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Chapter Five: The Disappearing Gandálfr[]
After that, ten days passed.
After Tiffania’s ring’s intensive healing magic treatnt, Saito’s fatal wounds, after two weeks of sleeping and three weeks all together, were almost completely healed...
Yet he was not heading back.
Leaning upon his elbows, Saito let out a lonely sigh.
“Haaah.”
What a painful thing to hear, those sighs.
Saito was sitting on the firewood pile behind Tiffania’s house. Tiffania’s house was made from logs and so mortar.
Around it, sun-lit, beautiful trees grew.
Here, next to Saxe-Gotha, Westwood Village was located. The village was near the highway connecting Saxe-Gotha and the port city of Rosais.
Based on Tiffania’s words, the hill where Saito held off the Albion army was not too far away either.
Indeed, it was a tiny, forgotten village. Even if you looked at it, through the small cracks within the forest, you could see the ten small houses only if you were right next to it.
Derflinger, who was leaning against the woodpile, said in a calm voice.
“Weeell, seems like Albion’s army missed the Allied Forces in Rosais. Because you bought so ti, the allies were able to retreat successfully. Partner, your life-threatening clash with the enemy was not in vain.”
They learned this from a rchant that ca to peddle in the village the other day.
He himself had seen that rchant who ca to sell cloth and chatted about the reverse defeat of the Holy Republic of Albion’s army. He said - "We’ll survive through this and it will be a little bit easier," with a happy face. Albion’s nobles were not popular among the country people.
“Besides, the war ended as well. Goes without saying.”
They also learned that Gallia suddenly entered the war, forcing the Albion army to surrender.
“Even if we escaped, we won anyway.”
However, Saito still looked gloomy.
“...so it is.”
Louise and others should have been able to escape safely as well. Yet, even though he should be joyous...
He kept on staring absent-minded at his left hand, and muttered:
"Blank, is it?”
So, the runes that disappeared did not co back.
Apparently, the contract was completely broken.
“I, I am not even a Gandálfr anymore.”
“Hmm. No, I was thinking, why would a familiar contract completely wear off...”
“What, why?”
“For one mont, your heart stopped. So partner, the familiar’s runes died as well. Magical spell-based objects can make assumptions too. Just like how fleas would jump away from a dying dog – the runes may have left as well.”
“I see.”
Trying to comfort the glum Saito, Derflinger said,
“Hey hey, isn’t it good? This way you won’t have to deal with that fussy noble girl’s complaints. You will be counted as dead in her eyes.”
“Indeed, yet still...”
Bitterly, he was not able to give up. Saito looked up at Derflinger and asked.
“...Can Louise make a contract again?”
“What?”
“Indeed. You heard .”
“Sort of like double using.”
“Yes.”
“First of all, ’Summon Servant’ is not only about passing. It all depends if that noble girl will open the gate in front of you or not.“
“...”
“In fact, it is still unknown why a person is chosen to be a familiar. Based on the four elent system, only a beast or a spirit that represents the elent of the user can pass the gates... Anyhow, that girl’s elent is Void. According to what principle the familiar is chosen, I don’t know. Yet...”
“Yet?”
“This is so called ‘fate’.”
“Hmm, if I and Louise are related by ‘fate’ then could the gate open again?”
“I don’t know. But, it was fated to bid farewell here. That’s one of the problems.”
“Hmm... well, and secondly?”
“Servant Contract.”
Saito recalled how he was summoned to this world and kissed by Louise. If you think about it - everything started from that.
“Aah, that kiss.”
“That is right. ‘Summons’ and ‘Contract’. It’s because of the combination of these two, one becos a familiar for the first ti.”
“So it is not just a kiss?”
“It seems it was the ‘type’. Actually, the runes were carved into your body after that right?”
Saito rembered the sensation of burning pain.
“...so that’s everything left to do.”
“I would not recomnd it.”
Derflinger muttered.
“Why?”
“Weeell, that, whether it is or not, if a familiar dies, the mage can summon another familiar... It’s different for familiars. For familiars, the ‘contract’ is a lifelong one. For familiars that live after the contract breaks, it becos unpalatable.”
“Hmm hmm...”
“So, to put it this way, for a familiar to break a contract with the mage twice, one can only guess what would happen to the body...”
Derflinger said in an inarticulate voice.
“...”
“So, it’s bad I say. After getting life back with much trouble and putting it back under risk again... And, if the contract fails, Partner would not only embarrass himself. That girl also, would not want to see such a thing. It would be depressing.“
...It is so.
I’m not the only one who is in danger. It’s possible that Louise would be jeopardized as well.
Still, Saito was not able to give it up.
It feels like a hole in my heart. The bond that Louise and I had, is broken. It‘s like my body is split in two, painfully.
“Therefore, don’t look so gloomy. This way you can travel to the east without holding back. We’ll go together.”
“I am not a Gandálfr anymore, would it still be alright?”
“It’s good. For six thousand years, I’ve been alive. For , partner‘s ti feels like one second.“
Saito sighed and said.
“But what about Louise?"
“Oh dear. That girl is very prideful, it will be all right.”
In a not careworn voice, Derflinger said. Saito nodded in a persuaded way.
“Yeah. There is no purpose for her to admit ... I, who can’t use magic and am just a simple human, am a nuisance...”
Feeling depressed, he heard the voice from the back.
“Umm...”
When he turned around, Tiffania was standing there with an embarrassed face.
“N?”
“Firewood...”
Seems like Saito was asked to collect the firewood that he sat on.
She was wearing a large hat to hide her pointed ears.
“Ah, sorry.”
Saito stood up. Tiffania, avoiding Saito’s eyes, looked down and reached for the firewood. I have been careless, he thought. What if they learn that I am from a different world? I guess one cannot keep a secret who and from where he is forever. Even though she rescued ... and went through the trouble to look after when I was recovering.
“Sorry. I am greatly indebted to you. I... it’s ti for to leave. So don’t worry. Yeah, because the war is over, a kind of awkward guy like is not needed in the village.“
Tiffania opened her eyes wide.
“Ah, it’s different! Different! It is not so! I... umm, because you are a boy of the sa age as , I could not speak properly... I was slightly tensed... But it is not because I am afraid. So, until the wound heals properly, you should stay here awhile. I am the one who should be sorry.”
Hesitantly, Tiffania bowed embarrassed.
Seeing this girl, Saito brightened up for a mont. Besides, he was impressed. She was extrely shy toward strangers. Yet, she helped him despite herself.
“I see, you are not only cute, but gentle too.”
“I-I’m not cute!”
“You are cute. And I think you are gentle too.”
When Saito said so, Tiffania pulled the hat further down. She was feeling shy.
“I may be kind... But because of my mother’s words.”
“Mother?“
Saito asked. The word had a nostalgic sound to it.
“Yes. My... dead elf-mother. She said giving the ring to . ‘Help when you find a person in need.’ My mother was like that. Without reflecting in it myself, I carried out the words of the person that I loved. Therefore, I...”
Derflinger nosed in.
“Sohow, I think that there were complicated circumstances to it.”
Tiffania looked down.
“This Westwood Village. If you look at it, only children are here.”
“That’s right.” Saito nodded. Though his head was full with thoughts about the runes disappearing up till now... He never saw an adult here.
“This village is an orphanage. Children who lost their parents live here.“
“Do you look after them?”
“Because I am the oldest, I take care of things, as for food however...”
“You don’t have money?” Derflinger asked.
“An old acquaintance sends the money. It’s enough to cover our basic needs,”
Tiffania said hesitatingly.
“What is a half-elf, with the ‘Ancient Magic’ ring, doing in a orphan’s village?
“Derf!”
Saito warned Derflinger.
“It is alright if you do not want to tell us the circumstances behind the ring. But is there sothing you can say?”
Tiffania beca silent.
“Sorry, we shouldn’t force you to speak about sothing you don’t want to speak about. Derf, act properly. That’s this sword’s habit, to pry about things...”
When Saito said so... Chink! A dry sound ca.
When looking up, he saw one arrow stuck in one of the firewood that he sat upon.
“Dangerous. Is there a hunter?”
Chink! Chink!
The arrows flew one after another, sinking into the ground next to Saito and the others.
“Who the?!”
When he shouted, the group looking like rcenaries erged from the forest.
“Hey you! Is there a village chief? Call him here!”
A lot of people ca out. All mbers were carrying weapons - bows with arrows, spears and so on.
”Wh-what for?”
Tiffania muttered in a frightened voice.
“My, what a beauty. Here, in the middle of the forest, isolated from the world.”
One said and ca closer. He was a small, sly looking man with a small cut on his forehead. Apparently, he was the leader of the group.
“And who are you? rcenaries?”
“Ex-rcenaries. Since the war ended, we returned to our original profession.”
“Profession?”
“Robbery,”
One said, then the others started to laugh.
"Really, the easy warti was over once we suddenly surrendered to Gallia. You see, we need compensation. So we’re going back to basic business, to earn food."
“Leave. There is nothing for you in here.”
Tiffania answered back and looked courageously at them. The n laughed.
“There is so.”
“Eh?”
“Even if the village looks poor, there are still so valuable things, I think. For , a great treat would be a beautiful woman like you.”
“I think you would be worth two thousand gold coins, right?”
These robbers seed to do kidnapping too.
One approached and the mont he tried to touch Tiffania...
Saito stepped in.
“Stop.”
“What? Kid, don’t you value your life? Except for a few exceptions, there is no interest in the market for the likes of you.”
“Don’t touch Tiffa.”
“Myyy, such a serious fellow. Want more wounds? Move.”
Contemptuously evaluating him, the robber gave a vulgar smile.
Saito reached for Derflinger. Derflinger whispered in a worried voice.
“...Partner, stop. The way Partner is today, there is no chance of winning.”
”Hey, youngster. Do you want us to murder you? Let us work in peace.”
One robber said while lowering a spear. Saito clenched his fist. I cannot use Gandálfr’s power and am just a high school student.
But...
Saito gripped Derflinger.
“I won’t abandon soone to whom I owe my life.”
“Partner...”
“Naa, little boy. Do you know sothing?” said a man holding the spear.
“W-what?”
“To attack the Tristain and Germania Allied Forces, we headed toward Rosais. However, we were stopped by only a single person. I don’t know much as I stayed behind... Yet you remind the courage of that person. I praise it.”
“It was .”
Saito, who gripped the sword, said in a shaky voice. n began to laugh.
“Hey hey! You say you stopped the Albion army when your hand trembles just from holding a sword?”
“At least lie better if you are lying! It was 70,000! 70,000!”
“Shut up!”
Saito raised Derflinger and sprang at a man who laughed. Then the opponent made a serious face and received Saito’s sword with the spear.
“Ugh!”
Derflinger was blocked without any effort. The man turned the spear skillfully, hitting Saito’s feet with it. Disappointingly, Saito fell on the ground.
Pointing a spear at his face, the man said in a cruel voice,
“Naa, youngster.”
“Ku...”
“When you’re reborn in your next life, consider your words before boasting.”
The mont when Saito was giving up, he shut his eyes...
Naudiz Isaz Ehwaz...
Voice ca from the back. Gradually, it turned into song. A spell was being cast behind him.
Hagalaz Yr Beorc...
...It was similar to Louise.
Nyd Is Algiz...
When turning around, he saw Tiffania grasping the small wand that she took out so ti ago. It was a small and a thin wand, like a pencil.
“What? Nee-chan is a noble? Naah, it must be another bluff...”
Berkanan Man Laguz...
The mont when a single man closed in...
In a confident attitude, like a conductor lowering a rejected baton, Tiffania lowered her wand.
The air stirred like mayflies.
The air, surrounding n, distorted.
“Fue...?”
Like a fog clearing up, the distorted air returned back to normal... n looked at the air dumbfoundedly.
“That? What just happened here?”
“This? Why we are in this place?”
Tiffania inford the n in a perfectly composed voice.
“You got lost in the forest.”
“R-really?”
“The army is that way. Go forth to the highway after leaving the forest and then head straight to the north.”
“T-thank you...”
Step by step, the n left without reliance.
In a blank surprise, Saito watched their backs.
After the last one disappeared in the forest, Tiffania relaxed.
Then Tiffania said in an embarrassed tone.
“...I have erased their mory. Their mory stops at ‘entering the forest’. When they reach the highway, they will forget about us completely.”
“It’s magic?”
Tiffania nodded. Then Saito realized sothing.
“Then, the dragon knights that were helped, have lost their mory as well...”
“So. You know those people.”
Saito nodded.
Magic that erases one’s mory...
Wind, Water, Fire, Earth...
Whichever elent he thought of, none could do that.
Unless...
But isn’t it a legendary elent?!
While trembling, Saito asked.
“...just now, what magic was it?”
Instead of Tiffania, Derflinger answered.
“Void. It was Void.”
“Void?”
Confused, Tiffania looked at Derflinger.
“... what, this is its true identity.”
Saito, with a widely opened mouth, stared at Tiffania. This girl who had an impossible chest... secretly had an impossible power as well.
“Anyway... Why are you able to use that power? Please, tell .”
That night, to hear Tiffania’s childhood story, Saito ca to the living room.
In Tiffania’s house, there were three rooms. The room where Saito was resting, her bedroom, and this living room. The children lived in groups of three, but though they lived separately, they ate in Tiffania’s house. After finishing the dinner and seeing off children to their houses, Tiffania took so wine out of the barn and placed it with glasses on the table.
Firewood was burning in the fireplace. In addition, so bird’s at was being roasted on it.
“I’m sorry for waiting. Until night, I feel too uneasy to talk.“
“It’s all right,” Saito said.
Tiffania, while watching the roasting poultry on the fireplace, began to talk slowly.
“My mother was the mistress of Albion’s King’s younger brother... the Grand Duke who was ruling over this whole land of Saxe-Gotha. My father was a Grand Duke of the royal family treasury, responsible for the managent of the treasury. My mother used to call it ’financial supervisors’ attention’.”
“Mistress?”
Saito asked.
“Yes, mistress – a woman other than a wife.”
“Indeed.”
“Why would an elf be a Grand Duke’s mistress?”
“I do not know that. The reason why my mother, being an elf, ca to the White Country to beco father’s, is unknown to . Mother never spoke about it... Nonetheless, in Halkeginia, no one thinks of elves pleasantly, it must have been so really complex circumstance.”
“Because they say they are trying to get back the sacred ground from elves.”
“Aye. In that sort of division, my mother was a truly obscure person. She never talked in public and rarely went out. In the residence, she waited for my father’s return for a long, long ti, continuing that sort of life. I still recall it. The back of a mother who absent-mindedly watched the door... Since I had the ears of my mother, I was not allowed to go out as well then.”
Saito was quiet and drank one glass of wine. So that’s why Tiffania was not used talking to teenage boys. Not just boys, there must have not been any girl friends either.
“However, that sort of life with mother was not too difficult. Father, who ca by occasionally, was gentle and mother told various stories too. Mother taught how to play musical instrunts and read books.”
“I see.”
“The day when that sort of life ended ca. Four years ago. Father, with a changed look, ca to us. He said, ’It is too dangerous here’ and took us to the house of one of father’s vassals.”
“Why?”
“Mother’s existence was the royal family’s secret. If it were to be found out so day that a royal family treasury manager, father, had an elf as a mistress, it would cause a huge scandal, if not more. Still, father refused to banish mother and . The vicious king imprisoned father and did all sorts of tricks to search for our whereabouts. And, at last, we were found.”
Saito held his breath.
“I still rember it well. The day when the Advent Festival started. Many knights and soldiers ca to the house in which we hid ourselves. The noble who was father’s vassal, however, desperately resisted... but was no match to the king‘s military forces. Once the knights‘ footsteps echoed in the corridor, my mother hid in the closet and locked it. I was holding the wand given to by father, and trembled for a long ti. When soldiers entered the room, mother said.”
Saito shut his eyes.
“’I will not resist. We elves do not want to fight.’ Yet, magic was the response. I heard a frightening sound when one spell after another hit my mother. Then the chasers tried to open the closet where I hid myself...”
Tiffania drank a glass of wine, with a painful expression on her face.
“And, were you caught?”
She shook her head.
“No...”
“Then, did soone help?”
“No. The spell, that I used today, saved .”
“Then how did that magic awake?”
Not able to contain the overflowing curiosity, Saito asked it. With her eyes closed, Tiffania began to speak.
“In my house, there were a lot of valuable items as my father was a royal treasury manager. When I was small, I often played with them. There was an old music box among them.”
“Music box?”
“Yes. Treasure given to the royal family... However, it could not be opened without the ring. Yet, one day I noticed. That there was one ring similar to the lock in the treasury, and when I inserted it and opened the box, I heard a tune. It was a beautiful, sowhat nostalgic tune. Mysteriously, no one else but could hear that tune... Even if the ring still fit.“
Saito held his breath. She looked like she was rembering sothing.
“Once I heard the tune, in my head... runes started to erge. However, I did not say that to anyone, because I did not want them to find out I was playing with the treasure.”
“The runes that you used a while ago?”
“It is so. When the closet was opened by the soldiers, those runes ca to my head. And I started humming it while waving the wand given by my father.”
The effect of the spell that Tiffania recited was identical to the one earlier today – soldiers forgot what they ca to do in the first place, Tiffania said.
“The runes that ca with the tune I heard from the opened music box, remained forever in my head. Since then, those runes saved many tis...”
When Tiffania finished talking, she drank up the glass of wine slowly. Then, she muttered to herself.
“So, ‘Void’ you say. I however, thought it to be a mystic force...”
“You should not speak about that to people.”
“Why?”
“Void is a legendary power. There might be guys who try to use that power. It is dangerous.”
“Legendary? Exaggerated!”
Tiffania laughed.
“, such a failure, a legend? That’s too weird!”
“It is true.”
When Saito said it seriously, Tiffania nodded.
“Understood. If you say so – I won’t tell this to anyone. Or perhaps, I could tell, then just later remove their mory...”
To Tiffania, who has grown up in a separated from people place, it was hard to understand the importance of this thing.
Saito drank wine as well.
While drinking, his eyelids beca heavy.
Tiffania was literally shining like moonlight.
Saito ruminated through the story.
Such a beautiful, fairy-like, girl, has such a tragic past.
With his eyes closed, Saito fell into the world of drunken slumber.
The left hand of God is Gandálfr, the ferocious shield of the lord. His left hand wields a large sword and his right hand wields a long spear, protecting with endless vigilance.
The right hand of God is Vindálfr, the kind-hearted flute of the lord. He dominates all beasts of life, leading through earth, sky, and water.
The mind of God is Myoznitnirn, the book that carries the crystallization of thought. It carries all knowledge and provides advice whenever I am in need.
There is one more person, but rembering its na gives trouble...
Taking the four disciples, I ca to this land...
Saito was woken up by a singing voice.
It was not daybreak, as the two moons were hanging outside the window.
“...Sorry. Did I wake you up?”
Tiffania sat in front of the fireplace, holding a harp.
“Could you sing that again?”
Tiffania began to sing again.
The way her voice pierced the mind. The way the moonlight shined within her hair. She had a beautiful singing voice.
“Was this the song you heard together with the runes?”
Tiffania nodded.
After that, she started to play the tune with the harp. She didn’t sing this ti. Saito, while listening to the tune, whisperingly asked Derflinger, who was leaning against the chair.
“...Hey, Derf. You know sothing?”
“What?”
“If there are other Void users... there must be other familiars like Gandálfr too.”
“Aah.”
“Talk.”
“There is a possibility. However, just the possibility. Not necessarily the reality.”
Saito got angry at Derflinger’s feigned ignorance.
“Tell .”
“What?”
“Louise’s Void must also have been awaken not by coincidence. There must be so kind of reason, right?”
“I do not know. After all, I am just a sword. I cannot understand so deep things. But, it is not that important to know anyway. Partner, you are not a Gandálfr anymore.”
“I think you are hiding sothing from .”
For a mont, Derflinger’s voice beca serious.
“Partner, I will say it once.”
“What?”
“I love you. Strange and honest. Therefore, please rember one thing: no matter what I say or do, I think about what is better for you. I will tell you when the ti is right...”
“Is that so?”
“It’s wisdom, I tell you, it’s wisdom.”
Though Saito was about to say sothing... he shut his mouth.
Tiffania kept on playing. Saito closed his eyes
“..hmmm. Damn.”
“What is it now?”
“When I hear this song, I wonder why I am reminded of Earth.”
“Earth?... Is that partner’s hotown?”
“Aye.”
“It can’t be the reason for nostalgic feelings. It’s the tune that Brimir played while thinking about his hotown. It’s just hosickness I say.”
“Brimir’s hotown was a sacred ground?”
“It is so. Maybe.”
“Maybe? Rember and answer properly!”
“Stop saying foolish things. It’s hard to rember things that happened thousands of years ago. Can you in detail, rember even the most recent things?”
Saito poured wine into the glass.
He drank it and muttered.
“Brimir is a god, I guess. Everyone, in Founder Brimir’s presence... starts saying prayers.”
“Idiot. He is not a god. Brimir was a free person. No, not much... he was God’s spokesman... The nearest entity to it... I think.”
“A great person anyway.”
“That is right.”
“Is this whole ss because this great guys’ hotown was taken over by elves?”
“That’s not true.”
Tears were falling from Tiffania’s eyes now as she played the harp.
Due to her bond with her mother... she could recall the holand where the elves lived.
Saito felt a sense of intimacy with Tiffania.
Her hotown was also not here.
She, like , was a foreigner. That’s why she felt so strongly about her pointed ears.
Tiffania’s tears, illuminated by moonlight, shone brilliantly.
Various things whirled in Saito’s mind.
The war that finally ended...
The sign of Gandálfr that disappeared...
The eting of a new Void user...
And... Louise.
I, who am not a Gandálfr, do not have the qualification to stay by the pink-haired girls side.
Therefore, I cannot return to Tristain.
I cannot et Louise.
Because... all that Louise needs is Gandálfr... not this Saito Hiraga.
As he thought, he unknowingly began to cry.
The tears of hosickness and tears of heartache lted together.
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