Zero no Tsukaima

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Chapter Seven: Solicitation[]

Thirty meters in the sky of Tristania... a dragon knight was patrolling in the air.

Though it was not war time, there were always one or two dragon knights in the air, since air pirates and mysterious creatures could attack the capital anytime.

On this day, the one who was on duty was Rene of the capital escort Dragon Knight Regiment First Battalion, the same one who had previously fought together with Saito.

The dragon he lost in Albion was replaced by a new white wind dragon he obtained, and Rene was circling the sky of Tristania slowly. Feeling cold, Rene buried his face in the neckband of his boar-leather coat.

“The sky is freezing... Dammit! The war has already ended! But when it comes to handling the men of the Dragon Knight corps, it’s always the same! As for that SAITO who was installed as the Assistant Commanding Officer of the Imperial Guards, why was he treated differently!? Well... just because he stopped that seventy thousand strong army, that promotion was still not the way to do things...” *grumble grumble*

As if responding to Rene’s grumbles, his new partner dragon made a "Kyui" sound.

“Ryusto, it’s not really your fault. Because it’s the duty of the dragon knights to fly in the air.”

He stroked the dragon’s head gently, at which the wind dragon narrowed its eyes happily.

However, in the following instant... the wind dragon opened its eyes wide in alert. Not allowing even the smallest glint of light escape, those pupils opened like an animal from the cat family.

“What’s wrong, Ryusto?”

Waruuuuuuuuuuu...

A low growl came out from the Wind Dragon’s mouth.

Rene stared at the spot where his dragon was looking at.

Dragons had excellent night vision compared to humans. Rene, been a human, could not clearly make out that "thing" in the darkness.

“What, is that...?”

Illuminated by the moonlight, between the opening of the clouds, there was something there.

There was a gigantic wing... The overall width could easily be more than 100 meters.

That thing was flying slowly in the air. Moreover...Shunshunshunshun...it made a sound which he had not heard before.

Rene gulped.

He was frightened by the silhouette which was like a giant monster spreading its wings.

“Don’t tell me that’s a reincarnation of the legendary demons... Oi, Ryusto! Get closer!”

But the wind dragon did not obey his command. Far from it, it turned on it’s heels and started to retreat.

“Oi Ryusto! What’s wrong! I have to check out what that thing is!”

Despite Rene’s desperate rebuke, with a purring ‘’Kyui’’ sound, the wind dragon descended away from the object. Ryusto, who was still young, was evidently afraid of such a huge thing.

“How I miss Virkan who died in Albion!! Without being afraid, without even a command, he would just rush forward!!”

Rene cried out regretfully.

The next afternoon... the location was changed - Tristain Academy of Magic.

"The Ball of Sleipnir?" Saito asked Malicorne, who was in front of him.

During lunch both of them sat together. Saito hadn’t been sitting with Louise lately. He was often sitting with the company of Undine (Knight Corps of the Water Spirit) and having his meals with them.

“Yeah, its the ball that begins with the new school term. Do you know when it starts? Ah nevermind, you probably don’t know either.”

Although he said “new school term”, Saito was still a bit confused. Because he could not tell which month was which over here. Still, it felt somewhat warm of late, so perhaps it was springtime.

Come to think of it, there was a certain ceremony recently, and many noble teens attended. However, the figures of the third-years could not be seen anymore. Did they graduate? Moreover their replacement with first-year students... Oh I see! That was the school entrance ceremony. Saito thumped his knees.

“But why is there a ball for the new school term?”

Guiche, who was sitting beside him, explained,

“Well, isn’t a welcome necessary? Among the newly enrolled noble lasses, there are quite a number who are entering the higher society for the first time. I will carefully teach those girls the adult social life! Yeah, adult social life! Oh, there are boys as well...”

Looked like the point was to welcome the new students.

"Hmmm guess so," Saito nodded, while filling his mouth with grilled meat. With the sour taste of the fruit sauce, it was delicious.

Looking around, it seemed not everybody was dinning elegantly with their table utensils. Some were hitting their plate with the fork, making a loud “gacchagaccha” noise, some were gulping down their soup with a “zuzuzu” noise, spilling it haphazardly.

Although Louise and the other girls ate quietly with polite table manners, Guiche and the other boys’ way of eating was terrible.

Their table manners are quite bad. Since I’ve only recently arrived in this world of nobles, I have to do better... While thinking that, Saito ate politely.

“But this, is no ordinary ball!”

Draining his wine cup quickly, Guiche stood up. Malicorne gulped his down forcefully as well. These two had been on a drinking spree since noon.With good manners, Saito squeezed some lemon juice into his carbonated drink. Speaking of nobles, these guys were definitely of the inferior group with bad manners. Saito made the weird resolution to be at least of the superior group.

“What do you mean by ’ordinary’?”

“Masquerade.”

Guiche said triumphantly.

“Masquerade? That’s nothing special. There are many balls like that.”

Malicorn laughed lightly at Saito’s words then made a “fuun” sound in reply.

But at the next moment... the conversation behind his seat entered Saito’s ears.

“Have you heard? The word is going around that a ’mysterious bird’ had been seen in the skies of Tristania.”

“Yeah. My elder brother who serves in the dragon knight corps heard the rumor as well... is it true?”

The ones who were conversing were two lads of the same class. Saito strained his ears towards them. Not noticing Saito’s actions, Malicorne continued his explanation.

“Get it? The masquerade ball of the Academy of Magic is not as simple as the usual “masquerade”. It is a masquerade that uses magic. The “Mirror of Truth” is used. With it, you can even transform into the ideal self you most admire!”

After that, Guiche declared pridefully.

“The ideal self. Well, my ideal self is me!! Ah, because I am the most handsome one in the world! Ahaha! Ah! Everyone will change into my appearance! Ah! Ahaha! Ah!”

As he was yelling this, Guiche hugged himself tightly.

However, Saito was no longer listening to Malicorne and Guiche’s chatter. He was thoroughly into the conversation behind his seat.

“...and, I heard that its width was over 150 meters!”

“Can it be a ship?”

“Is there a ship with such an appearance?”

“Then a dragon? An enormous one. A legendary huge dragon.”

“Nope, its wings were completely different from those of a dragon. If I had to say, it had the form of a bird with wings spread... the word was that it was some kind of bird-like monster.”

Unconsciously, Saito had left his seat to listen to those words.

“Can you tell me the details?”

Those guys told him the rumor that had transpired at the palace lately.

In his night patrol in the air, a dragon knight sighted a huge “shadow”.

Its wings was easily more than 100 meters.

It made a strange sound, and so on...

“So, what on earth was that?”

“I don’t know. They said the dragon of that dragon knight was frightened... no, the one who was frightened might’ve been the dragon knight himself... he fled instead of approaching that object to have a closer look. After hearing the news, another dragon knight ascended the air, but it had already disappeared from the skies of Tristania like a mist.”

“What...?”

“Well... it’s possible he was mistaken and it was actually a cloud or something like that...”

“Hmmmmm...”

Saito was feeling somewhat uneasy. He remembered the encounter with "Myoznitnirn" from before...

Able to manipulate all magical items, and same as him, a “familiar of Void”...

Assuming that it was neither a dragon nor a ship... could it be a magical item like those gargoyles??

Since there were no further details about that thing, there was no point dwelling on it... at any rate, they can’t afford to be negligent. Those guys Saito and the rest met in Albion, who had animosity towards them, were neither Fouquet or Wardes nor Reconquista. Their true motives were still unknown. Were they from a particular country, group or something else... Saito couldn’t tell. They were a creepy bunch.

Henrietta had investigated it... but they did not acquire any new information, and no new word of them came thus far.

Saito pondered over the situation while returning to his seat.

Malicorne found fault with Saito, and said as if he was displeased.

“Oi, listen properly to our words! Leaving your seat in the middle of a conversation is really rude!”

“Hmm? Aah, sorry. Umm, what was that about the masquerade?”

He remembered that they were in the conversation about a different type of masquerade ball.

“That’s enough!”

“Sorry, sorry. Don’t be angry like that. Don’t you guys worry about that? The mysterious, enormous shadow that appeared in the skies of Tristania?”

“Look isn’t that a mistake? Just a bunch of false positives during the night air patrol! If the information was about naked princesses flying in the sky then we’ll definitely launch a proper investigation into it!”

Guiche spoke in a foolish tone.

As this chatter continued, a spectacled lad opened his mouth.

“Hey, you guys. Whether its the ball or the mysterious shadow, who cares? You should be thinking more about the affairs of the Undine Knight Corps!”

Saito sat down beside Guiche, and looked at the speaker. It was the chap from the next class called Reynald. During Albion’s military campaign, he apparently directed the wagon corps. Not discouraged during the chaos of their retreat, he kept the unit in order. Because of that, he was commended.

“Do you know what we are called in the palace? “Students playing as Knights”! My uncle, who is serving in the palace, heard a rumor today; something like we had made her majesty disappointed and worried.”

All the members present there displayed affronted-looking faces.

“We have given some distinguished military service, but that level of success is expected from the Imperial Guard. Compared to the great Knight Corps of old, we’re like "children playing around" they said. There’s no way we can settle for something like that! Therefore, Guiche, Saito, we want you to think about this matter seriously.”

Guiche and Saito exchanged glances.

“You’re probably right, b-but, what should we do?”

“We want you to power up our battle lineup. Presently, isn’t Saito the only Chevalier?”

“Though you say that, Chevalier isn’t a title you can receive just like that...”

At Guiche’s words, Reynald smiled sweetly.

“I know of another one.”

During lunch break, all the group members went to the library.

At the side of the library where people didn’t often go, there was a girl there.

Her small body was hunched over, intent on reading the book in her hands with utmost attention.

The blue-haired girl was Tabitha.

“Huh? When did she come back?” Guiche whispered.

Indeed, she went with Kirche to Germania together.

“Looks like she came back two or three days ago.”

“She has such a light presence, almost like a shadow. Hmm...”

Guiche spoke as if he was troubled.

“But can she really join our company? Isn’t she a girl?”

“Look she is certainly a ’Chevalier’. In such a case, we can’t be discriminating against gender. The condition to be enlisted in “Undine” is “a student of the Academy of Magic”. Only that.There’s no rule which forbids the participation of females.”

“The only reason its not in the official documents is because we never had a chance to add it. It happens. Besides girls don’t want to join anyway...”

Guiche said.

“But according to the rules I’m not a student here either.”

Saito pointed out.

“Isn’t it fine? If that’s the case, we can also change it to “Beings that live at the Academy of Magic” instead. It’s decided now. That’s it. I decided it.”

Reynald declared arrogantly. Not matching his obedient and quiet-looking appearance, he had a really forceful character. Evidently, he intended to persuade the Commanding Officer and the Assistant Commanding Officer to let him shoulder the practical business of the knight corps.

“Is it okay? After all, both of you have no interest whatsoever in “administration” and “reputation”. For the continuation of the knight corps, above everything else, these two things are indispensable. I think that if the knight corps follow my own way, we would not be called fools in the palace. If you have a better plan, tell me.”

At those words, Saito and Guiche were speechless.

“Well then, I’ll persuade her.”

Reynald stepped forward, but Saito stopped him.

“Wait!”

“What’s the problem? Do you have any complaints!?”

“No. Just in case, Guiche and I will go. Hey, Guiche!”

“Huh? A-Ah.”

Leading Guiche, Saito sat beside Tabitha who was reading a book.

“Yo, Tabitha...”

Saito was fairly bad at dealing with this blue-haired girl. At any rate, when it came to this girl, she neither chattered, nor responded, she had a somewhat unfriendly atmosphere.

Although Saito sat down, Tabitha still did not have any response.

“You had gone to Germania together with Kirche huh. Oh yea, umm... to bury Colbert-sensei’s remains...what happened after that?”

Tabitha did not reply.

“Is Kirche still there?”

At which Tabitha nodded. However, she seemingly did not intend to say anything at all.

“I see... when will she come back?”

“Don’t know.”

Anyway, it was as if there were things she did not want to say. No, she probably just spoke little.... After that, Saito had given up asking.

“Other than those things, I have a favor.”

Guiche cut into their conversation.

“By all means, won’t you join our knight corps?”

“...”

Tabitha did not even try to lift her face from that book.

“Err... we’ve only recently been made into a knight corps... can you help and lend us a hand?”

Saito said.

But as expected, Tabitha did not respond.

“You’re a Chevalier right? Can’t you use those skills for the sake of our Undine knights?”

“I am a Gallian.” Her answer had barely escaped her lips.

“Is there a problem being a Gallian? If you like, we can offer you a honorary ’guest knight’ status.”

Reynald, who had been standing there unnoticed, said encouragingly.

“We can negotiate the increase of annuity as well...”

Tabitha shook her head. The blue hair above her head shook alongside it. Saito remembered the dream he saw in Albion some time ago. During that time, he recalled those throbbing breasts... and her usually stern face, acting a little embarrassed. Upon closer look, Tabitha was a real beauty as well. It was just that... her icy facial expression had been concealing her charm.

Watching her face closely.... Is there nothing I can do? Saito thought.

With a serious face, Saito said to Tabitha.

“I have become a ’Chevalier’ as well, just like you.”

“Chevalier?”

At that, Tabitha lifted her face for the first time.

“Yeah. Because I want to help people in need. You’re the same way right? I was just a commoner before, but with this Chevalier title, maybe I can do something good. Whether I would do well or not, I do not know. But I’ll try my best. You’re strong, aren’t you? How do I put it? Umm...”

Saito said towards Tabitha, slightly embarrassed.

“Won’t you try to use that strength for the sake of society?”

After hearing those words, Tabitha closed her book and stood up.

“Oooh, you’re coming along, right?”

Guiche let out a delighted voice.

But...

“I have no interest in pretending to be knights.”

Leaving that short sentence behind, Tabitha walked off.

“Grrrrrrrrr... What’s that brat’s problem! We had asked her so nicely, and yet she left with such an attitude!!”

Guiche stamped his feet on the ground in frustration.

“Well, don’t take it personally. She’s probably very busy with other things to do.”

Saito tried to cheer up the angry Guiche.

Tabitha went back to her room, and discovered a crow on top of her bed. It looked like a carrier crow, bringing a secret message from the Gallian royal family. The delivery bird differs occasionally, there were times when owls or pigeons were used.

However today’s crow didn’t seem be carrying any secret letters.

Looking puzzled, Tabitha tilted its head to one side, and bang! Emitting a sound, it cracked into half.

Upon closer inspection... it was actually an elaborate model of a crow. A type of magical doll akin to a ’gargoyle’. Inside the cavity of the crow model where it cracked apart, a letter was inserted.

She picked it up and browsed through it. Tabitha’s eyebrows shifted slightly.

During that night... the place Tabitha were to visit on her wind dragon Sylphid was not Gallia, but Tristain.

Above the town which was glowing with lights, Tabitha jumped off from Sylphid. She recited a spell, and her body floated with Levitation, landing slowly.

The place where she arrived was a street along which suspicious-looking bars and gambling dens lined - Chicton Street. The Drunkards and ladies in revealing clothing, who were walking along the street that night, saw Tabitha land from the sky. They were stunned for a moment, but then realizing that it was only a young child, the spectators suddenly had flippant smiles on their faces.

Although she might have been a noble, the girl was still just a kid. Teasing words came out from the mouths of the drunkards, who became more and more rowdy.

“What’s wrong, missy? Can’t find your way to the playground?”

“Oh my! Are you lost like a little dog? If I take you back to your owner, think I’ll get a reward?”

Like water off a duck’s back, Tabitha ignored those words, and headed towards one specific bar.

Although the place was on Chicton Street as well, this bar was more refined than the others. There were many people in noble or knight outfits. The tavern owner sitting behind the counter stared at Tabitha suspiciously.

“This is not a place for a noble’s daughter to visit. Our premises can become quite chaotic. Its best for you to return home.”

In spite of that, Tabitha did not move.

Shaking his head, the owner drew closer to Tabitha’s face.

“Hey, miss. Although I dunno what sort of magic you use, there are people who with bad intentions in this place. While you are not involved in anything troublesome yet...”

At the moment when the tavern owner was warning Tabitha, a lady with a deeply set hood sat down beside Tabitha.

“Sorry for being late. Friend of yours?”

The latter half of her words were directed towards the tavern owner. From the ambiance of that lady, the tavern owner sensed that it would be better for him not to poke his head into their affairs, and withdrew to the inside of the bar.

The lady in the thick robe looked at Tabitha.

“How do you do? Knight of the North Parterre, Tabitha-dono.”

After Tabitha lightly nodded, she spoke.

“Why?”

Why did she receive her task in Tristain and not Gallia? That was her question.

“This country will be the setting of the mission this time.”

“...”

That lady removed the hood she was wearing. She had almond shaped eyes, and between the flowing raven black hair, runic letters danced. It was the mind of god, Myozntnirn.

“Here are our master’s orders: although he had wanted the four existing "dragons" in this world to fightamongst each other... for some reason I don’t understand, he has now decided to capture one of them.”

“...”

“That ’dragon’ has a strong guardian. That’s why he wants you to exterminate that guardian. During that time, I will take the ’dragon’ for our master.”

“Exterminate that guardian?”

“Someone you know very well.”

Myoznitnirn showed Tabitha a slip of paper.

Seeing the name and portrait on it, Tabitha’s eyes opened widely.

“If you manage to accomplish this task... there is a big reward. Your mother... she drank poison and became mentally ill, right? It’s the medicine to regain her sanity.”

Tabitha lightly bit her lips and trembled. Then she glared at Myoznitnirn. Her eyes revealed feelings of clear hostility.

“Oh? The great Knight of North Parterre is troubled by her feelings toward her acquaintances? Don’t you understand? This is a chance for your mother to regain her sanity.”