Zero no Tsukaima:Volume11 Chapter8

Chapter Eight: Jörmungand

“Louise, class started.”

Saito tried to wake Louise up. However, Louise tugged back on the blanket and did not come out of the bed.

“Get up.”

Saito pulled the blanket. However, she pulled it back with force. Looked like Louise had no intentions of getting out of the bed. Siesta, who watched that sort of scene, primly poked Saito's shoulder.

“N?”

Then Siesta clung to Saito and shouted.

“Such thing! Saito-san! Doing such thing from an early morning!”

Still, Louise didn’t get up from the bed. She seemed to be considerably depressed.

“Hey Louise…You are really depressed a lot.”

Siesta abruptly parted from Saito and said with a polite cough.

“Saito-san, what did you do to make Miss Vallière depressed?”

“Huh? I didn’t do anything.”

“Liar. Then, why is Miss Vallière depressed so much? What did you do to that girl?”

“Just what kind of person you think I am?!”

“Is it true?”

“It is. Why would I do such things to Tabitha. Louise is depressed about her magic not working. Hey, Louise, stop sulking this instant.”

Saito rocked Louise.

“Saito-san.”

“N?”

“That small girl…Indeed, it must be really your fetish. My mother said – when man loves small girls more than needed, he will perpetrate in the future.”

“You see…”

“But, if Saito-san has to perpetrate then… I…”

Siesta’s face turned crimson, putting more fuss into Saito’s brains.

“Anyway, we need to wake Louise up… Hey Siesta, hold this.”

Saito and Siesta held the edges of the blanked and pulled. Clinging to the blanked, Louise rolled with it to the floor. The baby doll dress from yesterday, somewhat suited to wear as a nightdress. Because it was a chilly night, Siesta put the clothes on.

“Oi, Louise. Morning.”

“Fnya.”

Though Saito patted her cheek, Louise stayed almost unresponsive. All that she did – was watching at the ceiling absent-mindedly.

“Uwaa, she really looks like an empty doll.”

Siesta poked Louise.

“Fnya.”

“Miss Vallière, wake up.”

“Fnya. Fnya fnya.”

“Wa, this is really amusing.”

Siesta poked all over Louise. But Louise remained still.”

“Come on… Hey Louise, everyone feels sad once in a while. But this is too depressing.”

Then, Louise’s mouth was opened with a lot of effort. And said in an empty voice.

“Useless. I cannot use ‘Void’ at all. Even the ‘explosion’ is not working no matter what I recite. That’s how it is now.”

“It’s just a bad mood.”

However, such Saito's attempts to comfort her, did not reach Louise, lying on the floor. “What to do… Only because of ‘Void’ I was of any use… Without it I am back to being Louise the Zero again…”

“It’s just back to the start, alright?”

However Louise responded no more. She just stared absent-mindedly into the space.

“Derf.”

Saito decided to ask the sword. Recently Derflinger was neglected on numerous occasions, so he answered in a foul mood.

“Andayo. So you call me out when you need an advice, huh. And you pull me out when you need to cut, huh. What if I am tired?”

“Listen up. Louise cannot use ‘void’ anymore, can you tell us something about it?”

“Well I guess it’s because the willpower is down.”

“Really? Is that all? Then all she needs is just to rest?”

“No, because it’s void the matter is not that simple. With usual elements you need to rest a number of days to recover…’void’ though is unclear how gets accumulated and up till now it was used a lot. Remember that big explosion Louise cast?”

“Ah, you mean the one that destroyed that huge battleship?”

“That one, and it consumed a lot of her willpower that she was storing up till then. Therefore, she could shoot such big thing. Since then the remaining willpower has been consumed little by little. She wasn’t able to caste anything as big, right?”

It was as he said. There was no such huge light ball anymore.

“Then, she only needs to restore some of it again.”

“But how long will it take to cast ‘Void’ again? One year, tow years… or maybe whole decade…”

“Then we’ll be very patient.”

“She may not be able to cast it with such power again.”

Saito looked at Louise. She was lying spread on the floor, her eyes puffy from crying.

It hurt Saito to see Louise like this.

“Hey Louise, give it a break. You already worked hard enough. Even god-sama said to take a rest in a while.”

“… that’s impossible.”

“What?”

“I can’t settle down while knowing there is someone scheming something bad. Besides I still need to find a way to return you home. There are still many things left unfinished. Yet… I am useless like this…”

Louise began to cry again. Siesta tried to comfort Louise.

“That… Miss Vallière is not useless. You are pretty. And you have a power to comfort anyone. Hey, stop crying.”

However, Louise did not stop crying. With Louise being so sad, even Siesta started to weep.

Now then, what to do, he started to worry…

“Saitooooooooo! An order came! All Knights of the Undine Corps are commanded by Her Majesty!”

Guiche jumped in.

“Commanded?”

“That’s right! We, The Knight Corps of the Undine and Louise, were given a direct command. Aah I'm so glad! Though we were not punished, I was still nervous thinking that Her Majesty might still be displeased!”

“You were nervous? You were just fooling around!”

“Don’t say such mean things. Though I had a laughing face on the outside, I was not calm inside. Anyways, my worries were just imaginary tears. Her Majesty’s trust in us is still unshaken!”

“Tsk, so what about princess-sama?

“Anyways, we need to come to the castle. Aah, lets go. We cannot attend lessons now!”

Guiche trembled with joy.

Saito really did not want to trouble Louise at such time. However… because they passed the border without permission, refusing to go now, may cause some tension between them and Henrietta.

Saito quickly got ready. However, he only carried Derflinger on his back.

“What about others?”

“For the time being - only you, me and Louise were asked to come.”

“Louise can’t.”

“Eh? Why?”

“I’ll go.”

Thumbing, Louise stood up.

“Don’t over do it. Your condition is bad right now.”

“Bad or good – it is of no importance.”

“What, what is wrong?”

Guiche with a surprised expression stared at the couple.

“No, this fellow? Right now, her magic… ouch!”

Louise suddenly kicked Saito between his legs, making him to faint in agony.

“…You talk too much. If it is something concerning Her Majesty - I will go no matter what.”

At that time, an owl flew in from the window.

“Ara. Tourukas? What’s the matter?”

Saito recalled this name. Where have I heard it before? – he wondered, while owl passed Louise an envelope.

“Letter to the Louise-sama.”

“Letter?”

Louise began to read the letter. For a moment, her face lightened up… and then became cloudy again.

And then paled.

“What’s wrong? From whom is the letter?”

There was no answer. Louise folded the letter, placed it into her pocked, and staggered towards the closet to change her clothes.