Zero no Tsukaima:Volume6 Chapter7
The 8 o’clock bell rang across the battleship “Redoubtable” to signify 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 belltower/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 was to do 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 mornings was cold as hell. Malicorne could only wait idly 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 ---] , tubby [--- 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’ll 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 do not need to wait any longer.”
“Eh?”
Stix turned and stared at where Malicorne was pointing, his face paling immediately.
“Enemy ship sighted!”
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."
