Zero no Tsukaima:Volume18 Chapter4

Chapter 4 - Strategy

Within the darkness, Tabitha was sitting on a bed. Without sleep at all, she had found herself in this place. It's been a full day from the time she regained her consciousness.

At first glance, this place could be seen as a simple bedroom, however, this had no windows and only had one door. The door looks tough and heavy, and it seemed to be locked from the outside.

The strange furniture inside the room could be distinguished as high quality but ... one could not help but think that, this room had been built to confined an aristocrat, in short, it was a prison.

The solid door remained unchanged no matter what she did. Tabitha realized this when her wand was taken, now she was just a small and helpless child. She remembered clearly how Julio had caused her to lost consciousness, as well as just before collapsing, she had seen that girl with a face like her ...

She knew from the first moment she saw her, that she was not created by magic. Is she my twin? Tabitha wonder, though she had never heard of the existence of her sister ...

Then at that moment, suddenly she remembered the stories about the taboo that remained within the royal families of Gallia. For the twins, only one should be chosen to preserve the family name ...

If so, that means the person I saw that day was ...

Anyway, there’s no doubt about it, it was all part of the conspiracy of Romalia.

What happened to the garden party? What is happening out there? What has become of Sylphid? What about my mother? Isabela? What have they done to my friends from Tristain?

In truth that concern overflowed within Tabitha, however, at this time there was nothing she could do.

By looking closely, one could discover at the base of the heavy door there was a small door that was part of the structure itself, then right in front of that tiny door, Tabitha discovered on the floor a platter with bread and dried fruit served with a pitcher of water at its side.

So she realized that the little hole was where they provide her food for now.

“There’s no doubt, this place is a prison.” Tabitha was totally convinced.

It had been a whole day since she had been confined in that place but still the biggest mystery that haunted Tabitha's mind was: “What will be Julio and his evil master aim by capturing me??”

At that moment she heard a sound of "GGRRRRRR" from Tabitha's stomach, in fact, if it not been for that, Tabitha would not remember that she had not eaten anything for over 24 hours ...

Almost instinctively she reached out the food found right outside the door. They may put poison on the food.She thinks back, then Tabitha immediately returned the bread bowl to where she found it.

Right after that, Tabitha began hearing something from the hallway. Those were footsteps making their way towards her. Upon hearing this, the body of Tabitha immediately reacts and quickly she prepares herself.

She heard the sound of the bolt being withdrawn, and then, with a loud screech the heavy door began to open. The one who appeared was none other a handsome young man whose face she had already observed in a lot of occasions, but despite that, Tabitha couldn’t help but feel a little surprise.

Although she knew it was not surprising that he was the one who, from the beginning and behind the scenes, have planned this whole charade, however, presenting himself directly before her, was something that had never crossed her mind.

“First of all, I offer my deepest apologies for what happened.”

Tabitha could only watch Vittorio quietly and intently as he continues. That young Pope, seemed to have no problem appearing before her as he wore a casual linen robe.

The only place where the Pope could exhibit such an appearance would not be other than the mansion that had been commissioned to Romalian government where the ambassador resided.

Then this must be it. This must be that mansion, because if it weren’t, it would be impossible to built a room like this one without her knowing it.

Though, she seemed to hold true hatred against them but at some point they had shown great kindness to her and without his help, she knew it would be impossible for her to be proclaimed as queen.

If she was honest with herself, she couldn’t deny that she had seen it coming: the possibility of Romalia taking actions as excessive as this, but they have gone so far as to prepare a substitute for me. It was something completely exceeded my imagination.

That said, the fact that she had fallen completely in this plan and unable to offer any resistance against this ploy ... Although Tabitha did not want to accept it, she knew that it was all because of her lack of preparation.

“What have you done to Sylphid?”

“She is asleep in the next room.”

“ Where are we?”

“We are in Lutetia, in the mansion assigned to the Romalian ambassador. “ Vittorio informed Tabitha with a calm, almost indifferent tone. Yet, Tabitha came to the conclusion that he wasn’t lying, but also she realized something else. The fact that she found him at this very moment talking so frankly with her, could only mean that the young pope would not allow her to return to the outside world.

“Who's that girl?”

“She is your twin.”

Tabitha's eyes opened wide in shock. Although she had concluded that this was the most likely answer, to hear the frank reality being revealed to her, she had been in shock well above expectations.

She was not the only child, she had a sister with the same face, more like herself ... However, this was not the time to worry about that.

“What do you intend to do with me?”

“I only wish you to provide me a bit of your time to accompany me on a trip.”

“Trip?”

Tabitha never have imagined such a response in this situation.

“Right.”

“Where do you intend to go?”

“Our destination is the mountain of the Fire Dragons.”

“Is it the place where you intend to kill me?”

“There’s no need to make such assumptions, it has never been my intention to kill with you, in fact, it would be our greatest pleasure if you would become our ally. I would like you to consider what I'm asking and please try to reflect about it. Also, I would like to apologize in advance for our disrespect in addition to all the unrest we have caused so far...”

Tabitha just remained silent as she watched the Pope, the pale light reflected from the bottom of her eyes looked as if to say to this: "I’ll never cooperate with you, I'll never be a part to any of your plans."

“Certainly you seemed to hate us.” Vittorio said to her while outlining a smile on his face.

“I’m not foolish enough to help a religious fanatic.” Tabitha said without hiding her hostility. After hearing this, Vittorio answered while shaking his head.

“It is our duty to recover the holy land.”

“And for this purpose you think it is acceptable to kill anyone who gets in your way?”

“On the contrary.“ Vittorio said answering the question of Tabitha immediately, he said in a voice so quiet it was almost unbearable.

“What are you trying to say?"

“That's something you will understand if you help us, and that's why we must go to the mountain of the dragons.”

“I'll never be able to understand what goes through your disturbed mind.”

“Tell me, don’t you believe in legends? You see, it would be correct to say that these legends and faith do not share any relationship, or am I wrong?”

Tabitha thought for a moment to what Vittorio had said and nodded. Then Vittorio finish his words.

“I think the same, the essence of faith is to trust someone else, both the body and the soul. And by the time you get carried away too much, you’ll end up losing your sanity. However, recklessly labeling someone as "crazy" is also dangerous in itself. Myths and faith, they detach from them and consider them lies and nonsense, it is actually quite easy, even so, one must take into consideration that in the end both will always still be a small part of the truth.”

Tabitha could only remain silent as he stared at Vittorio.

“You are a person that seems to have a very strong heart. Even while we have this conversation, I presume that you are imagining a method to escape from here, probably a way to stop us, these ideas should haunt your head over and over again because that's the kind of person you are. And it is for this reason, that I would like you to become our ally. And I hope that when we get to the mountains of the Fire Dragons, you will naturally be able to understand us and our faith."

In saying this, Vittorio seemed serene without any hostile intent in his speech. It was like he was totally confident that things would do as he supposed.

“Did you used magic on me? Are you manipulating my mind right now?”

“You see, god resides within the hearts of people. We, as his servants, it is our duty not to soil the place where he resides.”

What the hell, what bring brings so much confidence to believe that he can persuade me? He, from the beginning, has been an elusive character but it seems that every time I see him he becomes more and more mysterious. This thought caused the body of Tabitha a slight tremor.

The one who waited by the door the moment Vittorio was about to leave Tabitha's room, was none other than Julio.

He gave Tabitha a graceful bow before heading to his master.

“His Holiness, a report has come from the observation group that was sent to the mountains of fire dragons.”

“Show me please.”

After receiving the report, Vittorio took the time to review it carefully.

“It seems there are no changes from previous results.”

“That means we only have four days.” Vittorio affirmed.

“So would it be desirable to send an invitation to "them"? Currently, I have someone who closely monitors their actions but...” Julio said with a straight face, in response Vittorio shook his head.

“I really don’t think that's necessary.”

“So we will still keep it hidden? I don’t think there is a benefit even for us to keep it secret.”

“If we could, there’s still a chance. But I can only hope they will still believe us, otherwise there is no choice but dispose of them.”

“Hmm..”

“There is something I want to show, and although it reveals the unforgiving truth ... Do you think they are still suspicious of us?” Vittorio said in a tired voice,

it was something really unusual, as this pope was rare to showed a face full of concern and regret as he did right now.

“Who knows, it may well be...”

Julio also showed an attitude full of concern.

“Leaving this issue aside, it is certain that they will at least chase us to rescue their friend, which we replaced.

“I guess, they still haven’t realized that we have replaced their friend.”

“They have realized it, and that is because they are our "brothers". And if they are not capable of seeing through a ploy of this level, then we are in trouble."

At that moment, a servant came hurriedly with a plate of food in her hands. She gave a bow to the Pope as Julius started to open the little door found at the base of the heavy door, and then she entered the plate of food inside the room.

Then, the young servant bowed again to the pair and made her way back from where she came. While the girl left out of sight in the corridors, something was hanging around her waist, the brightness of a small knife that one might believe she used for self-protection.

The report was sent by Isabella, reporting that she had finally figured out the whereabouts of Tabitha, it arrived four days after the beginning of the garden party. It was a letter of a single sheet, which had been delivered to Henrietta’s room in the evening.

The letter has no sender written on it, and its contents consisted of long lists of seemingly meaningless numbers. Then, using the sheet with the code provided by Isabella, Henrietta began to decipher the message.

Her Majesty Queen Charlotte, remains captured in the mansion of Romalian minister, Barberini. Tonight at 8, I would like to have a conference in order to plan a rescue mission.

At the end of the report, Isabella initials were written on it. Henrietta’s mood was bad upon receiving this type of news. She had to inform the organizers of Gallia, She would have to apologize for being unable to attend the night of the great banquet. She also had to gather all his trusted men in her room, And so, expect a visit from Isabella.

Those invited to Henrietta's room were: Louise, Saito, Guiche, the friend of Tabitha: Kirche, and Agnes.