Zero no Tsukaima - Volume 15 - Labyrinth of Oblivion Read online

  Chapter 1: Carcassonne

  Residing on the Southern parts of Gallia, Carcassonne is a medium sized city around 400 miles west of the capital Lutèce.

  On the surface, that is.

  Spanning 50 metres wide, 2 miles long, this narrow but long city was built hanging on a cliff like a bridge. If someone views it from the sky, it would almost look like a giant winding snake.

  Roofs made from layers and layers of red tiles, which were the snake's scales. Because of this, the city also has an alias named Maroon. Containing a population of around 2000 citizens, this city has a long history.

  This city has successfully prevented Aren people(亞人) from touching its streets numerous times. In its streets today, a familiar and its master were frantically running.

  "Stop! In the name of the Queen's official Louise Françoise I order you!"

  Saito panted heavily, running for his life on the stone paved roads. The pedestrians looked at this pair of fascinating master and familiar accompanied by Romalian army with astonished expressions.

  Louise, wearing clothes of the academy, launched herself and grabbed Saito's waist tightly. "Thump!" the two fell onto the ground.

  "Let, let go of me!"

  "It's time I teach you a good lesson!"

  Louise sat on top of him and pointed at his face, her face thoroughly red.

  "I'm sick of it! You say it everyday!"

  Yes. It has already been two whole weeks after the Myozunitonirun led Golomonta army have been crushed.

  During this period, Louise had been blaming Saito non-stop. That is because of.... the content of the memories about Saito flowing into Louise's heart.

  Unable to stand Saito's departure, Louise pleaded Tiffania to erase all her memories about Saito...

  Unknown if it was the bond between a familiar and its master that's hard to break, or Louise's desire for her familiar..... anyhow those memories flowed into Louise's heart when they kissed.

  From Saito's perspective, the couple's memories were rebuilt, including all sorts of other stuff. It can also be said that this memory does not only consist of things that happened in reality, but also of Saito's daily fantasies.

  For teens at Saito's age, his "fantasies" can only be about one thing.

  "I'll let you off for now about the 'education in the toilet' a while ago. It may not be something good, but it's understandable"

  "Understanding that, you've grown as well"

  Saito teased happily, Louise turned even redder

  "B-but, but...... But!"

  At the last "but", Louise clenched her fists.

  "'Closing eyes at the court' is not negotiable! Impossible!"

  Louise beat Saito to a pulp.

  The Ondine Water Spirit Knights, Tabitha and Kirche extended their heads from the balcony of the tavern to watch the last part.

  "Really.... this is almost becoming their daily routine."

  Guiche chuckled while gulping down wine.

  Reinard pushed his glasses up from slipping and said

  "But if you think about it, Louise is pretty troublesome. Saito fights so hard for Louise.... even if he had some weird dreams, it isn't exactly unforgivable."

  "Reinard. Do you also like doing perverted stuff to girls as well? Huh~ even someone as stubborn as you too...."

  Being made fun of by Gimili, Reinard blushed

  "It's not like that! If...if you are a male, you would think of these things more or less... I don't have a high interest in these things, just of normal interest...."

  "Then would you confess these kind of things to normal girls?"

  Reinard gulped down his glass of wine silently.

  With this, an intense discussion on the topic of Louise being easily angered and their pity on Saito began.

  "Honestly, Louise is just like a child!"

  "Saito has an impressive endurance, don't you think? If I were him, I couldn't have handled this."

  One member of the forum shook uncontrollably with anger.

  That boy was none other than Malicorne. Using one hand stabbing and twisting his food cruelly, he said

  "Is there a problem with your eyes?"

  "Uh? What do you mean?"

  "It's not what it looks like."

  Malicorne jabbed his fork with hanging pieces of meat at Louise and Saito. Louise was beating Saito and Saito was defending against her attacks. It's a common sight around the boys.

  "What does that look like then?"

  Confronted with his mates' doubt, Malicorne tipped his head in the same direction again

  "Watch again closely."

  The band looked again at Louise and Saito.

  And was kept in that posture staring.

  Although Louise was punching Saito.......... the punches only landed on his chest lightly. Saito accepted her attacks and was wearing a carefree face, just like comforting a child.

  Louise paused her punches and bit her lips as if flirting and turned her head away from him. She then used her index finger to hold down Saito's hands and started twirling.

  Saito pulled Louise close, mumbled for a while in her ear, then Louise bowed her head embarrassingly and said something.

  "......Idiot. Must be saying 'you naughty boy' or whatever......"

  Malicorne lip-read Louise's script with a tone almost sighing. Such highly skilled techniques.

  "You would make me do even more d-d-dirty things....... Don't be stupid. Is this all...... Really?.....Really? Of course it's true..... But, Louise doesn't like you fantasizing like this....."

  Malicorne spun around, about to puke. He quickly regained himself and jumped up, crying out with a fierce face.

  "Using an ironic expression to put this makes this sound laaaaaammmmmeeeeeeee!"

  Malicorne suddenly saying things so willfully gave his counterparts sitting next to him a scare.

  "Which means that the main dish is yet to come? Signs of flirting with each other, this, this kind of thing..... as a noble, it should be done in absolute secrecy......"

  "Ma-Malicorne......"

  Guiche stood up and grabbed his mate's shoulders.

  "Ah!"

  Malicorne's fist hit Guiche's cheek.

  "Putting on this kind of show so brazenly, they really fear nothing, do they?"

  Saito and Louise ignored them and went back into their own world again shamelessly. Only they would think that fighting is a part of flirting.

  Louise was hugged tightly by Saito from behind, her hands joined by Saito's, acting all shy. Saito stared at Louise's face from the side, but every time Louise would turn away in embarrassment.

  "Welll.... I know males are a completely different creature from us.... because you were by my side all the time."

  "Hmmmh? Louise, how should I say, that is only an extreme case....."

  "Why are all boys like this, thinking these things?"

  "How should I explain it, that...."

  Saito shook his head. The tension at the scene was like a matured apple about to be fall on the ground, but bounded so tightly by iron wire that it was almost cut into the flesh. Must correct Louise's misconception, even though it's not a misconception at all. However, that would be too much for an illogical Louise to handle.

  The girl you like falling in love with yourself, and also in an environment that spells "do whatever you want" out loud..... yet Saito just had to screw things up at the crucial stage.

  If he doesn't come up with something quick....... after some frantic processing in his brain, Saito, being stuck in a stalemate, came up with a shocking excuse.

  "I say, actually there is a little devil living
in my heart. That guy always imprints these heinous thoughts into me."

  Louise's shoulder's tensed up

  "Little devil?"

  "Mm. That guy would tell me to do a lot of things with bad intentions, is a terrible guy who needs to tempt even me. Even so, I am still fighting with him everyday. It's hard to deal with since it's full of charming lies..... No, it may be charming, but it only works on men."

  Louise hated these kind of excuses. Although she feels really sorry for Saito's wild fantasies, but in reality, she isn't as angry as she seems. A half is actually used to cover up her shame, as for details, we'll leave it for later. Saito being so conscious of her had made her very happy.

  This is the obvious truth, but he just had to tread on "a little devil in his heart", these kind of lame lies. Even if you had to lie, find something better. Or does he not take me seriously? That's right, it must be it. Huh, there must be a limit to believing someone to be dumb

  Louise focused all her energy into the tip of her foot. With this in addition to the torque generated by turning her body and kicking it out, it would unquestionably land on Saito's weak spot..... in other words, between his legs. Just as Louise was considering this, Saito opened his mouth and continued.

  "Hmm, letting the little devil speak for himself might be good. But anyhow, my feelings for you are real."

  Last time Saito was at the inter-class grand baseball competition, he had never made a homerun no matter how hard he tried. On the contrary, this hardly spectacular sentence had successfully made a homerun pitched by Louise.

  The white ball flew over the wall, out of the stands, and fell towards Louise again, knocking her out in the head.

  Louise's soft body lost its source of power, and leaned on Saito.

  "Put aside the little devil talk. Say, I really like beautiful things. The same goes for romantic ones. Therefore, the washroom stuff, you are whose dog whatever, I hope you will never think of these things, How should I say it, it feels like it would dirty important pieces."

  Saito kept nodding and hugged Louise close to him gently.

  "Understood. I will try my best."

  "If it really is like that, I would be very happy."

  "Let's make up."

  "Mm, alright."

  Saito lifted Louise's jaw. Louise closed her eyes like she was angry. Just as Saito's lips were nearing close ......

  A sudden gust of wind from behind pushed the couple to the ground.

  "What!"

  Saito jumped up. Behind him was a giant "ghost" standing with his legs crossed.

  "It's me, Malicorne......."

  The couple trembled with fear as they observed the slightly chubby teen telling them his name. The reason he looked so huge was that the fury emitting from his body was too shocking to get a clear view.

  "......Ma-Malicorne!"

  "That's right. My name is Malicorne. I will be representing the citizens of Carcassonne to punish the flagrant 'heretics' with the hammer of God!"

  Malicorne said, laughing darkly.

  Saito and Louise crawled backwards in fear, attempting to flee. The rage leaking at such a massive scale from a dot ranked mage was enough to scare the legendary void user.

  Thunderclaps sounded in the air. His fury had triggered lightning. Although lightning magic is mainly composed of wind elements, it almost belongs to top level spells, which a dot ranked Malicorne wasn't supposed to be able to use. Yet still, around his surroundings, lightning sparks fired all around.

  The spell's power had magnified because of his jealousy.

  After Malicorne had finished chanting, a cloud condensed above their heads.

  "St-stop! Malicorne!"

  A lightning bolt hit Louise and Saito right on. The two held each other, drenched in the enormous amounts of current, and fainted.

  Even so, Malicorne's madness has still not been dispersed and kept stomping on the couple's bodies.

  Her fiery red hair waving in the wind, Kirche raised her eyebrows at the look on the Ondine Knights as they rushed out to stop their hot-headed friend.

  "Oww. Those guys, no matter where they're headed, lack a sense of emergency"

  She commented, astonished, spreading her arms open.

  "Speaking of which, at the start I was thinking 'how would this turn out', but I never could have imagined that we're already here now."

  The day Pope Vittorio announced the commencement of the "Crusade" was in the month of Lutos (烏魯), Teraz(特瓦茲) week and Ingot(銀格) day. To now, it has already been two weeks. The Romalian Army was only able to conquer the main part of Gallia because of the help from a real rebellion out of the dual-use fleets which triggered this war in the first place.

  As Myozunitonirun's Golomonta army was overran, fleet captain Claville himself awoke from his nightmare.

  The King may have promised him the "land of Romalia", but that did not justify his actions either. Therefore, in this case where a "Crusade" was even started, Halaweiluin completely lost his will to fight. Gallia may be powerful, but making the God these people believe in as a symbol for enemy would result in a complete failure.

  Resolving to make this decision, Halaweiluin reacted to it rapidly. After shaking off the Romalian fleet's chase, he flew fast to San Marin. There, he honestly spoke of Gallia's conspiracy, then asked the entire crew if they were willing to surrender to Romalia.

  Although Halaweiluin may not be a natural-born commander, the time he spent as a soldier was well-fit for his job. The number of crew members supporting his actions were surprisingly high, due to the fact that many of the soldiers already had their opinions to the ill-prepared operation. In the end, almost all of them agreed to rebel.

  Officially becoming a real "rebellion", the news of the dual-usage fleets rising up against its home country spread across Gallia in no time.

  The unsatisfied subjects of Joseph, who were already holding back their desires, left the capital as their official response. The Crusade and the rebellion of the dual-usage fleets.

  These two incidents, to the distrustful and unhappy congressmen, were the perfect timing for them to overthrow the Government,

  Like a chain of dominos, the Marquess of the land directly connecting Gallia and Tiger's Highway Funsaludar (馮薩魯達亞) were the first to cooperate with the San Marin areas.

  Marquess Funsaludar have held a deep grudge against the government for reclaiming his land the year before the last.

  In addition to announcing his defiance, he made a declaration to Romalia, giving them permission to allow troops to pass through and offered aid from volunteers on his land. Guarding the borders of Romalia and Gallia for many years, the well-known Funsaludar's betrayal successfully persuaded counterparts of shaky loyalty to his side consecutively.

  Eventually, the lords of southern Gallia, quite some distance from the Capita,l followed suit and allied themselves to the rebels. Now, the Romalian army were able to audaciously walk into their lands holding a Crusader's flag without staining the ground with a single drop of blood, up to this city of Carcassonne.

  Unfortunately, the chain of dominoes also ends here.

  Across the Lelian(利吶恩) river flowing through the north side of Carcassonne, an army sworn loyal to Gallia awaits. Its army is of size 90,000. Even when half of the country has abandoned the Gallian flag, they were still capable of recruiting an army this humongous size, proving that its title of being the most powerful country of Halkengia is well deserved.

  Including the volunteers from the rebellions, the Romalian army has only 60,000 soldiers. They may be carrying the flag of a Crusade, but to overcome the disadvantage of the large difference in army size isn't just any easy task. Although the dual-use fleet are already part of their force now, but this doesn't mean that they can march directly into the Capital without putting up a good fight either.

  On the other hand, in comparison to its advantage in army size, the Gallian army has a low morale to fight. Swearing loyalty does not mean that they do
not know of the dangers through swinging wands towards the Crusaders.

  All sorts of different reasons knitted together, the result? Both armies stood across the river glaring at each other.

  "Oh, that reminds me, why aren't you going to save your knight? Look, he's being fried by lightning with his master"

  Though Kirche questioned, a young girl hair shining bright blue- Tabitha continued to read her book without a sound.

  Kirche froze gazing at Tabitha. Originally she thought that her friend was no different from usual. But after a few more glances, instinctively something says otherwise. It's so minute that only Kirche who always sticks near her can observe.

  "You..... are nervous right?"

  This is the center of Gallia. The person wearing this kingdom's crown is her father's largest foe..... Not long ago Tabitha herself was almost driven crazy by this uncle king.

  Her most hated enemy may still be attempting to get closer, but her presence is no longer as dismissed as previously. Today she brings forth an army capable of reversing the tables.

  Feeling nervous is expected.

  "No. Not at all"

  Tabitha shut her book then stood up, afterwards, walking away at a quick pace.

  Kirche glanced at the balcony across this one. In between the two steep cliffs, enjoying the amazing view of Carcassonne is one of the best sights you would want to see before you die. Below the cliff is a field of pastures, sprinkles of the radiant sun reflecting upon the Lelian river. On both shores the deadly shadows of the Romalian and Gallian army.

  Afterwards, Kirche focused on Saito and the others. The Ondine Water Spirit Knights were taking care of Saito and Louise burnt black by Malicorne's lightning.

  And eventually her eyes landed on Tabitha's silhouette.... To other people she is as common as she can ever be, like any other day, but Kirche can see through her disguise easily.

  Something was alive inside her heart.

  What might it be...... though Kirche's woman instinct might have noticed, but the things that's troubling Tabitha is still a mystery to Kirche.

  Resting her jaw on her hand, Kirche thought, tilting her head sideways.

  "Wait, if it's that child..... I don't think she's that simple"

  Standing on one side, a Romalian guard walked behind Tabitha, never making a sound. These people will tag like a shadow on any of Louise's friends as soon as they lay foot outside the apartment. Their watch over Saito and Gallia's descendant of the King Tabitha are even stricter.