation like at the time?"

"When we got surrounded, I was injured before my mount; my shoulder was hit by a magic missile. Beyael probably wanted to help me escape. So, it pretended to be hit, and flew to a lower altitude."

There is a tinge of shame in his voice, due to the fact that the other knights continued to fight on despite the injuries they and their dragon mounts suffered.

"Since you can no longer fight, it's only logical to leave the battlefield. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

Upon hearing those words from his commander, the lad brightened up immediately.

"Thank you."

Kirnumel touched his moustache. Of course, it's a joyous thing to have the knights back safe and sound.... But, there were too many anomalies, and they were bound to raise suspicions.

Who was it that saved these gravely-wounded dragon knights, healed them, and allowed them to ride on the sole surviving wind dragon to Losayes?

The enemy would surely carry out a search to identify the riders who had been shot down. But, they escaped the search, and returned in one piece.

It could very well be a trap.

Kirnumel ordered the knights to stand in a line, and allowed his subordinates to use magic for a detailed check on these young survivors. He felt that the enemy could be using magic to manipulate them.

But, there were no problems with the results. The youths showed no traces of manipulation on them, and since there was nothing else to ask of them, Kirnumel urged them to retire.

"Since your dragon survived, you shall go under the command of the 1st Company. As for the rest, since you all are without dragons; that cannot be helped."

Kirnumel focused his attention on Louise, whom until now stood by the side blankly, as if she was an outsider. Although her true identity was unknown, his superiors had mentioned that this female officer is sent by the Princess, and knows how to use some unknown but special magic.

Treating her with all due respect - that decree had already been sent from Highest HQ to the rest of the forces.

"Until the replacement dragons arrive, you all shall be Miss la Vallière's guards. Dismissed!"

After leaving the Battalion HQ tent, the plump captain of the 2nd Dragon Cavalry Company immediatly bowed to Saito.

"Now that we are under your command, please guide us along the way."

Saito used his hand to wipe his eyelids, as he hugged the captain.

"I thought you guys were dead."

"No...Come to think about it, I forgot something, so I can't possibly die that easily."

"Forgot something?"

Saito asked, a stunned expression on his face.

The plump knight smiled

"I haven't introduced myself. I'm Rene Vonke, a dragon knight of Tristain. Nice to meet you."

Saito also introduced himself.

"I'm Hiraga Saito."

"That's a strange name you have there." Said Rene, while laughing.

Saito, who looked as if he's about to cry, laughed and said, "Then, let us drink our fills tonight, to celebrate all of you returning safely!"

<center>***</center>

Saito and company went into Louise's tent, and the party began in there. Perhaps, the survivors were just glad to be alive, and drank and drank. And before long, they were drunk.

Before anyone knew it, the only two sober souls around were Saito and Rene.

Due to the wind dragon blowing the tent away a while back, the top had a gash on it. From the crack, one can see the stars and the moon. The cool night wind entered the tent. Saito shivered.

"But, I didn't expect you to get so depressed. No...sorry for letting you worry…” said Rene gravely.

"It's because of you guys that my familiar was feeling down the entire day. It was really, really bad!"

A while back, Louise chided them. Upon hearing Louise's words, they said, "What a strange fellow!" Then, everyone roared with laughter. Saito couldn't understand at all why they laughed.

Louise, after hollering for a good while, was now sleeping on Saito's knee, probably tired out from her shouting.

"Is it so weird for me to be depressed?"

Hearing Saito's words, Rene grinned,

"Wouldn't there be no end to it?"

"No end to it? What do you mean?"

Saito retorted with his own question. Rene drank a mouthful of grape wine straight from the bottle, his plump cheeks now red from the wine. He said solemnly,

"Are we not at war now? If you're going to grieve over every single stranger, wouldn't there be an end to it?"

"We're no strangers; I talked with you guys before. If someone died while protecting you, you will definitely feel sad! You guys are the ones with strange ideas!"

Saito downed a mouthful of wine. Rene, with a somewhat serious look, said

"We didn't serve as bait in order to protect you two. We're protecting the battle plan, and our own honour."

"What do you mean?"

"Back then, the orders we received were to escort you guys to Taldanis at all cost. Ensuring the success of this battle will mean the protection of the entire royal army, equivalent to a blood oath of loyalty to Her Highness. As long as our loyalty to Her Highness is recognized, the prestige of our clans will increase. Even if I die, the glory will continue on."

''This is crazy.''

"Hey, don't spout nonsense like that! Maybe, you're a commoner. That's why you're not aware of this, but to nobility, the so-called "honor" is something which is more important than life itself."

"Geez. Thankfully, I'm not some nobleman." "Exactly. Compared to being born into petty nobility, it's much more comfortable being a commoner!"

"Petty nobility?"

"That's right. Unlike those counts and earls, for each generation, we have to survive on a pitifully small salary. No wealth equals no fancy decor, and no pride. If we want to escape that, the only way is to work hard in the battlefield, and gain the recognition of our superiors. If one's achievements in the war is recognized, he'll be granted a fiefdom as a reward. So, everyone rabidly puts his life on the line. They have no time to worry about the danger of death. Huu..."

Saito closed his eyes and thought for a while.

"But, if you die, wouldn't it be all over? Why do you noblemen drop terms like 'death' and 'honour' so casually? Are you guys idiots?"

No answer. After a closer look, it turns out that Rene had already fallen asleep.

"Guluuu..." "What the... He fell asleep after saying his piece."

Really, these so-called "nobility" are a bunch of stubborn fellows. Louise is also like that. She said herself that "I'll definitely help you find a way to get home." But, once the war began, her attention became entirely focused on it.

He actually followed Louise all the way to this; was he out of his mind?

''...For what am I fighting like this, even putting my life on the line?''

A few reasons popped up in his mind.

He wanted to lend a hand to the pitiful Henrietta.

He wanted to protect Siesta's hometown, for the girl had always cared for him.

But, the most important reason of all... is that he's worried about Louise.

''That's probably it...'' he thought, as he looked at this young lady with peach-coloured hair, who's sleeping on his knee. To put it plainly, it's because he loves her. That's why he's always worried.

Louise is really cute, and he really wanted to feel her. But, he'll have to hold back for now, as everyone's here.

Ah, but will his feelings be reciprocated?

Whether this relationship will have an outcome, perhaps only God himself knows. The God of Earth...or the gods of this different world....who should he ask for the answer?

Thinking about this, Saito immediately shook his head.

''Am I an idiot...'' Why am I thinking about such silly questions?

It was then that he recalled what Louise had said just now.

''Death may sadden people.... But that was a glorious death in the battlefield... for honor. They died for a great victory. They're too pitiful if you felt sad about their deaths...''

He had a very strong distaste for this. It felt unnatural.

At the same time, he felt that Louise, who's sleeping on his lap, is getting further and further away from him. She's just in front of me...why do I have this feeling?! He couldn’t fathom the reason for it at all.

''Huu...Let's sleep...'' thought Saito, allowing Louise to continue using his head as a pillow as he lay down to sleep.

All the while, the bright moonlight from the two moons beamed down upon him, as if to comfort him and his many troubles...

Zero no Tsukaima:Volume7 Chapter1

2008-08-26T15:25:06Z

Fynal fyre: Changed sentence structure and joined sentences that would otherwise look weird when seperate. Also edited punctuation and seperated parts of the story.

===Chapter One: The Temperature Difference between the Two===

A young lady with peach-colored hair was lying horizontally on the bed, with only a thin cape wrapped around her bare skin.

She's the one whom they call "Louise of the Void"; Louise Françoise, and only a few high ranking officers of the royal army knew of this secret.

It's now the end of the year, the second week in the month of Wein. Going by Halkeginia's climate, it's now the equivalent of autumn... It's still not considered very cold in the tent. Winter will have to wait until the coming of the new year. It's also because of this that she can dress so sexily without the fear of catching a cold.

On a simple bed made up of a piece of cloth draped over straw, Louise bit her small finger, and sulked indignantly. This gesture of hers has an unbelievable cuteness to it. On that porcelain doll-like face of hers surfaced a peach color, arising from discontent. Louise sat up, and hugged her knee.

This gesture of hers had a cuteness akin to a god's. With her feelings immediatly written on her face, Louise cannot hide completely the uneasiness in her heart. This uneasiness caused some sort of dramatic change in Louise's girlish air, adding to it a layer of perfume called "sexiness".

Louise's hands nonchalantly touched her long slender legs beneath the cape.

The fingers touched the toes, and returned to the knees.

Unknowingly, Louise did such a seductive move, even gently tugging the cape covering her upwards- exposing her legs and slim yet sexy thighs- All this, was done unconsciously.

Beneath the cape was her skin, a young maiden's skin now full of charm, due to her passion.

Which is to say, she's wearing nothing. To ask why; that's because Louise only wears pajamas when she sleeps, so since she forgot to bring her pajamas, she had to replace it with a cape and if she were wearing her undies, she would not be able to fall asleep.

Although the sexy and cute pose from Louise is spreading out an irresistible charm...It's a pity that the other person in the tent took no notice of it.

On the back of the cape covering Louise, was the lily emblem of Tristain. This cape was different from the one worn in the academy. The emblem, a way to distinguish friend from foe, clearly indicated that this area was a battleground.

As a female officer directly under Her Highness's command, Louise was assigned her own personal tent. In the military port of Losayes, buildings resembling hostels were rare, so tents were put at every stop. Such treatment was equal to a general‘s, but since Louise‘s legendary magic element ‘void’ was considered to be a last resort, it was normal.

Inside the tent illuminated by a magical lamp, was a simple bed made up of a piece of cloth covering some straw, a foldable dining table, a small cabinet for clothing and accessories and a bell for ordering the accompanying soldiers. In the battlefield, items like that inside a tent can be considered "luxurious" type.

In a corner of such a tent, Saito was staring blankly in front of him, feeling low.

<center>***</center>

"Hey, Saito."

No reply.

Louise sat up, and called him again.

"Hey, I'm going to sleep soon. Come here, quickly."

Although Louise was red in the face as she called him, there was still no reaction.

"It's already past 10. We'll have to be up early tomorrow morning to inspect the frontlines. You'd better sleep now."

Even so, there's still no reply from Saito.

This familiar of Louise, who came from another world, was now sitting crossed-legged on the floor, his face full of depression. He was already like this since a week ago. When Louise recalled the battle which caused Saito's depression, she felt a dull pain in her heart.

A week ago, the combined armies of Tristain and Germania successfully occupied this port-town of Albion. As the main force of Albion's armies were attracted to the northern port-town of Talnis, there were only about 500 defenders in Losayes. The landing party, numbering 60,000, effortlessly destroyed the defenders and set up camp in Losayes.

During the enticing of the enemy into battle, Louise's "Void" magic showed its power.The Void spell "Illusion', is a spell that can create huge illusions.

Louise used the "Illusion" spell to create illusions of the combined armies landing in Taldanis, causing the enemy forces en route to Losayes to turn back.

But... in order for Louise and others to reach Taldanis, some sacrifices had to be made. That, was the 2nd Dragon Cavalry Company, attached to "Varsenda", the flagship of the Albion expedition.

It was because of their engagament of enemy forces, that the Zero Fighter carrying Louise and Saito could successfully escape the pursuit by the enemy's dragon cavalry.

The price for this battle's success....was the annihilation of the 2nd Dragon Cavalry Company.
Although dragon cavalry were very expensive, compared to the possible losses while landing in enemy territory, this sacrifice can be considered minimal. The commanding officer was even rewarded as a matter of fact! This too, was also something to be happy about.

The thing is, for those who took part in that battle, and witnessed the destruction of the company for themselves, it was an entirely different feeling.

Louise observed Saito, and pouted her lips.

Of course, it was a sad thing that had happened, but…

During the landing battle, there were sacrifices as well. War definitely brings Death along with it. If every death is mourned, there will be no end to it.

In Halkeginia, there were wars almost every single year.

For Louise, although death was something sad, it was also something very close to her.

Louise stood up. Under the dim glow of the magic lamp, the room was rather dark. Under such conditions, even if the cape didn't cover certain areas, the body should still remain unseen.

Louise crossed her hands in front of her, as if hugging herself, and held the hems of the cape tightly. She walked up to Saito, who's hugging his knees as he sat, and said, "Buck up, alright."

<center>***</center>

"Emm." Saito grunted lifelessly.

"But, I can't help it. After all, it happened right before my eyes. Although it's for the execution of the mission, still...."

Saito was really down in the doldrums. It was only then that Louise remembered: those teens were about Saito's age.

Saito… he must have projected himself onto them. This kind-hearted boy from another world, with what's going on in his mind being a mystery, must have been hurt by this self-projection.

Just as how Saito had comforted her before, Louise felt that this time, it was her turn to comfort him. But, she didn't know how to go about doing it.

Louise squatted, and sat back-to-back with Saito. (See illustration)

"That.. Although you may find me cruel by saying this.. Compared to the deaths of the company, what makes me sadder is to see you being so depressed. Although I shouldn't be thinking like this, facts are facts. However, maybe because…you are my familiar and were by my side, I really felt very sad."

Saito slowly turned his head, and stared quietly at Louise.

" Death may sadden people.... But that was a glorious death in the battlefield... for honor. They died for a great victory. They're too pitiful if you felt sad about their deaths..."

"Do you mean what you say... regarding this?"

He felt that something was amiss when Louise started talking like this.

”Of course not, but we have to. We're now at war."

Louise's right hand let go of the hem it was holding, and gently patted Saito's forehead, now that he has turned around. Her fingers caressed the streaks of dried tears on his cheeks.

Saito shook his head, and cried.

"I... I didn't even know their names."

Instead of calling it an unbearable pain, it was more of the inability to forgive.

''To die for the mission, to die for honor.''

He couldn't imagine the feelings at all.

''Doesn't Louise understand this?''

He recalled Colbert's letter. The teacher wrote: ''Never become used to death, never become used to slaughter.''

He was wondering at the time "How is it possible that one could get used to such things?"

As Louise looked at Saito's forlorn face, she felt terrible. What she had just said were not lies. Although she felt sad for those youths who had sacrificed themselves, but they had died for the victory of their country.

Louise, who had grown up receiving the education of the nobility, and Saito, who grew up in Japan on the peaceful Earth: there was an obvious gulf between them.

Louise felt pain seeing Saito’s crying face. Compared to mourning the dead, she had a greater desire to heal the pain of the living. If Saito's tears were a kind of gentleness, then perhaps this can be said to be another type of gentleness.

Louise thought of -

What should one do at a moment like this? How does one comfort a boy who had been hurt?

And...

''If it was that maid, what would she do?'' She used just a little bit of her imagination.

''She would....use the warmth of her body! It's all that commoner can come up with.''

On this train of thought, she suddenly became angry.

''That... that sort of thing... I can do that too!''

Recalling that time where he pushed her to the floor, and kissed her a few times on the neck, Louise's face became red at once.

Since at that time, he was being excited all of a sudden (That's how Louise saw it), Louise hadn't forgiven Saito for what he did, definitely not.

He said something about liking her; surely he said it with doing that sort of thing in mind. Once her mind was on this thought, a burst of anger erupted from within her. After that, she couldn't even forgive herself. Although she was affected by the mood at the time, she actually lowered the hand which had risen to slap him.

''That means... that is to say.....''

But, at the back of her mind, Louise shook her head furiously.

''That doesn't mean that I've accepted him.''

''Because he wanted to do it the hard way; he's doing it unconsciously. That's right! Unconsciously!''

Although Louise didn't know what "unconsciously" actually meant, she hugged Saito tightly, her face crimson-red. Hugging a familiar is something which isn't supposed to be done, due to the difference in status between the two. Yes... letting him sit beside the dining table could be said to be a form of pity. But, hugging him like this wasn't pity.

Louise shook her head. She thought, “What am I doing?" The incredible thing was that her heartbeat was quickening. Her racing heartbeat seemed to be dissolving the cruel atmosphere of the battlefield.

Despite all this, Saito was still depressed.

''Is it still not enough?''

''Is simply hugging him tightly not enough?''

Hoping that he would pucker up didn't mean that she liked him or anything. However, if a familiar was like this, it would affect missions in the future.

Louise intended to try her best at imitating Siesta. She is trying hard, even putting aside her noblewoman's pride. Although she didn't have any other feelings for this familiar, she didn't want to lose in battles, no matter what. However, there was no movement in Saito's vision.

She remembered what she was wearing now. Underneath the cape was her skin.

No undies.

Louise took a deep breath. It's only a tiny bit. If doing this could comfort Saito a little, isn't it worth a try?

''No way Louise!''

How can you show others your body when you're unmarried?

''If you treat him as a familiar, that's still alright. But what are you doing now?''

If he sees it, there will be trouble!

''You'll have to marry him, those are the rules.''

I want to marry?

''Marry who?''

This familiar?

''No way! Impossible! He's a commoner from another world!''

Her brain began to fry, as if it was about to explode. Saito stared at Louise in her current predicament, his eyes emotionless.

''Sob...''now even Louise was feeling down, she really wanted to heal this wound of Saito's.

''Does Saito really like me…To think about it, although he did say that he liked me…but that was for taking advantage of me…But does my body have that kind of charm…Aaahhhh! This is frustrating!!''

Louise grew more and more confused; her brain was really going to explode soon. Just as she was loosening her grip on her cape.....

Just as the gentleness of the mourner, and the gentleness of the comforter for the living, are about to meet....

Whoosh!

A sudden gust of wind blew the tent away.

"What.. what's going on?"

"What!"

Saito and Louise shouted at the same time.

Looks like something just landed beside the tent.

On a closer look, it was a wind dragon.

On its back, one could see the silhouettes of dragon knights.

"Ene... enemies! The enemies are here!"

Saito grabbed his sword hurriedly. At this, a man peered out from the dragon's back, and said to Saito in a soft voice," Oh, you're..."

Upon seeing his face, Saito's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets; he was stunned.

"Aaahhh!"

The men sitting on the dragon were the dragon knights that had been thought decimated.

Saito's mouth fell wide open. He asked softly,

"Wh.. Why?"

"It's... a long story."

<center>***</center>

That was the reply from a plump dragon knight. The rest of the knights bowed their heads, as if in embarrassment.

"We'll talk again later. So…so sorry to have interrupted the two of you…" The plump knight captain said shyly.

Louise, with only a cape covering her, was blankly leaning against Saito.

Louise hurriedly kicked Saito away, and screamed,

"We...we... we didn't do anything!"

Perhaps, it's the miracle caused by this temperature difference between the two types of gentleness.

The dragon knights, thought to be deceased, were standing before them, with not a single men missing.

Besides the dragon which they rode on, the knights lost the rest of their dragon mounts... But no matter, all the men returned safely.

Before Saito and Louise felt relieved, could hardly speak with their mouths now wide open

"You all... Why..."

"No... Well... actually, we aren't sure ourselves."

Seeing the sudden return of the knights, the senior officers in the dragon cavalry's headquarters tent nearly had their eyes popping out of their sockets.

From the day they were annihilated, a week had passed.

Furthermore, this is enemy territory - the land of Albion. Their survival was already written off as hopeless.

Count Kirnumel, the commander of the 2nd Dragon Cavalry Battlion, in charge of three dragon cavalry companies, was the first to open his arms and welcome the return of these warriors, who have miraculously survived.

"Never mind! Regardless, returning alive is something worth being happy about! It really is incredible! A miraculous survival, I say!"

Immediately, applause and cheers rang out inside the tent.

Standing beside Saito and Louise, who brought the whole lot here, a young knight with a shy expression said in a loud, clear voice,

"Actually, even I find it hard to believe myself…even the wounds on our bodies were healed completely!"

A knight took a closer look at the survivors, and exclaimed,

"You're right!"

"Was it the enemy who treated you guys?"

"I... don't know. Regardless, I shall first narrate my personal experience of the battle."

As the leader, the young knight began narrating his report to those in the tent.

The 2nd Dragon Cavalry Company was surrounded by more than a hundred enemy riders...One by one, the riders fell to the enemy's magic attacks.

Almost every knight and dragon mount was severely wounded, and lost consciousness as they plummeted to the ground.

"So, what happened after you guys regained consciousness?"

"At the time, I was already riding on the dragon's back, along with the rest, all the way to Losayes. It's only upon reaching here did I realise that a week had already passed."

"You're saying that you guys have no memory of what happened from the moment you guys were shot down till today?"

The knights looked at each other sheepishly.

"Yes, sir. Absolutely nothing."

"Hey... Don't tell me you guys lost an entire week's memories?"

"That's exactly what happened."

The knights nodded in shame.

"That one remaining dragon mount... Who did it belong to?" Enquired one of the officers.

A knight raised his hand, saying, "It's my Beyael." He was one of the twins. Kirnumel started to focus his attention on the youth.

"What was the situation like at the time?"

"When we got surrounded, I was injured before my mount; my shoulder was hit by a magic missile. Beyael probably wanted to help me escape. So, it pretended to be hit, and flew to a lower altitude."

There is a tinge of shame in his voice, due to the fact that the other knights continued to fight on despite the injuries they and their dragon mounts suffered.

"Since you can no longer fight, it's only logical to leave the battlefield. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

Upon hearing those words from his commander, the lad brightened up immediately.

"Thank you."

Kirnumel touched his moustache. Of course, it's a joyous thing to have the knights back safe and sound.... But, there were too many anomalies, and they were bound to raise suspicions.

Who was it that saved these gravely-wounded dragon knights, healed them, and allowed them to ride on the sole surviving wind dragon to Losayes?

The enemy would surely carry out a search to identify the riders who had been shot down. But, they escaped the search, and returned in one piece.

It could very well be a trap.

Kirnumel ordered the knights to stand in a line, and allowed his subordinates to use magic for a detailed check on these young survivors. He felt that the enemy could be using magic to manipulate them.

But, there were no problems with the results. The youths showed no traces of manipulation on them, and since there was nothing else to ask of them, Kirnumel urged them to retire.

"Since your dragon survived, you shall go under the command of the 1st Company. As for the rest, since you all are without dragons; that cannot be helped."

Kirnumel focused his attention on Louise, whom until now stood by the side blankly, as if she was an outsider. Although her true identity was unknown, his superiors had mentioned that this female officer is sent by the Princess, and knows how to use some unknown but special magic.

Treating her with all due respect - that decree had already been sent from Highest HQ to the rest of the forces.

"Until the replacement dragons arrive, you all shall be Miss la Vallière's guards. Dismissed!"

After leaving the Battalion HQ tent, the plump captain of the 2nd Dragon Cavalry Company immediatly bowed to Saito.

"Now that we are under your command, please guide us along the way."

Saito used his hand to wipe his eyelids, as he hugged the captain.

"I thought you guys were dead."

"No...Come to think about it, I forgot something, so I can't possibly die that easily."

"Forgot something?"

Saito asked, a stunned expression on his face.

The plump knight smiled

"I haven't introduced myself. I'm Rene Vonke, a dragon knight of Tristain. Nice to meet you."

Saito also introduced himself.

"I'm Hiraga Saito."

"That's a strange name you have there." Said Rene, while laughing.

Saito, who looked as if he's about to cry, laughed and said, "Then, let us drink our fills tonight, to celebrate all of you returning safely!"

<center>***</center>

Saito and company went into Louise's tent, and the party began in there. Perhaps, the survivors were just glad to be alive, and drank and drank. And before long, they were drunk.

Before anyone knew it, the only two sober souls around were Saito and Rene.

Due to the wind dragon blowing the tent away a while back, the top had a gash on it. From the crack, one can see the stars and the moon. The cool night wind entered the tent. Saito shivered.

"But, I didn't expect you to get so depressed. No...sorry for letting you worry…” said Rene gravely.

"It's because of you guys that my familiar was feeling down the entire day. It was really, really bad!"

A while back, Louise chided them. Upon hearing Louise's words, they said, "What a strange fellow!" Then, everyone roared with laughter. Saito couldn't understand at all why they laughed.

Louise, after hollering for a good while, was now sleeping on Saito's knee, probably tired out from her shouting.

"Is it so weird for me to be depressed?"

Hearing Saito's words, Rene grinned,

"Wouldn't there be no end to it?"

"No end to it? What do you mean?"

Saito retorted with his own question. Rene drank a mouthful of grape wine straight from the bottle, his plump cheeks now red from the wine. He said solemnly,

"Are we not at war now? If you're going to grieve over every single stranger, wouldn't there be an end to it?"

"We're no strangers; I talked with you guys before. If someone died while protecting you, you will definitely feel sad! You guys are the ones with strange ideas!"

Saito downed a mouthful of wine. Rene, with a somewhat serious look, said

"We didn't serve as bait in order to protect you two. We're protecting the battle plan, and our own honour."

"What do you mean?"

"Back then, the orders we received were to escort you guys to Taldanis at all cost. Ensuring the success of this battle will mean the protection of the entire royal army, equivalent to a blood oath of loyalty to Her Highness. As long as our loyalty to Her Highness is recognized, the prestige of our clans will increase. Even if I die, the glory will continue on."

''This is crazy.''

"Hey, don't spout nonsense like that! Maybe, you're a commoner. That's why you're not aware of this, but to nobility, the so-called "honor" is something which is more important than life itself."

"Geez. Thankfully, I'm not some nobleman." "Exactly. Compared to being born into petty nobility, it's much more comfortable being a commoner!"

"Petty nobility?"

"That's right. Unlike those counts and earls, for each generation, we have to survive on a pitifully small salary. No wealth equals no fancy decor, and no pride. If we want to escape that, the only way is to work hard in the battlefield, and gain the recognition of our superiors. If one's achievements in the war is recognized, he'll be granted a fiefdom as a reward. So, everyone rabidly puts his life on the line. They have no time to worry about the danger of death. Huu..."

Saito closed his eyes and thought for a while.

"But, if you die, wouldn't it be all over? Why do you noblemen drop terms like 'death' and 'honour' so casually? Are you guys idiots?"

No answer. After a closer look, it turns out that Rene had already fallen asleep.

"Guluuu..." "What the... He fell asleep after saying his piece."

Really, these so-called "nobility" are a bunch of stubborn fellows. Louise is also like that. She said herself that "I'll definitely help you find a way to get home." But, once the war began, her attention became entirely focused on it.

He actually followed Louise all the way to this; was he out of his mind?

''...For what am I fighting like this, even putting my life on the line?''

A few reasons popped up in his mind.

He wanted to lend a hand to the pitiful Henrietta.

He wanted to protect Siesta's hometown, for the girl had always cared for him.

But, the most important reason of all... is that he's worried about Louise.

''That's probably it...'' he thought, as he looked at this young lady with peach-coloured hair, who's sleeping on his knee. To put it plainly, it's because he loves her. That's why he's always worried.

Louise is really cute, and he really wanted to feel her. But, he'll have to hold back for now, as everyone's here.

Ah, but will his feelings be reciprocated?

Whether this relationship will have an outcome, perhaps only God himself knows. The God of Earth...or the gods of this different world....who should he ask for the answer?

Thinking about this, Saito immediately shook his head.

''Am I an idiot...'' Why am I thinking about such silly questions?

It was then that he recalled what Louise had said just now.

''Death may sadden people.... But that was a glorious death in the battlefield... for honor. They died for a great victory. They're too pitiful if you felt sad about their deaths...''

He had a very strong distaste for this. It felt unnatural.

At the same time, he felt that Louise, who's sleeping on his lap, is getting further and further away from him. She's just in front of me...why do I have this feeling?! He couldn’t fathom the reason for it at all.

''Huu...Let's sleep...'' thought Saito, allowing Louise to continue using his head as a pillow as he lay down to sleep.

All the while, the bright moonlight from the two moons beamed down upon him, as if to comfort him and his many troubles...

Zero no Tsukaima:Volume6 Chapter7

2008-08-24T20:48:07Z

Fynal fyre: changed small punctuation, grammar and order problems

The 8 o’clock bell rang across the battleship “Redoubtable”, signifying the start of the morning shift.

The morning in which the fates of two countries and that of another would be decided.

Malicorne, who had been standing atop the watchtower, took in a long, deep yawn, before hurriedly looking left and right about him. If an Officer Cadet was to be seen yawning like that by a Deck Officer, a cruel punishment would surely await… This, Malicorne’s body did well to remind him in the two days he had been here.

Malicorne was the sentry on duty.

The ringing of the morning bell… it should be 8 o’clock in the morning right now… his shift had finally ended! All that was left to do was to change shifts with the next group of officer cadets, then he could finally return to the cabin for an eight hour sleep, the belltower in the morning was cold as hell...Malicorne could only idle his time by as he waited for the next cadet to climb up the tower. And the person who climbed out of the tower opening was his upperclassman at the Academy of Magic – Stix.

Malicorne remembered how he had said he was going kill Bowood, but at the moment, nothing was more important to him than returning to his warm, cosy room and enjoying a nice warm cup of orchid tea.

Upon seeing each other, they both greeted and smiled to one another.

“Well, it looks like I’m gonna be freezing in this ‘land of ice and snow’ [--- literal translation ---] , fatty [--- literally fat boy ---].”

“But I still envy you, upperclassman, I mean, at least the sun is up and shining.”

“Do you still remember, Malicorne?”

“Remember what?”

“How I said I would take care of that Albion guy someday.”

“Of course I remember that.”

“I think it is best to proceed with it in the heat of battle.”

“I think so too.”

“Who knows how long it’ll be, before the fighting finally starts?”

In order to demonstrate his courage to his younger peers [--- literally lowerclassmen ---], it was said that he almost couldn’t wait any longer. Malicorne looked up at the clouds absentmindedly… and drew in a sudden breath.

“What’s wrong, Malicorne?”

“… It doesn’t look you need to wait any longer.”

“Eh?”

Stix turned and stared at where Malicorne was pointing, his face paling immediately.

“Enemy ship sighted!”

<center>* * *</center>

It was five past eight in the morning. The divisional command aboard the Varsenda Class, on which Saito and them were aboard, had just received reports of the enemy ship sightings.

“It was earlier than we had planned”, muttered General De Poitiers softly.

He had originally planned to have made contact with the Albion fleet around ten o’clock.

“They are all a bunch of impatient bastards,” commented one of the staff officers.

“What about the ‘Void’”?

“The spell had been decided upon last night. The plan will proceed accordingly.”

“What kind of spell is it?” General De Poitiers enquired in a low voice whilst looking through the battle plans. A staff officer leaned towards the General’s ear, and whispered to him the details of the spell Louise had reported.

“Interesting… It will be a triumph if it succeeds! Courier!”

A courier quickly ran over.

“Order ‘Void’ to deploy. Mission objective ‘Dartanes’, full operational freedom. Second Dragon Cavalry Company as escort. Repeat again!”

“‘Void’ deploy! Mission objective ‘Dartanes’, full operational freedom! Second Dragon Cavalry Company as escort!”

“Good, now pass it on at once!”

The courier immediately headed towards the carrier upper deck where Saito and the rest were.

“With this, we can now head towards Rosais without worry.”

"Indeed."

De Poitiers then handed down a command to the subordinates responsible for engaging the enemy fleet.

“Transmit to all battleship captains. Even once engaged with the enemy, do not let a single ship near the continental army’s transport divisions!”

<center>* * *</center>

Up in the upper bridge, Saito, in the pilot seat of the Zero, began running through the starting operations of the plane. Sitting in the rear seat, Louise had her eyes closed, concentrating her will.

Just last night, Louise, having found the spell to use, had reported directly to the high command.

Upon receiving her report, the high command had decided upon a plan of action, and drew up a battle plan accordingly. It was that battle plan which Saito currently held in his hands.

It was on this morning, that the battle plan would commence.

In the mean time, a deck officer, standing on the wings of the Zero, was trying to instruct Saito, pointing to a hand-drawn goatskin map he held in his hand.

“Didn’t I already tell you? I can’t read the writing of this world!”

“Look here at this map! Dartanes! It’s here! Anyway, all you need to do is just bring Master ‘Void’ here! Leave everything else to Master ‘Void’, she’ll handle it!” The deck officer yelled at the top of his voice.

W-What ‘Master’ Void? Saito couldn’t comprehend. What kind of weird call sign was that, just hearing it made him uncomfortable.

On that piece of goatskin was drawn a map of the entire continent of Albion. For someone like Saito who had never learnt navigation of any sort, he was completely lost as to how he was going to navigate through the landmark-less cloud-filled sky. Compared to when he could use landmarks to find his way towards La Rochelle, this was a completely different story.

“The dragon knights will lead you. Just make sure you don’t lose them!” Remarked the deck officer, upon seeing through Saito’s unease.

''Okay, okay, I understand…'' Saito nodded repeatedly.

True, a wind dragon’s speed could even rival that of the Zero. The experience back when Wardes had chased up to him was still clear in his mind.

Suddenly -

Boom! Boom! A fierce pounding noise rang out. The noise came from behind.

Saito spun around and looked towards the sky.

At that instant, a squad of battleships that looked completely different from that of their own appeared from the clouds in the distance, advancing rapidly towards their position.

The armada, numbering roughly sixty combat ships if including the ‘Varsenda’, rapidly changed directions and began rising slowly, preparing to engage with the approaching enemy fleet. Of course, Saito was oblivious to the fact that Malicorne was aboard one of the battleships.

The order arrived at that moment.

“Deploy ‘Void’! Mission objective ‘Dartanes’! Full operational freedom! Second Dragon Cavalry Squadron shall act as escort!”

''Deploy now? Isn’t too early? No… is it because of the enemy’s unexpected appearance that they want us to deploy so suddenly?''

Saito shot a signal to a nearby magician, to help start up the plane.

However the magician, probably at a loss as to the starting procedures, just remained standing blankly. In order to start the plane, the propeller needed to be spun first…. But it looked like he was completely lost as to how he could get the propeller spinning. If Colbert were here, he would have understood what Saito meant immediately, and gone into action.

“Didn’t I already tell you!? This! You just need to spin this!”

“Huh? This? I don’t get what you are saying. Can you explain more clearly?”

As they were busy fiddling with the propeller, from the midst of the enemy fleet, three ships suddenly appeared, rapidly heading in their direction.

“A fire boat!” Someone had yelled out.

Saito turned and looked. The boats were all blazing with fire. Designed to be sent straight into an enemy fleet, these were pilotless craft packed to the brim with powerful explosives.

Before a response could be made, the ships had already shot their way to the front of the fleet. A ship nearby the ‘Varsenda’ exploded.

The shockwave from the explosion rocked the ‘Varsenda’, tipping it violently.

Before Saito could even yell for help, the Zero already began sliding towards the sides of the ship… falling off the edge of the upper deck shortly after.

“Ahhhhhhhh!” Saito screamed.

The Zero, with its engine still idle, dived with its nose downwards the earth.

“We are gonna crash! We are gonna crash! We are gonna crash!” Saito could only frantically yell. Just then, Delfinger spoke:

“Partner.”

“What is it!?”

“Well, I’ve got some good news for you.”

“This is really not the time or place for this! Man, I never thought I would die like this… How cruel.”

“The propeller’s spinning, isn’t it?”

Huh? Saito immediately raised his head to look. Of course, the wind from the plummet was enough to start the propeller, if somewhat shakily. Regaining his composure, Saito activated the ignition switch. The propeller began winding up with a whine, before quickly began spinning to a full roar. Saito pulled against the handle, and regained control of the plane.

“Phew… What a relief!”

Saito relaxed while wiping off the beads of cold sweat on his forehead. He turned his head and glanced behind him, Louise was still busy focusing her will. ''This girl is normally so restless and unsettled; it's only in the period before she casts a ‘Void’ spell that she’s able to concentrate, becoming completely oblivious to the outside world.''

“Partner.”

“What is it?”

“You could always praise me a bit more, you know…” remarked Derflinger in a dejected tone.

“You are great.”

“Just a bit more, just a bit, Partner. You threw me aside for so long… for you to not flatter me a little now, don’t you think that’s just a bit wrong?”

“Oh… you are so brilliant, so magnificent.”

''Why are all the people I’m stuck with like this, stubborn and insecure!'' Thought Saito, completely ignoring the fact that he himself was no different.

Before he realized it, the Second Dragon Cavalry Squadron were flying already all around him. There were ten of them.

Adjusting the speed of the propeller and his throttle, Saito brought the cruising speed to roughly 110 miles per hour [--- or km/hr, not sure ---].

Unrivalled in terms of speed, the wind dragons kept up with the Zero easily. Saito waved at the members of the Second Dragon Cavalry Squadron, freshly formed since yesterday. They waved back. Sitting in the back seat with The Founder’s Prayer Book open across her lap, Louise, deep in her trance, paid them little heed.

It seemed like the job was to simply escort this user of ‘Void’ to the target objective.

It was for this reason that the roughly-formed squadron of ten dragon knights and a single plane were headed in the direction of Dartanes.

One of the dragon knights flew to head of the pack, whilst the tail of his dragon shook left and right. It seemed like he was the leader.

He was the dragon knight that was said to have a sweetheart waiting for him in his village back home. A mere seventeen year-old blonde-haired boy, he was the same age as Saito.

To his left was a dragon knight of eighteen years old. Having finally achieved his dream of becoming a dragon knight, his face was bright and cheery. As the third son of a noble family fallen from grace, he hoped to prove himself by winning glory in this war. To his right was a sixteen year-old pair of twin brothers.

The people present here were all friends and comrades who had been drinking all through the night till dawn. Those amongst the dragon cavalry were all very warm and welcoming, though they were all nobles. Their philosophy that “When you are all flying through the skies, what difference is there between nobles and commoners?” meant that they all looked upon Saito as a fellow friend.

The roaring of the cannons of countless ships firing could be heard in the distance.

It seems the combined fleet of Tristain and Germania and that of Albion had begun commencing their broadsides. The epic clash between the hundred plus ships had been set in motion.

The smell of gunpowder could be smelt even through the cockpit of the plane. Staring at an overwhelming display of smoke and flames, Saito was captivated by the sight, but…

Saito turned his head away. Within each and every explosion, were also the charred remains of tens or dozens being blasted to pieces. Such a thought sent a chill down his spine.

Before he could even sympathise for their deaths, a feeling of relief crept up, relief at how great it was that he did not have to be there. In an instant, Saito, to prevent such shameful thoughts from crossing his mind, began concentrating ahead. Without something to protect himself from, he wouldn’t think like that.

Amidst the canopy of blue skies and white clouds, Saito flew the Zero towards Albion, under the protection of the dragon knights.

<center>* * *</center>

In one swift motion, the Tristain-Germania combat fleet opened ranks and, forming a line formation, surrounded the three-pronged line formation of the approaching Albion fleet. As the Albion fleet tried to breach the blockade, the combined fleet hurriedly reinforced it, preventing a break-through.

If successful, it could perhaps be finished in one stroke… But, the distance was simply too close. With the two fleets so near to one another, the battle quickly broke down into a muddled chaos of close-quarters ship-to-ship fighting. Aboard the upper deck of one such ship, the ‘Redoubtable’, sat the trembling figure of Malicorne. Huddled next to him was the similarly shaky Stix.

Their teeth couldn’t stop shaking. Even when they tried to stand, they found their legs unable to exert even the slightest of force to push them up.

Apart from the thick bellows of smoke from the gunpowder, and the lightning flashes of the enemy cannons firing, they could see nothing of their surroundings. The hull of the ship crashed against the bow of the enemy’s, producing a huge crushing noise, followed by an equally loud crack.

Dragged suddenly into such a battlefield, Malicorne’s world had been turned upside-down in an instant, unable to grasp what was happening all around him.

They, having been drawn into the chaos around them, could no longer care about taking care of Bowood. They no longer had the will left to do so.

All they could comprehend was that their ship and the enemy’s had clashed together, marking the beginning of a ruthless melee not unlike that between swordsmen, in which you either killed or got killed. [--Not too sure about T/L, but it should go like this, it flows better--]

Peering through the settling dust and smoke, one could glimpse the enemy ship…. It was at that instant that they heard the order to fire from the decks above and below them.

A thunderous roar echoed from the cannon fire that followed. Numerous holes pierced through the enemy ship, blowing to pieces both wood and men alike. The enemy did the same, responding with cannon fire that just breezed past them.

The floorboards about them exploded into pieces, sending splinters flying through the air. Ropes went dancing through the air as they snapped and spilt oil flowed down the deck.

Someone yelled to quickly release the sand.

Chaos. Yelling. Smoke. Blood. The smell of gunpowder…

The sounds of metal cannonballs smashing against the hulls of battleships.

The endless rolling of repeated cannon fire… and the smoke…smoke so thick you couldn’t even see ahead of you.

This was the battlefield that Malicorne saw.

Unable to bear the horror any longer, Stix sprinted towards the deck hatch. It was probably to escape to the relative safety of the deck below. However, an officer was already standing there, with a wand in his hand, prepared to prevent any of the soldiers from deserting their posts. Stix could only slip back, huddling on the floor with his head hidden in his arms. The deck officer headed towards them and bellowed:

“You two! What are you doing! Get up! I said, get up! Show me your courage! Aren’t you supposed to be nobles!? Stand up and do your job! If you have none, then cast magic! There are enemies all around you! It doesn’t matter where you shoot, you’ll still hit the enemy!”

Malicorne tightly bit his lips, and placing his hands on the deck floor, forced his body up with all four limbs.

Just as he finally stood up, a foot kicked his behind.

''Didn’t I already stand up! I-it was all done with great effort!'' Malicorne grumbled.

But, before he could even suffer the humiliation of the act, he was yelled at again by the deck officer:

“You! The fat pig-head! Yes, I’m talking to you! Get up and fight! I don’t want gutless, death-fearing officer cadets who won’t fight!”

Malicorne drew up his face.

''Wasn’t it because I didn’t want to be called a death-fearing pig that I volunteered for the army? If I continue like this, all I’ll ever be is a coward!''

“You! Pig! What are you still dallying about!”

The bellowing officer, upon finishing these words, was swiftly pierced through by a magical arrow.

Beyond the smoke was the enemy. So close was the enemy, that even his face could be seen clearly. On board the deck of the enemy ship was a young man with the same chubby build as his, with a magic wand pointed in their direction. Even his age was practically the same. The opponent also couldn’t stop trembling like him.

The paleness on his face, the shaking of his entire body.

Lying besides Malicorne was the contorted body of the deck officer, his chest pierced through by the magic arrow, his body twisted as a result of the convulsions that came just before death finally took him. Sniffing uncontrollably, Malicorne cried out. Whether he was really yelling, or whether he was just gaping his mouth; it was impossible to tell with the endless rolling of cannon fire. Raising his wand towards the dark clouds above the enemy ship, Malicorne began chanting.

<center>* * *</center>

Just as the cloud cover broke to reveal the continent of Albion, Saito and the party were spotted by warning ravens. Using the many flight-capable raven familiars which acted as an early warning screen, any intruder could be reported immediately to the dragon cavalry garrisons through the familiar’s master.

In such a situation, the vision of the familiar would become the vision of the master’s after concentrating.

Readying to pursue Saito and the party, a dragon cavalry squadron took off from their three bases.

With the danger increasing, Saito and the party picked up their speed.

The wind dragons of the dragon knights who flew ahead shook their tails violently.

The knights atop them pointed ahead with the fingers.

Ten dragon knights had spotted Saito and them, and were headed straight towards them. They would collide head on if they didn’t do anything.

“Damn it! What do we do!?”

Sitting in the pilot seat of the Zero, Saito shouted out.

If the opponent managed to come down at them from above, they would leave themselves vulnerable to attack.

Yet, the dragon knight leading the pack still didn’t change direction. Regardless of whether they were attacked or not, they had decided upon continuing straight ahead.

“Aren’t we just inviting ourselves to be attacked like this!”

Saito frantically prepared the fighter’s machine gun… before remembering it hard run out of ammo.

“That’s right, I think we ran out bullets already…”

Within the plane’s machine gun, there should still be around two hundred bullets left. However, with so little left, it might as well have been none.

Saito then suddenly remembered what Colbert had said.

“Louise! The teacher’s new weapon! Wasn’t there an instruction manual!?”

But Louise, caught up in her trance, did not hear a single word Saito had said.

Saito grabbed Louise’s legs and frantically shook.

“Hey! Louise! Louise! Now’s not the time to be focusing! Before you can cast your ‘Void’, we are going to be shot down by the enemy!”

“Huh? W-what is it! W-What are you doing!”

“I don’t care what you say; just get me that damn manual! It’s under the seat!”

Louise frantically searched beneath the seat, and found the manual Colbert had written using goatskin.

“Found it!”

“Read it!”

“Um, this…. ‘Secret of the Flame Snake’.”

''How disgusting.''

Wasn’t there a better title to choose?

“Um – Dear Saito, when you are reading this, I assume you are already at your wit’s end. That won’t do however, so make sure you read this properly.”

“Don’t bother reading that preface already!”

The dragon knights of Albion were getting closer and closer.

''Fast.''

The enemies are riding wind dragons as well! Damn it!

“Um – You must first calm down, then pull the lever next to the stick that controls the speed of the ‘moving machine’”

“This one!?”

Saito saw beside the speed-control throttle a lever he had never noticed before.

“Lets pull it!”

At the moment the aiming sight filled with the approaching enemy dragon knights, Saito pulled the lever.

Boxes hidden beneath the aiming sight popped open, and from it emerged the head of a toy snake. Watching its mouth open and close, only for it to say:

“Come on Saito! Come on Saito! Come on Miss Valliere!”

“What the heck is this!?”

The toy snake emitted a voice through magic.

It seemed that was all it did.

As for the enemy’s attack –

Since they were wind dragons, they did not breathe any fire. However, magical arrows flew towards and struck against the fighter, shaking the craft. A hole the size of a fist had been pierced through the wing.

Luckily, a hole like that wouldn’t affect its performance much, at least temporarily.

Louise continued reading the instruction manual.

“You already pulled the lever right? Yup, The Happy Little Snake shall give you courage! Come on! No matter what the obstacle is, you must persevere! No matter what, I’ll always protect you!”

“That goddamn baldy!”

Saito cursed, whilst staring incredulously at the ‘Happy Little Snake’ he had remembered seeing in class that had emerged from below the aiming sight. Louise, thinking that those rude words were directed at herself, couldn’t help but scream:

“Who the hell are you calling a goddamn baldy! Wasn’t it you who asked me to read it?”

The opposing dragon riders rose up into the air again.

To advance head-on from the front with both sides bearing fast-flying dragon riders, meant that they passed one another in the blink of an eye, leaving very little opportunity for an attack.

Therefore, the enemy decided to begin an assault from behind.

Meanwhile, on their side… their objective was to head to the target destination at all haste, to cast the ‘Void’ magic, and thus could only keep flying ahead.

If they were to engage with the enemy dragon knights there, reinforcements will quickly be dispatched, and hope for the entire army would be lost.

Diving to gain speed, the enemy dragon knights were slowly catching up behind them.

“Louise! Isn’t there anything else!?”

Louise continued reading the manual.

“Um… It then says something about a secret weapon to use when being chased by the enemy.”

“That! That’s it!”

“Pull the tongue that sticks out of the Happy Little Snake. Remember, pay attention! If there are allies around, make sure they stick close to you.”

“Why’s that?”

“How am I supposed to know!?”

Saito pulled a blackboard from below his seat, followed by a chalk. What was amazing was what such things were doing in a Zero. It looked like the previous pilot used this to communicate. Saito passed it to Louise.

Louise wrote the words ‘Come over here’ on it, and, raising it out of the cockpit, waved it a few times.

The dragon knights nodded their heads and neared the Zero, forming a pack, they continued flying ahead. Rather than continue being fired upon, might as well give it a try.

Saito shut his eyes and prayed:

“Please don’t let be something like the Happy Little Snake again…”

Saito turned back and watching the approaching enemy Dragon Cavalry Squadron, pulled the ‘Happy Little Snake’s tongue.

Nothing happened.

''Damn it! Next time I see Colbert, I’m going to beat the crap out of him! I don’t care if you are a teacher or not, I’ll worry about that after! Of course this is only if I survive to return, but I’ll still beat you up!'' Thought Saito, clenching his fist in rage.

Just then –

Various objects blew out from the wings of the Zero.

They were the circular objects that he saw floating from the metal box when they left.

The sound of the object’s lighting up overlapped with Louise’s explanation:

“I really think that my talent almost too frightening! A metal rocket powered by combustible powders and fitted with magical artifacts enchanted with ‘Detect Magic’! You may call them…Little Flying Snakes! Since it uses its reaction to magic to approach the enemy, if you have any allies in the area, make sure they are gathered around you! To prevent harming your allies, it doesn’t react to anything within a twenty meter radius!”

Emitting a clean rattling sound, the roughly ten or so rockets launched themselves backwards, headed towards the pursuing dragon knights.

Several of the large, powder-powered rockets collided into the Albion dragon knights, and exploded into several bangs.

As the cloud of smoke dissipated, only half the pursuers remained.

The remaining dragon knights, their wind dragons having lost their will to fight, halted their pursuit.

“Yes!”

Saito and Louise cheered as they hugged one another.

As the tightly packed dragon knights began to separate, the sight ahead of them was again ominous.

Saito turned his view to the front –

The smile on his face faded in an instant.

Upon seeing this, Louise’s smile also disappeared.

“What’s going on?”

Louise slowly turned to where Saito was facing.

Appearing ahead of them was a flock of dragon riders, its numbers exceeding a hundred.

Albion’s Dragon Cavalry were unrivalled to all.

It wasn’t just their natural skill; even their numbers were ‘unrivalled to all’.

The surrounding dragon knights quickened their speed.

No matter what, they could only charge forwards.

It seemed they had accepted that.

But… there were countless of them before their eyes.

Innumerable magic arrows began flying towards them from the enemy dragon knights, all directed at Saito’s Zero.

To withstand an attack from this many projectiles…he couldn’t dodge it even if he tried.

It’s almost going to impact!

Suddenly, Saito witnessed something that shocked his very being –

A dragon knight unexpectedly jumped ahead of the Zero, and using himself and his wind dragon, blocked the approaching magical arrows.

After having been struck by the magical arrows, the dragon and its rider fell from the skies.

“W-what’s going on!?”

The first to realize what was happening in front of them was Delfinger.

“It looks like they are using themselves as shields.”

“Shields?”

“Yup. As long as you guys reach Dartanes, the mission will be a success. They probably received the order to sacrifice themselves if necessary.”

The countless horde of dragon knights continued to approach.

A massive fireball came next. Again, a dragon knight appeared and shielded the attack, before promptly dropping down.

“Hey! Hey! Stop doing that!” Saito exclaimed.

Delfinger requested towards Louise:

“Hey, missy, when I give you the signal, just pull the lever down there below the seat. That’s the last weapon that uncle installed.”

The legendary Delfinger could be said to be unrivalled in his knowledge in the field of weaponry. Louise nodded whilst quivering.

“Partner’s mind is in a bit of a mess at the moment, so it seems you’ll have to do it. Do you understand?"

At that instant, Saito’s squadron and the horde of dragon knights brushed past one another.

The enemy dragon knights were just like the ones before, rising up immediately, and pursuing from behind. The remaining eight dragon knights began separating from Saito’s Zero.

“Hey! Hey! What are you guys planning to do!?”

The one riding at the head of the pack smiled to Saito and waved his hands. Like how one would wave their hands good bye once class had ended in school, it was truly too simple a way to bid farewell.

He was always the one that was friendliest to Saito; the captain of the Second Dragon Cavalry Squadron. A slightly chubby, blonde-haired boy who had once won the bet as to whether the ‘Zero was a dragon or not’. Like Saito, he was seventeen years old, with a sweetheart waiting for him back in his village… parents who awaited his return… he had told him that becoming a dragon knight had been his dream.

Saito suddenly remembered, he hadn’t even asked for his name.

The eight dragon knights turned around together.

Following the lead of the seventeen year-old blonde-haired young man, knights who had only become friends yesterday charged headlong together into the pursuing pack of dragon knights.

To allow Saito and Louise to escape –

It was all for this objective and nothing more.

“Turn back! Turn back already!” Saito frantically yelled at the top of his lungs.

“Now!” Delfinger instructed loudly.

Hearing his command, Louise immediately pulled the lever below the seat.

Swoosh. The sound of various objects separating could be heard from behind.

From below the wing of the tail, emerged a hidden object.

It was a metal cask many times larger than the rockets before.

The rocket, invented by the Fire-Specialty magician Colbert, left the craft and ignited.

Phooooom! All that could be seen was a pale blue smoke, before the Zero rapidly picked up speed, as though it had been kicked by something.

At the same time, the dragon knights were quickly swallowed up the enemy’s massive squadron… and quickly could no longer be seen.

Louise panicked once she realised that Saito planned to turn around and head back. Delfinger also guessed Saito’s plan, and warned loudly:

“Partner! Don’t pull that stick! If we were to turn around at this speed, this thing’s going to tear apart!"

The abrupt warning made Saito lean tensely back into his seat, screaming:

“We only met yesterday! Those guys actually killed themselves for us! Though they had only met us yesterday! Isn’t this screwed up to you!?”

“I know that as well! But! But! Our mission is to use the ‘Void’ spell at Dartanes! They were sent to protect us to ensure that we safely reached the objective! If we are to turn back now, and cause the plan to fail as a result… wouldn’t that make their sacrifice meaningless!?”

Saito rubbed his eyes, and facing forward, muttered:

"I… I didn’t even know their names!"

''To be saved by someone you didn’t even know the name of, or to be killed by someone you didn’t know the name of; was that what war was?''

“Don’t kid me! How can I accept such a thing! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!”

Saito cried. To yell and scream like this was meaningless; he knew that, but he couldn’t bear to not yell out.

The Zero, flying at a reading close to 450 miles an hour from the speedometer, flew forwards.

Despite being in the violently shaking craft, Saito was trembling all over for another reason.

After shaking off the enemy, how long did they fly for, they didn’t know.

After what seemed like an eternity, a ‘port’ appeared over the horizon before their eyes. On the open expanses of a mountain, on which stood numerous steel spires used to anchor the ships floating in the skies….several things that resembled a ‘docking bay’ could be seen.

“That’s the port of Dartanes…”

“Go up.”

Louise said softly into Saito’s ear.

Saito raised the Zero towards the sky.

In the wake of the speed boost, the Zero slowly lost speed.

Once they had reached a suitable height, Louise stood up, and opened the cockpit.

Gusts of wind blew in.

Louise sat atop Saito’s shoulders and began chanting the spell. The Founder’s Prayer Book she held in her heads began glowing. The most fundamental of magics.

‘Illusion’ – One had to imagine with their full concentration in their minds the image they wished to conjure.

In this way, the caster could replicate even the sky itself. The chant Louise was using was the ‘Void’ spell that could conjure up illusions. The Zero slowly circled the sky over Dartanes.

The boundless clouds were seemingly wiped away from the sky, an illusion forming in its stead.

It was a huge fleet of battleships… a fleet supposed to be hundreds of miles away; a mirror image of the Tristain invasion fleet.

Having such a large fleet suddenly appear in the skies above Dartanes had a huge impact; the sight of it shocked everyone who saw it.

“What! Dartanes!?” Exclaimed General Hawkings, upon receiving the urgent report from Dartanes. He was heading the thirty-thousand strong Albion army in the direction of Rosais. According to his predictions, the landing point of the Tristain army should be there. And yet, the place where the enemy had suddenly appeared, was to the north of the capital Londonium – Dartanes. “Turn the army around!”

It would take some time before the order propagated through the entire army. ''I wish we could begin marching quickly...'' Hawkings thought as he turned to look towards the sky.

The sky was a canopy of pure blue, completely devoid of any clouds, a far cry from the chaotic war that raged on the ground below.

He had a feeling that this war would become a muddled one...

Zero no Tsukaima:Volume6 Chapter1

2008-07-19T14:01:25Z

Fynal fyre:

===Chapter One: Homecoming===

"Traveling sure is exciting!"

Siesta shouted and pushed her big chest against Saito's arm.

“Rather than “exciting” I'd say it's “touching””

With a flustered head, Saito gave a short nod.

Inside a carriage, sitting next to each other, were Saito and Siesta.

Siesta was wearing a dark green one-piece dress with high boots.

Also, she had a small straw hat, which altogether made for quite the nice appearance.

When black haired, sweet and innocent Siesta had that appearance, she seemed almost too cute overall.

More than just being cute, it was hard to hold anything back.

''Damn you, putting me in this condition.''

And the worst part is that, while making such an oddly audacious move, that cute Siesta was still radiating a sweet, innocent atmosphere.

[[Image:ZnT06-013.jpg|thumb]]

As she sat next to Saito, she hugged one of his arms to her and squeezed her breasts against it.

“S-S-S-Siesta, when you get so close to me…. your breasts are touching my arm, touching me and…and such…like…” Saito said, half crying, becoming incomprehensible...

“Ah, I meant to do it!”

Siesta said with a totally carefree, smiling face.

“L…Like that, on purpose, that is… At a place there is a person, like that, hey, you…”

Saito, who couldn’t stop talking, in order to sooth his own conscience, protested like this.

“You don’t have to worry about the coachman. He’s a golem.”

The young man sitting on the coachman stand was a puppet(Golem) which moved somehow or other with the use of magical power.

Now that you mention it, its eyes are like glass beads emitting light.

Consequently, this made Siesta even bolder. She placed her cheek on Saito’s shoulder and her mouth near his ear, mixing sighs with her voice.

“…doing it like this, just the two of us…it’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”

“Y…Yeah”

“I think I heard it sometime, but during summer break, what did you do with Miss Valliere?”

''I can’t tell her that.''

''I can’t say that Henrietta requested a shinobi mission from us.''

''Though it was mostly washing dishes and stuff, it's a secret.''

“Uh, umm, that is…, I worked at a bar. Louise worked in the castle so….what she did, I don’t know,” Saito lied about Louise. Saying the truth about himself is probably alright, he decided.

“Oh! A bar! Saito did! Why again?”

“Eh, uh, that is…I don’t have any money”

“If it’s something like that, a money thing, just tell me and I would be happy to help!"

“You would?”

“Yes, it isn’t much but I scraped some wages and saved!

As expected of a reliable village girl. Instead of squandering money, she’s quite frugal.

Siesta’s kind proposal made Saito glad.

“It’s alright. Somehow, I managed!”

“Really? But, if at times you are in need, please tell me without holding back."

''There is no way I can borrow even a little bit of money from this admirable girl who has scrimped and saved like this.''


“I can't borrow money from Siesta-san!”

“Aye! Why? As long as it's for Saito-san, money isn't important to me!” When she finished speaking, the girl lowered her shoulders.

“Ah, right, you mean you are really not interested in using my money right?”

“That's not the reason why!”

“You must hate me!”

”No, it's nothing like that!”

“Really? But Saito-san is always so cold to me”

“I am? How so?”

“I am sitting next to you, and you aren't making a move.”

While Saito moved around hastily, Siesta hmmed a little and moved her lips to his neck. This kind of feelings that can make a person melt surprised Saito to no end.

Siesta moved her lips upwards, finally nibbling Saito’s ear.

While feeling as if his brain is about to melt, the air seemed to grow cold and as a shivering sensation went down his spine, he shakily squeaked "Si-Si-Sieasta-san.."

In the instant he said that, something blew the top of the carriage away.

Well, blown is not the right word, it appeared more like some hidden explosive sent the whole thing flying. In that moment Saito and Siesta’s carriage suddenly changed from an enclosed carriage to an Sky-light carriage.

Trembling from fear Saito turned around slowly.

Only to see a carriage nearly twice the size and far more luxurious, pulled by two horses.

Sensing a killing intend emulating from the carriage, Saito became not simply afraid, but extremely afraid. It look like I'm going to die, when we arrive at the destination.

The luxurious carriage released an overwhelming Aura of death.

“Wa…Wa…the roof of the carriage!” Siesta wailed while latching on to Saito.

“Si-Siesta-san!”

“What, What is happening?”

“If you don’t want to die, I think we should sit apart.”

But that only made Siesta cling on to Saito even tighter.

“I don’t know what's going on, but my heart is pure!”

She screamed and pushed Saito down. On one side, Saito is very happy and excited about her feelings, while another kind of messages flashed through his mind, “Haha, this is the end of my life, It really was too short, I hope I'll at least get to return to Japanese soil..”

<center>* * *</center>

Now then, from the carriage that was running behind Saito’s, from the window of that splendid carriage…

Louise was sticking out her head, holding a light brown cane in her hand, shaking in anger and breathing heavily.

The roof of Saito and Siesta’s carriage was blown up by Louise with her Void magic “Explosion.”

Because of the window on the back of the carriage, Louise could see everything going on inside.

Louise was shaking while watching them as they hugged each other inside their coach and Siesta kissed Saito’s neck.

Finally, as the maid’s lips came up to her familiar’s ear, Louise’s anger exploded. She wouldn’t let her own familiar get kissed.

However, as the roof was being blown off, she noticed that Siesta embraced Saito even tighter.

Louise’s eyebrow went up instantly and just as she was about to spell the happy couple’s doom, someone pulled her legs.

“Kya!”

As she yelled that, her cheeks were stretched

“Id hurds! Yan! Au! Funya! Ahh! Id hurds!”

The prideful and haughty Louise getting her face pulled in such a manner and unable to raise a single complaint. If Saito was able to see this scene, his eyes would most likely pop out in shock.

The one pulling Louise’s cheeks like that was… …, a beautiful blond woman. She was about twenty-five years old. Vaguely, her face resembled Louise’s. If she cooled down her hot blood and grew up a bit, would she look like that as well? To cut it short, there was a beautiful woman.

“Little Louise. My talk hasn’t finished yet, has it?”

“Auu..., I’b sowwy..., Abe-saba, I’b sowwy...”

As her cheeks were being stretched, Louise shouted with a teary voice. There was a total of four absolute existences in Louise’s life. Henrietta, her parents and this bossy old sister, Eleanor. Eleven years older than Louise, the eldest daughter of the la Vallière house is known to be the most excellent researcher in the Royal Magic Research Institute "Academia".

“Even though it is a long-awaited conversation with me, why do you restlessly keep looking somewhere else? Moreover, you blew up the attendants’ carriages’ roof!”

“That’s, um… I wanted to, um, separate my familiar from the maid, that’s why… …”

Like that, Louise very hesitantly informed her older sister.

As Eleanor curled up her hair, she sharply stared at Louise. Like a frog targeted by a snake Louise curled herself up.

“Let the attendants do whatever they want! As always, you’re a restless kid, aren’t you?! You are a daughter of the la Vallière house, you know?! Be more self-concious!”

“O-Okay…”
Louise quietly drooped her shoulders.

“B-But… … Whatever you say, being taken by the academy’s maid is…”

“Shrimp. Listening? The la Vallière house is not simply Tristain’s noble family, it is our noble family. Even you should understand that, right?”

“Yes, Onee-sama”

“You can’t use only your familiar as an attendant, right? Louise, a lady, you know, is a person that must always have one, at worst, female attendant to take care of her when traveling.”

Eleanor, serving at Tristain’s Academia, came this morning to the Academy of Magic in order to take Louise home with her.
She caught Siesta that was passing by with the laundry basket in her hands, said “This girl will be good enough as a female attendant during the journey” and after getting a nearby aristocrat teacher’s consent, she was taken for the sake of looking after Louise.

Siesta and Saito boarded the carriage for attendants, after it was forcibly prepared by the academy’s employees. Louise and Eleanor boarded their own coach that was used to come to the academy.

There were practically no stops so there really wasn’t any need of help along the way. Siesta was simply a decoration. However, to nobles that ornament was very important.

<center>* * *</center>

As for that Louise’s innermost thoughts, they weren’t calm at all.

That’s because this homecoming wasn’t a part of the plan at all.

The military operation to invade Albion was proclaimed at the school after the summer break ended, approximately at the time the two moons overlapped…

It’s been many decades since the last time the king’s troops had insufficient officers in order to organize an expeditionary force. It was decided that in order to do that aristocrat students were to be assigned as officers. One of the teachers and the academy’s chief Osman were against that, but Henrietta, the Cardinal and the queen’s army’s generals ignored that objection. The academy was closed down until the end of the war.

The bearer of the “Void”, the court lady under Henrietta’s direct supervision, Louise, in order for the invasion strategies to succeed, was to be given special missions.

However… after Louise reported to her parents that “For the fatherland’s sake, I will join the queen’s army in order to take part in Albion’s invasion” it ended up becoming a huge ruckus.

Joining the campaign wasn’t allowed and, even though a letter arrived, ignoring it, Eleanor came.

Naturally, Louise was very angry. What will happen of going to the front? Even now all across the country, at our parade grounds and garrisons, a lot of students are training to become temporary officers. Most of them are male students that have chosen to enter the war.

I am a girl, but I have to protect Her Majesty’s honor as her court lady. Moreover, in this invasion plan, the airplane of my familiar is supposed to play a key role.

There are a lot of expectations placed upon my Void as well. Henrietta and the Cardinal consider me the queen’s army’s trump card.
As a Tristainian noble, there is no greater honor than that.

Well, I definitely don’t like war. But, for the princess’ and the fatherland’s sake I’d like to offer my poor ability. Since the Void was given to me I have a duty to be zealous in my loyalty to the fatherland. Isn’t the loyalty to the fatherland one of the things the noble family of the la Vallière house is boastful? And yet my own house opposed my firm resolution to join the front.

“Really, you’re doing such selfish things! War? What would you do there?! Good things? Get ready to get scolded by Mother and Father when we get home!”

“B-But… …”

Just as she was about to answer back, her cheeks got pinched. Eleanor was completely treating Louise as a kid, just like in the old days. Just like when she answered back during studies, she called her a shrimp over and over again.

“But? “Yes “, you mean, shrimp?! Little Louise!

As expected of sisters. Eleanor had the same expression as Louise at the times at which she trained her familiar. Louise couldn’t do anything to oppose her.

“Fue, Au, Ouch, Ane-sama, my cheeks au au… …”

She said with a pathetic voice.

<center>* * *</center>

As the incantation never flew over no matter how long he waited, Saito let out a sigh of relief. It seems like for some reason Louise wasn’t able to complete her incantation.

It seems that while she was sticking to him, Siesta became happy, so perhaps she had forgotten that there is no roof.

“Hey, hey, Saito-san”

“Hm? W-What?”

“Traveling sure is enjoyable!”

“Y-Yeah… …”

He nodded. Saito hadn’t become that optimistic.

When he thought about the things that are to come, he realized that the problems were piling up.

Henrietta and the others were making war plans. What was going to happen from now on was an assault war. Of course, Louise is going to participate. As things are now I have no choice, but to follow and participate no matter what as well. Most likely for the bearer of Zero there is some kind of war campaign. Probably, we’ll have to do something dangerous.

I can’t get into a cheerful mood.

Damn it, as soon as this war is over this time I’ll search for a way to return to my original world, to Japan, that’s what Saito decided. Until then no matter what happens I can’t allow myself to die.

Seeing Saito with the face of a person thinking about a lot of things, Siesta’s face clouded up.

“I don’t want that”

”Hm?”

“Saito-san, will go to Albion as well, right?”

“Y-Yeah…”

It seems like Siesta’s cheerful attitude until now was just a performance to cheer up Saito.

“I, hate the nobles”

“Siesta…”

“It would be fine if they simply killed each other… but they involve us commoners as well…”

“Even if it’s for the sake of ending the war… they’re just saying that”

Remembering Henrietta’s words, Saito muttered

“Doesn’t matter if it’s for the sake of ending one or beginning one, war is war.”

Saito became silent.

Before, during the battle at Tarbes, there was a reason to fight. “Help out Siesta and the village’s people”, that kind of just cause.

But, during the invasion of Albion this time, what kind of reason is there?

I don’t want to fight, is there even a reason behind this fight?

Louise is in high spirits… but I have no interest in this.

But at the time I touched Henrietta I felt an “I want to help such a poor princess’ hand.” kind of feeling, Saito cheered up a bit.

“Why does Saito-san have to go? You have no relation, right?”

“Well, it may be so, but…” his elbow was caught

Siesta buried his face into her breasts.

“Don’t die… Don’t die no matter what…”

Saito felt that such a Siesta is lovely.

To be cried for in such a way by such a cute maid… that alone was a reason enough for Saito to keep living on… As I thought, I’m and idiot, right.

But, Louise’s house huh…

Louise’s big sister that I met earlier was a beautiful woman, but she had a hard expression, didn’t she... , he thought. Splendidly, Saito saw with only a glimpse. At the time they met he noticed that even though her eyes were different from Louise’s she had the same high attitude. Will Louise give off the same feeling when she grows a bit older? That would be painful.

Also, there was a kind of suspicious feeling in the air. It seemed that Louise and everyone in that house had a bit of a difference in opinions.

This time, we’re going towards the home of that Louise.

Saito looked up at the sky, sighed, and thought with an attitude lacking spirit... what’s going to happen from now on?

<center>* * *</center>

In the southern part of Londinium, the capital city of Albion, stood the Howland palace.

The White Hall inside it was indeed an appropriate vital point of the “White Country” Albion.

That place, painted entirely in white, was incredibly impressive. There were sixteen columns supporting the ceiling of the hall.

Like a wound in the wall, a face illuminated by the light was revealed.

In the middle of that hall was placed a huge “Round Table” made of rock, around which the ministers and generals of the Holy Albion Republic were gathering, waiting for the start of the council’s meeting.

This was the place at which, until roughly twenty years ago, the ministers gathered around the king in order to control the country, but now the ruler has changed.

The people that participated in the revolution and took the country from the monarchy gave themselves top posts in the country as was to be expected.

As for the person that, until twenty years ago, was a simple local bishop…

The one that used to have a lower social status than everyone that had gathered here… even than the protection squad members that were standing on the sides of the door…

The two protection squad members opened the hall’s door.

“The Holy Albion Republic’s noble government congress chairman, gasp, Oliver…”

Cromwell, raising his hand, interrupted the voice…

“G-Gasp?”

“Shouldn’t we remove this useless tradition? Because amongst the people that have gathered here, none stands above another!”

As always, Cromwell’s private secretary, Sheffield, was walking behind him and next to her the figures of the healed up viscount Wardes and Fouquet the Dirt Crumb could be seen.

As Cromwell was heading towards the chief’s seat, Sheffield was following him like a shadow. Wardes and Fouquet sat down in two free seats.

After the chairman and first emperor was seated the meeting began. One man raised his hand. It was General Hawkins. With grey hair, white moustache and a long military service, the general stared with intense eyes at the emperor that used to be a bishop.

After Cromwell allowed him, he stood up.

“Your excellency, I would like to ask You something”

“Ask whatever you want”

“After losing the battle at Tarbes and our army that remained there, reorganizing our naval fleet has become essential. That’s because if we don’t have an armada we can neither transport our armies nor defend our own territory”

[[Image:ZnT06-027.jpg|thumb]]

Cromwell nodded in agreement.

“The secret operation to abduct the queen in order to earn some time failed as well”

“That’s right”

“Have those results reached His excellency’s ears?”

“Of course. After all, it’s necessary to know everything about the incidents”

“The enemy army is... ah. Tristain and Germania’s allied forces are preparing their fleets as quickly as possible. The two countries have a total of sixty battle-ready ships that can set out into the sky. If we begin the reorganization of our army now, after the maintenance our warship battle-line will not be able to rival theirs. Moreover, their side’s warships are all brand new.”

One of the generals muttered with a voice full of disdain

“It’s a fleet of Haribotes! They are inferior to us!”

“That’s a story of the past, Your excellency. There is no reason to praise our own army now. At the time of the revolution we executed the majority of our superior generals and as a result the strength of our side was weakened. The remaining veterans were lost because of the defeat at Tarbes”

Cromwell was staying silent.

“At the present they still haven’t finished rallying their ships. Furthermore, they seem to be calling together the lords’ armies.”

“They’re like a hedgehog. If it’s like that it will be difficult to attack us”

A fat general blurted that out with a cheerful voice. Hawkins glared at him.

“Difficult to attack? Isn’t it obvious that that the enemy’s army is probably scheming something if they’ve gathered so few forces”

Hawkins hit the table strongly.

“They’re planning to attack this continent, Albion, you know. And, a question. I’d like to be informed of His excellency’s defense plan. If it comes to a decisive battle with fleets, we will be defenseless. If the enemy’s army manages to land… it’s over. Our army is exhausted because of the revolutionary war, so please give me an answer…”

“Those are the thoughts of a defeatist!”

A young general with bloodshot eyes criticized Hawkins. Cromwell grinned lightly as he raised one of his hands as a signal to stop.

“In order for them to attack Albion, there is a necessity to mobilize their whole military force”

“However, they have no reason to leave soldiers in the country”

“Why is that?”

“Because to them, with the exception of our country, there is no other enemy”

“Do they have an intention to leave their back unprotected?

“Gallia declared neutrality. That’s something that was foreseen and is necessary in order for the invasion to take place”

Cromwell looked over his shoulder and exchanged glances with Sheffield. She gave a small nod.

<center>* * *</center>

<center>* * *</center>

Cromwell went with Sheffield, Wardes and Fouquet to his office and after he sat down in the ruler’s seat he looked at his subordinates.

“Your wounds have healed up, right? Viscount”

Wardes bowed. Cromwell smiled lightly and questioned Wardes.

“Now then, say what you have to say”

“As that general pointed out, Tristain and Germania are certainly going to attack us, right?”

“Yeah. So, what are the odds?”

“Evenly matched… no, perhaps our power is a bit greater. The number of our soldiers is lower, but we have an advantage considering position”

“Also, we have Your excellency’s void”

Fouquet said in a thoughtful manner. As she said that Cromwell coughed unpleasantly.

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing. All of you should understand, after I’ve told you so many times, that I can’t use any powerful incantations. Except for giving life to those that have already died, that is. If you keep saying that, I’ll be troubled.

As Cromwell was saying, he couldn’t use any useful incantations at all.

“I didn’t have an intention to trouble You. Only, if we don’t show that we have a trump card, the army’s morale will be lowered.”

As Wardes said that, Cromwell nodded.

“Indeed, there is no greater trump card than the Void”

“Well then, as I thought, is Gallia going to join the war?”

At the beginning, the plan was for Gallia to aid Albion’s invasion of Tristain by attacking Germania at the same time, but… because Albion’s army was defeated at Tarbes there was a need to change the original plan. The proposition that came from Gallia’s side was to deflect the enemy’s army into the Albion continent, while Gallia took that opportunity to attack Tristain and Germania.

After Wardes heard that plan he said to Cromwell.

“You excellency, I have only one more thing I’d like to know”

“What is it?”

“Gallia’s imperial rule is going to aid us in destroying Halgenia’s monarchic system, is that right? What are we going to do if they’re doing it with an ill intent?

Cromwell looked at Wardes with cold eyes.

“Viscount, that isn’t something that you should be thinking about. Leave politics to me, it will be good enough to work hard on the duty that has been assigned to you.”

Wardes closed his eyes and lowered his head.

“As you wish”

“The duty that has been given to you. You’re doing it, right?”

“With everything I have”

“Mennavil”

As soon as Cromwell called out, the door of the office opened and a single man appeared. He was about forty years old, with gray hair and a wrinkled face, but because of his disciplined body, one couldn’t notice his age. At first glance he appeared to be a swordsman, because of his rough outlook, but he was carrying a cane, so he was a mage.

There was a characteristic of his face that really stood out. Starting from the middle of his forehead, across his left eye and ending at his cheek, there was a big burn.

Cromwell introduced Wardes to him.

“This is Viscount Wardes”

With an iron expression Mennavil suddenly stared at Wardes.

“Wardes you should have at least heard his name, right? He is White Mennavil”

Wardes’ eyes glittered. He had a memory of hearing that name. The legendary mage mercenary. The White Flame. The one that used cowardly methods during a duel and as a result got his noble title confiscated and became a mercenary, killed his own family by burning them to death and abandoned his house. It is said that the number of the people he has burned so far is greater than the number of the birds he has grilled in order to eat. There are also many other rumors about him that have been floating about.

There was one certain thing in those rumors.

That on the battlefield he used his flame with thorough cruelty. That flame didn’t choose its opponent. He was a man to whom the age and gender of the ones he burned didn’t matter. He was a man that deprived humans of their warmth as if they’re free fires… that’s who this White Mennavil was.

“What’s wrong, Viscount? There’s a legend right before your eyes”

“I was just thinking, that I’m glad this place isn’t a battlefield”

Wardes expressed his honest thoughts.

“Now then, Wardes. With you in the lead, I want you to transport a small squad”

A faint dissatisfaction could be noticed on Wardes’ face. “He wants Me to be a carrier?” is what his eyes said.

“I’d rather you don’t make such a grim face. Moreover, I’d like you to serve with perfection. Rather than small unit, this secret squad is going to need a Wind specialist in order to use a boat as transport. In short, you”

“… As you wish”

“Gallia’s army will capture everything, without us having to do anything, so I expect you to at least push “there”. After you have completed your work report to me immediately”

Cromwell muttered with an impatient voice.

“Where is “there” supposed to be?”

“Firstly, it has to be a place where the defense is weak and the room’s price is low. In other words, it mustn’t be too close to the capital of Tristain. Next, it has to be an important place that has a role in the politics. Therefore, it mustn’t be too far neither.”

“Role in politics?”

“For example, taking young nobles as hostages will definitely have its effects on the country’s politics, right?”

Wardes’ lips curled up a bit.

With an exaggerated motion, Cromwell informed them of the destination.

“It’s the Academy of Magic, Viscount. As the commanding officer, you will take advantage of the night and head there with Mennavil and a small squad”

<center>* * *</center>

At the same time, at the Academy of Magic──────────

Kirche and Tabitha were taking a walk in the Austori plaza. Right now it was break time. As always, the place was bursting with students, however…

All of them were female students. The figures of the male students, making noise, were nowhere to be seen.

“Well, well, it really feels like war, doesn’t it”

Kirche spread her hands and shoke her head. Most of the male students volunteered to join the queen’s army, because they were troubled by the lack of officers. She was surprised, because even that coward Guiche volunteered. (I don’t know where to put one of the words in this sentence => のマリコルヌ)

All of them were in the middle of training, at the country’s festival grounds, to become substitute officers. It’s natural that the academy has quieted down.

Of course, Tabitha was also one of the people that stayed behind. There’s no point for Tabitha, who has sworn to take revenge on Gallia’s king, for some unknown reason, to thrust her head into a war at a different place.

Kirche volunteered to join her fatherland’s army as well, but she wasn’t allowed, because she was a woman. She was regretful, because she really wanted to act violently.

Well, because the male teachers departed as well, the lessons were cut in half.

The female students that now had a lot of free time, overcome with loneliness, were searching for rumors in order to find out whether their lovers or friends were safe. Having noticed Montmorency’s figure, sitting on a bench with her elbows on her knees, Kirche approached her.

“My my, since your lover’s gone, you’re bored, huh?”

Montmorency looked straight at her, and muttered with an annoyed tone.

“It’s normal for him to be gone. I don’t feel so bad about it”

“But, aren’t you lonely?”

“That guy, you know, he’s overdoing it even though he’s a coward. Si~gh, but when he’s gone it really is a bit lonely, isn’t it”

Kirche patted Montmorency’s shoulder.

“Well, they’ll come back before the festival of Founder Brimir’s Descent. After all it’s said that it will be an easy victory if it’s your country’s dear Queen’s and our country’s great Emperor’s armies combined.

Kirche muttered the “dear” and “great” with sarcasm in her voice. From the beginning, Germanian nobles didn’t have much of a loyal heart. After all, it was a country that was created by lords who gathered together, because they had similar interests.

“That would be nice”

Montmorency sighed.

While looking at such a Montmorency, Kirche ended up feeling a similar painful feeling. “I don’t like it… I really don’t like war”, muttered the one that was always prepared to fight.

<center>* * *</center>

Kirche and Tabitha were walking lazily when they arrived at Colbert’s laboratory, that was located next to the Tower of Flame. In there Colbert was working very hard in order to finish the final war adjustments of the Zero Fighter.

Even though most of the male teachers had departed… Colbert was in his usual “my pace” mood. As soon as the wind of war started blowing, he immersed himself into his studies.

“It’s pretty busy, isn’t it?”

Kirche asked that Colbert with an unsure voice.

“Hm?” Colbert raised his head a bit and smiled.

“Oh, Miss. Miss Zerbst. You should take my lectures on Fire Manipulation from time to time”

Colbert said as if he’s in class.(someone retranslate please)

“Yes”

Kirche answered with an uncomfortable and a bit sad face and nodded.

“What’s wrong? Miss…”

“Mister, You didn’t volunteer to join the queen’s army, did you?

Even though most of the academy’s men joined the war, is what she meant by that.

“Hm? Yeah… Because I hate war”

Colbert turned his face away from Kirche. Kirche snorted with a face full of disdain. “So unmanly”, she thought. She could see nothing but a person that had ran away from the war. She couldn’t forgive this teacher that, even though he was one of the proud “Flame Users”, calmly declared that he hates war.

“As a person that also uses Fire, I’m embarassed”

Colbert was facing down for a while, but then he looked up again.

“Miss… you know? The Fire’s purpose…

“Isn’t only fighting, is what you want to say, right? I’m tired of hearing that”

“That’s right. That’s simply the way it’s being used. But except for destruction…”

“I don’t want to listen to a coward’s blabbering”

Kirche turned away her face and, urging Tabitha to move along, walked away. As he watched that scene, Colbert let out a lonely sigh.

<center>* * *</center>

Returning to the laboratory, he sat down in a chair.

Colbert went into deep thought for a while… he unlocked the drawer of the desk that was covered by a lot of things, using the key that was hanging by a string from his neck.

In that drawer there was a small box. He took it out and opened the lid.

There was a small red ruby ring shining like a fire inside it.

If one concentrated, he would be able to see a flickering flame inside the precious stone.

As he looked at that flame, the memories of the incident from twenty years ago were resurrected. The memories of that scene were imprinted into his mind and even now the colors were vivid. In that clear glittering flame… Colbert was blaming himself. In just a moment, he remember everything he had forgotten….

After that Colbert looked around the inside of the laboratory. It was a small house with a shabby exterior, but he liked it much more than the mansion and property he had inherited from his ancestors and of which he himself had disposed. The walls were covered by various tools and flasks he had obtained in time.

As he gazed at them, Colbert suddenly crumbled as if in pain.

“The Fire’s purpose… isn’t only destruction…”

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