Zero no Tsukaima:Volume18 Chapter8
Chapter 8 - Elf of the Sahara
The scorching rays of the sun were burning the vast land of the Sahara. As far as the eye could tell, it seemed like a small lake was in the middle of the sea of sand; like a solitary island in the ocean.
Its diameter was approximately about 100 mails; and next to the small wood surrounding this lake, there was a small cabin. Because of its exquisitely finished walls, with a completely smooth texture, the structure was almost a perfect cube.
This was a building that was unlike any seen anywhere in Halkeginia. Directly in front of the cottage and extending therefrom, there was a long dock which continued to extend until the middle of the lake itself.
At the end of the dock, a girl was splashing in the water of that lake.
Her body was not covered by any type of clothing, leaving a view of a young body with slender limbs and long blonde hair that was almost transparent; that girl gave off a vigorous charm, an aura similar to that of a fairy. Surely, if the inhabitants of Halkeginia were to see her, she would be confused with an incarnation of a beautiful fairy.
While floating on the surface of the water, the girl whose eyes remained closed as if asleep was covered only with the vastness of the sky.
One might think that the harsh rays of the sun would burn that delicate body, but the white skin of this young woman did not show the slightest sign of a burn or even a stain.
And the secret behind this mysterious phenomenon was floating in the air.
Wind and water stones ... sometimes called: tears of the water spirits.
Due to a magical device activated by the "Former Resident", the air that enveloped this oasis could block the sun's rays and preserve the pleasant humidity levels and temperature inside.
This was the level of technology specializing in "magical techniques of the Former Resident" possessed by Elves.
The ears of the girl floating in the water were long and ended with a fine tip. Her nose was comparable to that of a human, only finer than theirs. She was an Elf.
Suddenly the girl's eyes opened wide; her pale blue eyes at that time were set at one point in the sky, as if monopolizing her view. A small dot appeared in the distance, which quickly grew larger.
That point was a wind dragon. Compared to Halkeginia’s dragons this one was a little bit larger. Within the field of view of the girl, this wind dragon approaching her gradually became bigger and bigger.
Then, shaking its mighty wings, the dragon landed on the dock.
Water splashed violently as the body of the young elf played with the newly created waves. After playing gaily in the water, the girl buried her face once more underwater; *Fuhn* and exhaled.
“Hey! Ali! What are you doing here?” said the young elf.
Mounted on the back of the wind dragon was a young elf with a youthful aura.
“I should be the one to ask that! What are you thinking by sleeping in a place like this?”
Upon seeing her condition, the man called Ali's face immediately turned red.
“Oy! Luctiana! What are you thinking, get dressed already! If Munila-sama were to hear about this, you'd be in big trouble!”
“Ali, it’s okay because I'm at home; anyway, I do not see why my mother has any reason to make any complaints.”
“But what if someone suddenly came to visit you, what would you do?”
“Here? But I don’t see anyone around here,” Luctiana said with a pensive face....
After hearing this, he looked at her and again Ali's face turned all red.
“We are not married yet! And so now, please do not put any urges in my mind!”
“Ali, do not tell me, dear, that you have no interest in seeing my skin?”
“E, that's... That’s not what I’m talking about! Stop thinking like that! Perhaps we should just let that topic alone until we're married, okay!? What I’m talking about is that we are the chosen race, the nobles who have been assigned to protect the balance in the world ...And you should be aware of it at all times!"
In response Luctiana extended both her hands thinking, I'm going to show you.
“My God! Why do you let my fiance repeat the same baseless reasons the Council and our grandparents always say?!”
Upon hearing this, Ali began gradually raising his voice.
“What's with the attitude? Are you somewhat influenced by those barbarians?”
Almost incredulous at this, Luctiana hit upon a response; placing her hand right beside her smiling face:
“This? This is done when one is "surprised". A barbarian, a traveling merchant showed me the other day; he taught me this and a lot of other funny gestures, for example...
“I was right! Get dressed quickly and get ready, for we are leaving!” Ali screamed. In response, Luctiana pursed her lips with an expression as if to say "you're boring".
With that attitude she started to climb onto the dock.
“Therefore, I tell you, we will not get along well!
With a carefree face, ignoring Luctiana, Ali started walking along the dock. He was practically stunned in place when he saw her walking majestically on that dock; it was the majestic look and confidence of a fairy in charge of the protection of the desert.
From the tips of her beautiful wet blonde hair large raindrops fell; she left the dock painted with the footsteps of a fairy.
Inside the cabin of white walls, endless objects were cluttering the place. There was a bed and a desk. In the background, a door could be seen leading to the room where they practiced the culinary arts.
The room was filled with a few artifacts of "Elves", which were very well sorted and distributed.
However the most noticeable things in the cabin came from those "barbarians"; those sorts of things were flooding the house, leaving almost no space.
The things that stood out were tableware, such as vases and plates; if an elf saw them, they would think those things were hopelessly tacky ornaments. Aside from that, necklaces and tiaras richly adorned with jewels were kept hanging on the walls as decorations.
In a corner of the house next to a wall was a bookcase whose crammed shelves were occupied by a few history books and encyclopedias illustrated by elves. This contrasted greatly with the huge number of books from the "human world" cramming all the remaining space of that bookcase.
The most abundant of these books were mainly popular novels and plays; the bookcase also accommodated recent and popular works such as "The Hero of Ivaldi" and "Madam Butterfly".
On the floor instead of an elf-style carpet there was a lace curtain from Gallia, which was spread on the ground.
By looking carefully, not only was the curtain being used in an improper way, but along with it a huge number of other objects were being used incorrectly. Why would a lot of brooms be hanging from the ceiling, or why was an umbrella that was open and turned upside down serving as a trash can?
Along another wall of the house, a foil was nailed to the floor; the blade was stuck in a sliced fruit which had been left there to dry. Luctiana ate one of those slices, took a cloth and began to dry her body.
It was not until she put on her underwear that Ali dared to enter the room; he was frowning.
“ ... god, whenever I come here this seems like a room of a barbarian.”
“Cute isn’t it; I like these things more than elvish ones, and finally my house is almost full.”
When Luctiana finished dressing, she was covered with a shawl which was adorned with a lot of feathers in the neck area.
“Well? What do the Council want with me?”
“Lord Bidashal has finally returned from the world of the barbarians.”
“My uncle is back!?”
Eyes wide open with excitement, Luctiana started running towards the wind dragon that was floating and drinking water in the lake; after jumping she mounted on it.
“Oi! Wait for me! Do not leave me here!”
Distraught, Ali was chasing behind her.
After flying for about 30 minutes while mounted on the dragon's back, they saw in a distance the bluish emerald sea; beside it, projecting towards the coast, almost completely robbing their view, a giant artificial city.
With a shape of concentric circles repeating over and over again, extending one after the other, with a diameter of several riigs, they had finally come to this artificial island...
It was the Elves' capital, Nephthys, also called Adyl.
The objective of the pair was the epicenter of the circles, toward which the wind dragon was headed.
In the center, a giant ... one truly indescribable white-painted building was there. With a height of around 200 mails, rather than a tower this could be better described, as we would say in the world of Saito, like a skyscraper.
Of course a similar structure with so many floors did not exist in Halkeginia.
The wind dragon landed on the roof of that building; there they saw several wind dragons stationed, and those dragons had grouped and been alerted immediately when they saw the visitors.
This building was also the headquarters of the Nephthys Council ... which was better known as the "Kasbah". This could be said to be the pillar supporting all Elves.
To the elves, territory was a vague concept in itself; they came to be better organized into clans, which were distributed throughout the territory of the vast desert.
Those clans each had their own representative, who was sent right here to the capital city; also within the Council itself, once every few years, they chose internally who among them would be the "leader" of the Council.
Upon descending from the dragon, Ali and Luctiana prepared to go down to one of the lower floors; to do this the first step was to mount to an ‘elevator’-like device.
“Which floor?”
“Floor 42.”
The ‘elevator’-like device began to move and transported them to their desired floor...
This was the floor for the members of the Council; every one of them had a room on this floor, assigned to them for their official duties.
Just outside the door of one of those rooms, Ali called inside.
“Lord Bidashal, I brought Luctiana as you requested.”
Immediately after the door opened Lord Bidashal showed his face.
“Long time no see, Luctiana.”
“Uncle!”
With a wide smile Luctiana then lunged into her uncle's arms, hugging him.
“Hey, hey how was the world of the barbarians? Let me hear it! Did you see anything strange? Did you touch it? Did you bring it?”
“How are you, Lord Bidashal?” Ali asked with a worried face. From what he had heard, his fiancee's uncle had suffered a terrible experience in the human world, or at least that was the rumor.
“I’m fine; I just gave my report to Chief Tariq.” A bitter smile flowed from the face of Bidashal as he said this.
And then he began to tell them what had happened.
After he finished his story, the two looked at each other’s face; and from that moment they began to shake their head as if to say " I cannot believe it."
“Is it true that this barbarian king who fabricated a "stone of fire" burned all those thousands of people?"
“It’s true.”
“And why did he do that?”
“I don’t know; maybe I should have asked him.”
Then Bidashal sighed.
“I also heard that this man was murdered by his own family; but that's strange, as I've heard the families of the barbarian mages swear allegiance to their masters. Then why?”
“That's what I wanted to know.”
“Yaa ... Uncle, how is it that you never know anything; what are you really after by going to the country of the barbarians?”
“That's why I say my job was to negotiate with the barbarians, as I told you before; right?”
“And that's how you ended up as a servant of the barbarian king, right? Pathetic!”
“Luctiana!” said Ali, trying to reprimand her; to which Bidashal replied with a bitter smile.
“So yeah, something like that; but in my defense, the man possessed a great "charisma" that it was impossible to resist. It would be more correct to say that he was one of the bearers of the "power of the demon."
“But then if the king with which you've entered into negotiation has died, then that means ...”
“Exactly; in conclusion, the negotiations have failed.”
Ali paled at the words of Bidashal.
“Then, a new barbarian with the "powers of the demon" will be born and eventually will come to Sahara to try to open the "door of Shaitaan" I suppose ...
“That is the problem...”
Luctiana tilted her head as she watched the two with a shocked expression.
“And why is it a problem? Simply guard the door and try to negotiate with them again, right?”
“Since there is no other subject with which to negotiate; and that is why today I have sent for you ...”
Upon hearing this, Ali's face became completely blue.
“I refuse! I absolutely refuse!”
“But I haven’t said anything.”
“I know what you will say! Lord Bidashal and His Excellency the Leader, it’s always easy to know what you two are thinking and I'm quite sure what you will say!”
“In that case this discussion will be quick,” Bidashal said.
The only one who could not predict the development of the conversation was Luctiana; looking directly at both of them she said:
“What the hell are you are talking about? Explain it me so that I too can understand what is happening.”
“Your honorable uncle wants me to lead a platoon of soldiers to land in the country of the barbarians.”
“I imagine you are at the age when you just have been given the title of "Faaris" (soldier), right?” Bidashal said as a smile spread across his face.
“Huh? Really? But that's wonderful!” screamed Luctiana, completely excited.
“How was that wonderful!? Besides, they also want to capture one of these demons; how are you able to see the wonder in this?”
“Exactly, this job is perfect for a brave young man like you.”
“Then why is it necessary to capture one of the demons?”
“At this time... we are in the era where the demons reappear, but if the Four of Four do not meet they will not be capable of deploying all its powers. Plus it would be useless to kill any of them; so we just have to hide one of the demons.”
“And this is why we have to capture them?”
“That is, making use of this tactic we can probably be evenly matched in the field of battle.”
“Amazing! This will be a great adventure!”
Lost in a trance, Luctiana clapped with both hands; in reaction, Ali once again frowned.
“Luctiana! You’re doing again one of those barbarians' gestures...”
“Hey Ali! This really is fantastic! A great opportunity to visit a person from the barbarian world; yes yes, this is a unique opportunity!”
“Oi! Oi! You 're really naive! Lord Bidashal! I will never go to the world of those barbarians! And that order to capture one of the demons, I absolutely refuse!”
“Oi, Don’t call me like that!”
Then without a second thought, Luctiana said:
“Take me too! Ali! Yes, please?”
“You?! What are you saying?! This is not a job a scholar like you should participate in!”
“What's wrong? What happened to your oath of not disobeying the orders of uncle?”
Then Luctiana stared heavily at Ali's face for a moment.
“I refuse! I invoke my right to reject conclusively that order! No matter how many lives you have, it will never be enough if you would accept such a task!”
“So...”
Luctiana crossed her arms as she turned away from the sight of Ali.
“Okay, so I decide to cancel my plan to marry you. I cannot allow my boyfriend to snatch from me the greatest adventure I ever could ever have; so I also invoke my right to refuse you!”
“What did you say?!”
With an astonished face Ali looked incredulously at Luctiana; then he approached the window, casually fixed his eyes looking outside, and then turned his gaze to his fiancee's uncle.
“...Lord Bidashal, you planned all this, huh?”
“What are you talking about? This was a decision made only by you and Luctiana who are already adults; I have nothing to do with the problems you two have.”
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