Chapter 9 : The Work of the Devil[]
It was nearly dawn. The national air fleet was gathered in the skies above Adyl, the capital of Nephthys. There were about ten warships that had been outfitted with cannon towers on both ends of the ship. Along with another six smaller patrol ships, there were a total of sixteen ships.
The commander of the air fleet, was the Fleet Commander-In-Chief, General Allam.
"Seriously! What were they doing!"
"The Second Fleet training in the North Sea will be late." The adjutant reported to Allam.
"We don’t need too many people for this. We would be laughed at by the Navy for enlisting the elite First Fleet when we would only be fighting a barbarian ship."
"Well, but even the Navy failed at their task of capturing the target……"
After hearing this, Allam’s relaxed his strict demeanor. "Seriously! Talking, that’s the only thing they could do. A bunch of useless fools. That guy would probably start another long and windy lecture again."
"However, Commander, please don’t get careless. In the report we received, the barbarian ship moves with such an incredible speed that our dragon warships could not catch up to them. Not only that, they were able to use strange magical weapons……"
"Oh, it was just carelessness of the ’Mestia’s’ part."
Just now, the name of the ship that had sunk was also reported to Allam. After it has been defeated by the barbarian ship, the "Mestia" sunk as it was not able to contain the raging fire caused by the barrels of explosives.
"Also, it was an older model anyway, so it was unavoidable."
"Even so, an incident where a barbarian airship defeats a secondary warship has never been heard of before."
"Well, that’s just bad luck. However, luck won’t do a thing against this fleet." Allam said as he surveyed the fleet he commanded approvingly. "I will let the barbarians see, what is the difference between us and them."
Just then, one of the dragon knights flew towards them.
This was one of the dragon knights who maintained distance with the "Ostland" while spying on them.
The dragon knight jumped off his dragon once they hit land, and ran towards Allam.
"The enemy has entered Adyl airspace in the north-east-east sector!"
Allam nodded, and raised his right hand. "All ships, full speed ahead! We will meet the enemy outside Adyl!"
On the deck of the "Ostland", everyone was staring to the front. Tabitha and Sylphid, who had been in charge of reconnaissance, landed with a flutter of wings.
"Forty leagues away. An air fleet. Sixteen ships."
"That’s a lot." Éléonore gulped. She had not slept yesterday. There were eye bags under her eyes, her hair was a mess, and her face was a sickly color.
However, this was not the time to pay attention to this kind of things. Everyone on board had been fighting all night without rest.
"……Will we be okay?"
"Mr. Colbert." Guiche asked Colbert with a tense expression.
"What is it?"
"To be honest, the reason why we could survive until now, is because of damn luck. But it would be impossible for us to rely on luck now. What should we do?"
Colbert coughed lightly. "Now, finally, we let her make her debut."
The ship cabin door opened, and Louise emerged. Beside her was Siesta with an peculiar look on her face.
"For this one strike, I’ve asked Miss Vallière to rest as much as she could. During this time, she has accumulated a high amount of mental will."
So that was the reason Louise did not join them as they breached the barricade of ships yesterday.
"Louise…… are you going to use that ’Explosion’ spell?"
Guiche asked carefully. Louise did not answer him and instead simply brushed her hair aside. Every inch of her posture and expression exuded an aura of "confidence".
There was no other thing more beautiful in the world than Louise with such radiance. Louise raised her chin, puffed out her chest and stepped forward haughtily. When she walked past Guiche, Louise asked him.
"Who am I?"
Guiche jolted upright reflexively.
"L-Louise!"
"Say my full name."
"You’re Miss Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière!"
"That’s right. I have the blood of Tristan’s longest-serving and noblest family in my veins. The third daughter of the La Vallière family. This is who I am. Am I not right, Éléonore?"
What is this attitude of hers! Éléonore thought, but she was blown away by her charisma.
"A-ah! Yes, you’re right. You’re the third daughter of the La Vallière family, with all our pride and tradition!"
"It won’t be a stretch to say that the La Vallière family exists just so that I could be born, will it?"
Even though Éléonore felt that this statement was too much, she noticed that Colbert and Siesta was desperately giving her looks, so she agreed to the statement.
"Ah, of course not! It’s also my pride, to have you as my sister!"
Louise continued to walk forward in a haughty manner, and came to a stop in front of Malicorne.
"Who am I?"
Malicorne stood up straight like he had been electrocuted. "You’re the world famous beauty, Miss Louise!"
"I don’t think this is enough, do you? Put in more effort."
"You’re the one and only, amazing unfathomable unparalleled beauty, known throughout all three thousand realms to be so beautiful that if the Goddess of Beauty were to even see you she would run away bare-foot."
"It’s nothing special, eh?"
She did not have the air of making it mean "nothing special" at all. Louise continued on, and this time, she stopped in front of Kirche.
"Between the princess and me, who is cuter?"
Kirche found herself to be in a dilemma as she tried to answer such a question. However, she could not let Louise to lose her confidence here.
"O-of course it’s Louise! Miss Henrietta, compared to you, is just a pumpkin, you know! A pumpkin!"
"Undoubtedly so. Of course I’m the cuter one."
After that, she stood in front of Sylphid and Tabitha.
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"Who does Saito love?"
Tabitha’s eyebrows arched high instantly. She was obstinate to her core. Of course, even if she did not think that way, she could not say it.
"Me……" After she said this, Sylphid hurriedly whispered in her ear.
"……Little one! Can’t you read the situation?"
Tabitha clenched her fist, her body tensed up as if she was enduring something. Her face then became expressionless and she said coldly, "Louise."
"Aren’t you a good girl? You can have him once I’m bored of him."
Tabitha lowered her head and began chanting a spell. Sylphid desperately tried to stop her. "You just have to endure it! Just this once!"
Finally, Louise stopped before Colbert.
"Mr. Colbert."
"Y-yes, what is it!"
"Cute and prefect me was thinking, that dog is really lucky, eh. I can’t help but save him, that idiot, that pitiful bug who can’t do anything without me. Incidentally, Tiffania too."
"A-ah, yes! Saito is such a lucky man!"
"Sometime he would sneak a peek at Tiffania’s chest, that’s just an illusion, right?"
"That might be just be an accident! Yeah! If that wasn’t the case, I swear on my identity as a scholar that he’s just intellectually curious!"
"Yeah, that’s what I thought of too."
When Louise reached the ship bow, she swiftly whipped out her wand.
Her movements were so fluid that everyone placed all her previous words and actions aside and allowed themselves to be mesmerized by her.
Kirche said, dumbfounded. "What exactly happened? Did she……"
Siesta mumbled. "I spent an entire night to explain how much Saito loves Miss Vallière."
"How naive is she……"
"She’s a naive, willful, needy, incurable person, and it was because she’s weak that she has been lingering between self-confidence and self-ridicule. However, that’s also why this kind of person, can become a ’holy maiden’. A real ’holy maiden’." Siesta said brightly.
On the side of the horizon, they could see the silhouettes of the elven air fleet. There were sixteen ships in total. They saw from afar how the powerful cannon towers rotated and aimed the cannons at their direction.
Everyone shuffled restlessly after they witnessed this terrifying spectacle. Louise turned around and took a bow.
"Thank you everyone, it’ll be alright. I’ll take care of them."
And then, Louise looked in front again with an arrogant look on her face. "Well then, long-ears, shouldn’t you be returning my familiar to me by now?"
Clear of fear and doubts, Louise began to chant a spell.
When they saw the ship appear, Allam, who was commanding the elven air fleet, locked his brows in a frown.
"What’s up with that ship, it doesn’t have any cannons installed on it. How did that thing destroy the ’Mestia’?"
"However, it’s moving at a very high speed! It’s approaching us rapidly."
"Is speed all they have? Just rushing headlong at us…… that makes them no different than the wild boars in the desert."
"Please be more alert. Especially since how they used a sophisticate steering method to evade every cannon shell from the ’Mestia’. It was just like they are telling us that they come with a plan of their own……"
"Plan? What plan? We are the people of the desert, why do we have to be scared of mere barbarian plans?"
"Commander, isn’t that train of thought the same as the tasteless views of the ’Steel-blooded Party’?"
"Those guys are just making ado about nothing. It doesn’t change the fact that barbarians are still barbarians."
The adjutant looked at Allam worriedly. "The ’devil’ is on board the ship, right?"
"The one the navy tried to capture but failed?"
"No, I don’t think it’s the same one. However, legends did mention that there were multiple ’devils’."
"Why are everyone so afraid of this ’devil’? Barbarian magic-users have to swing their wands to use magic, without it they are useless. The only thing they have in plentiful amounts is pride. Anyway, that devil will just be a little stronger than normal barbarian magic-users."
"However, one of them escaped even after being surrounded by the Navy. Commander, please don’t let your guard down."
"Are you trying to put the ’Navy’ on the same level as us, the ’Air Force’? How can those brainless turtles who only know about paddling mindlessly in the water, be compared to us, the incarnations of dragons?"
"No, that’s not what I meant……"
"Humph, we’ll just crush them in one go, no matter if they are the ’devil’, or some moth larvae. One volley of our cannons will crush them! Full speed ahead! Turn that barbarian ship into dust!"
The dragon tamers controlling the dragon shouted "Understood!" enthusiastically and the flagship started to glide forward. The elven ships began to move forward in a neat straight line. For the elves, this is their technology.
The adjutant took his telescope and monitored the "Ostland" out of worry. "Ah……"
"What is it?"
"There’s a young girl standing on the bow of the ship."
"A young girl? What about it? Is she going to curse us? Or is she a living sacrifice? Or maybe she would be shooting us with a gun?" Allam laughed at his own joke.
"No……she seem to be chanting some kind of spell……"
"Oh, so be it. Let her do anything she wants. The barbarians would need some magic that has a larger range than our cannons anyway!"
Aiolu. Sunu. Feyr. Arushakusha.
Louise did not stop chanting. That was the "Explosion" spell that she had chanted for more times that she could count.
The melody of the spell has already become an part of Louise’s body.
A melody passed down from ancient times.
The Founder’s whispers.
As she chanted, she felt as if all her emotions have been rearranged and reorganized. Joy, anger, sadness, and happiness. These feelings mixed together as one, as if they were trying to find a place to be vent out.
Onu. Sunu. Uriu. Ru. Raduo.
It was just like the waves. It was just like music.
"Magical power is proportional to one’s emotions." She did not know who was the one who said this. If her fluctuating emotions were what affected "Explosion"…… then there is no other magical spell that suited her more.
Piosuran. Uru. Suoieru. Kanuo. Oshura.
Louise stared at the large elven air fleet leagues away from her.
They no longer looked that terrifying to her.
To defeat that air fleet and save her beloved familiar, that is her predetermined future. She already knew this when she chanted the spell.
She felt a little tipsy, like she had a low fever.
This tipsy feeling was comfortable, and it made Louise even calmer.
Zera. Isa. Uji. Bazaru. Beokuen. Iru ……
After that, a special feeling emerged within her.
I’m……heading towards the "Holy Land". It was as if a program inserted the phrase into her mind.
"The ’Holy Land’."
The promised place, somewhere in the land of the elves.
That phrase has been carved into her soul.
That phrase, repressed all of Louise’s emotions. All of her emotions felt as if they were about to rush out of her body to the beat of the spell incantation. Louise surrendered her body to that feeling.
After she finished the incantation, Louise swung her wand.
The first thing Allam saw was a small ball of light. That light ball appeared in the air in front of the fleet and gradually grew in size.
A tiny sun has appeared, that was his first thought.
Then he realized that it was magic.
Barbarian magic? From the girl on the bow?
Before he could apprehend what was going on, a gust of strong wind slammed into his body. He was thrown onto the deck.
"Ugh……!"
Allam shook his aching head as he got on his feet. He was surrounded by chaos. Fire ravaged the ship, and seamen lay around him.
The usually tame dragon rampaged and flew towards different directions but they were bound to their restraints so they could only wail in despair.
Allam shakily approached the side of the ship to see how the other ships were doing. All of the ships in the fleet has been devastated. They were consumed by fire and fell towards the ground.
"…… What happened."
He could not understand the current situation.
Just a few minutes before, his fleet was still pressing the assault majestically. They should have been able to destroy that presumptuous barbarian ship in one hit.
Why?
Why would this happen?
Even if that was magic, I have never seen or heard of it, but why would an elven fleet lose to barbarians……
And to lost to that one ship!
"We were done in by that one girl…… Huh."
The adjutant, covered in blood, staggered towards him. "Commander, I’m a afraid that, this ship is no longer able to fight…… Please make the order to retreat!"
What he has said failed to enter Allam’s ears at all. A single word had took hold of his mind.
"It’s the ’devil’. Those guys, released the ’devil’s’ magic!"
The flagship Allam was on slowly tilted.
The ship dipped to one side. If the wind stones they have on the ship did not disappear all at once, the ship would not fall from the sky.
The ’devil’s’ magic, has destroyed all the wind stones.
The wind stones were a product of elven magic, and so if they were to disappear that would mean…… He was frightened by the work of the devil.
"Oh Noble Will, may you save us, from the work of the devil……"
He would no longer be able to know if his prayer was heard. The warship succumbed to gravity and slowly fell from the sky.
Everyone on the "Ostland" seemed to have forgotten how to speak for a moment, and simply watched on as the elven fleet plunged to the ground.
The only one among them has seen a full fledged "Explosion" from Louise was Siesta, back in the village of Tarbes, when she annihilated the Albion air fleet, the miracle light……
Louise’s legs suddenly went weak, and everyone ran to her anxiously.
"Louise!"
Éléonore nervously held her sister’s body in her arms.
"Mm……"
"…… She’s asleep."
Éléonore sighed contently, after she has been assured of Louise’s safety.
"Let her sleep for a while. It’s been some time since she did." Colbert said, and everyone nodded in agreement. Even though they have taken down the elven sleet, this was not over yet.
Moving on at maximum speed, soon enough white pavements appeared before the "Ostland".
"That will be Adyl, the capital of the country of the elves."
Colbert pointed at a distance. Everyone began to tense up.
"Well then, the real show starts now. Is everyone ready?"
Guiche and Malicorne gave an absentminded nod while Éléonore nodded with a determined look on her face. Kirche looked straight in front and Siesta looked worriedly at Louise.
Maybe it was because they saw the power of the "Void"? The little flame of hope lit up in everyone’s heart. No matter how tough the situation is, didn’t they conquer them all? Such is the hope they held in their hearts.
Of course, this was also based on shaky foundations. Well, Louise could not possibly release another "Explosion" like the one before within such a short time, right?
However, she did have some other spells of her own, didn’t she? Anyway, those spells can be used on the elves. Not only that, there was the undeniable truth that they have already arrived at this place.
The elves were not invincible foes.
Their hearts filled with profound and great confidence, the "Ostland" cruised on the desert wind as it made a beeline for Kasper, where the highest elven authority, "Council" was located.
Translator Notes[]
Elves? Void
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Epilogue[]
The loud rumbling sounds and constant motion shook Saito awake. He slightly opened his eyes, only to find himself in a cocoon-like cabin. He has been sleeping on a simple bed affixed to the cabin wall.
"Are you awake?"
Saito jumped at the question. He saw Arie looking at him with a snappy face.
"Bastard! Why did you do that to Tiffania!"
He wanted to get up and punch him, but he was restrained by Arie’s subordinates, Madhav and Idris.
"Hey, hey, don’t be mistaken. I was the one who saved you. Even though it was just a coincidence."
Saito then noticed Tiffania and Luctiana who were sleeping on the wall opposite of him.
"Tiffa!"
Saito quickly rushed to her side. Tiffania’s body was covered in bandages. Her face and nose were covered with something like a oxygen mask, and there were tubes inserted into her body. Luctiana, sleeping in a bed perpendicular to Tiffania’s, received the same treatment.
Even though Tiffania’s eyes were closed, there was still some movement on her chest.
"Is she still alive?"
Arie nodded in response to Saito’s question. "That’s right. If we were came just a little later, then there was nothing we can do with the equipment we have here. We only managed to reach you after everything was over because we had to evade the Navy."
Saito breathed a sigh of relief, and tears flowed down his cheeks.
"Thank goodness…… thank goodness……" Saito repeated as he held Tiffania’s hand in his grasp for a while.
"Shouldn’t you be thanking me too?"
"Why did you save us?" Saito could understand why Arie would come to save Luctiana. Deep down inside, Arie was in love with Luctiana. He would rather be branded a traitor of his people than watch the fiancée he loved get killed.
"That’s because if I save Luctiana, then we’re all wanted people. So even if I don’t want to accept this, I could only escape to the country of the barbarians…… Gallia. It will be dangerous for us to go alone, so we need your help." Arie explained with a distressed face.
"Where’s my sword?"
Arie pointed beside the bed, where Derflinger and a few small automatic pistols could be found.
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"We got your weapons too, since you’ll be needing it in the future."
"What do you mean by that?"
"The Navy…… planned to have all of you killed. They failed to do that so I would imagine that they will get very upset and start searching the area around the ’dragon’s nest’.…… I believe that they will notice that we’re long gone and send troops after us. No, they might have already did that. This is not some vacation trip, so at least help us a little."
"Won’t it be troublesome if we get killed?"
Arie sighed. "We’re not as united as you think we are. Maybe it’s the same on your side too."
Just then, Saito noticed that there was another young woman sleeping there. She was undoubtedly Fatima, who had previously shot at Tiffania without hesitation.
"She’s here too!"
"We can’t just leave her alone, can we?"
Saito shot a hateful glare at Fatima. She seemed to have lost consciousness, and was snoring lightly. He was burning with the urge to jump on her and strangle her little neck. However, Saito suddenly felt that she looked very similar to Tiffania.
I should stop, he thought in his head. After all, Tiffania was alive, somehow. If he had allowed himself to be possessed by anger and murder this woman…… wouldn’t that make him the same as her?
If she did this again, I will never forgive her, Saito swore in his heart.
After that, Saito looked outside the cabin window. He was surprised to find water outside the window. It seems that they were moving in the sea.
"Isn’t this, a submarine!"
"Submarine? This is a sea dragon ship, you know. Well, we haven’t really used it much, so it’s normal for you to be surprised."
It seems that the sea dragon that had fought with Saito before was now towing the ellipsoidal ship. You guys really like to use dragon to tow all kinds of things, huh, thought Saito.
Saito stared at Arie.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"There’s something I would like to ask you."
"More questions? You are really troublesome."
Saito asked, straight to the point. "That ’dragon’s nest’ is the ’Holy Land’, am I right?"
Madhav and Idris immediately stood up, but Arie stopped them. "This is not my question to answer."
Arie and Saito stared at each other for a moment.
Just then…… Tiffania, who had been sleeping on the bed, opened her mouth a little.
"Saito……"
"Are you awake? Tiffa!" However, it does not seem so. Instead, she was only calling out for Saito in her dreams.
"Saito…… Saito…… Where are you? Don’t leave me alone……"
"Here, I’m here, it’s alright now, you’ve me by your side."
"Saito……" Tiffania closed her lips, and silence returned to the ship.
"I have to return to Gallia…… to tell Louise and the others about this."
Now was not the time to be worrying over Arie and Luctiana. It was understandable that they had helped him because they knew things would end up like this.
He felt his chest burn in pain as he held Tiffania’s hand. Saito opened up his shirt in fear, and peered at his chest.
There were unknown runes engraved clearly on his chest.
"This is……"
The runes of, a familiar……?
He thought about how he made the contract with Tiffania before. Then, this really was…… the contract of a "familiar"?
An overlapping double familiar contract?
Could this happen?
Saito held on to Derflinger beside him. The runes on his left hand shone brightly. So he still has his Gandálfr powers.
"Hey, Derf, what are these runes on my chest? Does this mean I’m Tiffania’s familiar? Even though I’ve become Louise’s familiar?"
However, Derflinger did not say anything.
A peculiar uneasiness crept into Saito’s mind.
The gradual reveal of the mystery around the "Holy Land", the runes engraved on his chest…… A feeling that he was going to be dragged into a complicated and ancient darkness masquerading itself as ’destiny’, this was the sort of opaque uneasiness that has eaten into his mind.
"What…… will happen to me? Louise……"
Saito said as he faced the window. Twilight extended beyond the window, coloring the seawater around him in various shades of darkness.
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Afterword[]
Well, well, the story of Zero no Tsukaima is coming to an end. The mystery of the "Holy Land" is slowly being revealed. Likewise, what really happened six thousand years ago? To be honest, I would have never thought that I could have come this far, so there were a lot of emotions welling in my chest. Even though I plan to finish the story in another two volumes, I’m still worried if I could finish writing them. However, I should not be saying such negative things, and I should be giving it my all instead!
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My boy Saito, has also grown up bit by bit over the years. Well, teenagers tend to grow up after they have found their direction in life anyway. This has also been said by Louise somewhere in the story, though it was only for a brief moment. A brief but brilliant moment. Although the willful part of her and the core of her personality will never change, there is bound to be some other part of her that had undergone a metamorphosis of her own. The girls were not the only ones who have undergone development, you know. As a buddy of almost every boy and young men out there, I also want to cheer for the guys in the story. Even if I won’t be doing anything specific at all.
In any case, a young man with passionate dreams of upholding justice will always be a radiant symbol to others.
I sincerely hope that everyone reading this book will also find "something that they want to do". Although it will be hard to find it in this day and age, but no matter the era, it will always exist. The "something you want to do".
There are still some things I have to mention before the end. Even though we’re almost near the finish line, I still want to thank Mr. Eiji for your beautiful illustrations for this volume! You’ve not only increased the quality of the illustrations, but also your drawing speed every year. That is really impressive, Mr. Eiji is really a special person. I’ll have to reflect on that.
There’s also Mr. S, my editor. Mr. S was the one who made this volume possible. It has been seven years since we’ve first known each other, and I am very thankful for you all this time! It is not an exaggeration to say that Mr. S was the only reason that I got to hold on until now. I hope that you will continue putting in your all in the next volume! Thank you very much.
Alright, everyone reading this volume, there’s just a little bit left, so I wholeheartedly hope that everyone will accompany us to the end. Writing this made me feel like I was talking about a different life. There is no greater honor as an author than this.
Well then everyone, please look forward to the twenty-first volume!
Noburu Yamaguchi
Zero no Tsukaima:Volume21 Illustrations
Cover
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