Tristain Academy of Magic.
In a courtyard commonly known as “The Austri Courtyard”, two girls are sitting side by side on a bench.
One is a small and petite girl with blue hair. Behind her glasses are her equally blue eyes, sparkling in the sunlight as she intently reads her book.
It is Tabitha.
“Hey, Tabitha, there is something I want to ask you.”
The person who asks this question of her is Kirche, a girl with dazzling and bright red hair.
Her appearance is a direct contrast to Tabitha’s appearance.
Her red hair reaches all the way down to her waist.
On top of that, she is at least two heads taller than Tabitha…
However, the largest difference has to be her body’s shape. Her large breasts are in a stark contrast to her narrow hips, her body resembling a “sexy” type in contrast to Tabitha’s “petite and cute”. On top of that her beautiful tan and mature skin accentuate her wild appearance causing all boys to turn and watch as she walks by.
Kirche brushes back her red hair, a symbol of the “fire” magic of her lineage, and turns back to her best friend who is still reading her book.
“Aren’t you lonely? All you ever do is read books… I have never even seen you talk to anyone other than me.”
Tabitha shakes her head.
“I am not lonely now.”
“Is that so?”
Silence again.
Next, Kirche scoots closer to Tabitha, leaning against her shoulder.
“You know, Tabitha. There is nothing wrong with you just being quiet, but I would like it if you could have a conversation with me once in a while. It could be fun you know.”
However, Tabitha remains quiet, merely flipping from one page to the next.
“Oh, that’s right! Hey, don’t you want to fall in love one day? Love! Ah, love! Love is such a wonderful ting. Love is so much fun… It is exciting, thrilling, even a little bit scary, and it can keep you up at night and turn you crazy, but when you don’t need or want it anymore you can just drop it and move on!”
“No.”
To Tabitha’s short retort, Kirche merely slowly shakes her head.
“Hey, I think I might have actually fallen in love recently. Want to listen to my little story?”
No reply.
Kirche began to feel as if she was trying to light a drenched tree log on fire right now.
Unsure of what to do now, Kirche spreads out her hands.
Kirche is a passionate and rather talkative girl. No one would have expected her to hit it off with the quiet Tabitha, but for some reason, Kirche felt rather at ease and warm whenever she was around Tabitha. That is probably the reason why she finds herself drawn to her, and before she even notices it sitting right next to her.
“It is really quite strange…”
Kirche about why she feels so at ease around Tabitha, suddenly something clicks in her head and she claps her hands together.
“Ah, that’s it. That’s right… Even though you are so quiet, I still like to be around you… Because you are the only one like that. That is why I need you. Because you are the only one who can be quiet when they are near me. You are the only one like that. Finally, I get it. There might be plenty of people who love me or want to talk to me, but there is no one else out there like you.”
For the first time since they sat down, Tabitha looks at Kirche, and nods as if she understands where Kirche is coming from.
“… Need me?”
“Not like that!”
Kirche puts her hands on Tabitha’s shoulder and leans into her. Tabitha stares at Kirche’s face for a moment before returning to her book. Her blue eyes, staring at the pages of her book, give off an gentle aura.
Shortly after…
An owl suddenly lands on Tabitha’s head.
Tabitha wordlessly takes the letter off of the owls feet, and opens it staring at the single sentence written on it. What little kindness she has in her eyes disappears.
“Eh? What is it? What happened?”
Tabitha stands up.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“I am going out.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Without answering Kirche’s question, Tabitha begins to walk away.
Kirche can only tilt her head at Tabitha’s suddenly strange behaviour shift.
“That girl, she sometimes just suddenly leaves and even will skip class, but what is she doing and where is she going?”
After thinking over it for a while, Kirche became convinced that, while Tabitha might seem like a normal, albeit quiet, girl, everyone has their unique circumstance.
“Can you girls hold out your hands?”
At Petit Trois, in a room with many hung curtains, Isabella speaks to her maids.
The maids, dressed in their young masters frilly costumes, look at each other in fear.
Isabella is simply sitting on her sofa, playing with a small doll on the table beside her.
“It’s okay. It is not like I am going to reach out and eat you or anything.”
Isabella smiles happily. She enjoys nothing more than seeing those who are afraid of you tremble in fear.
One servant mustering her courage holds out her trembling hand. Isabella waves her wand lightly.
“Ngh!”
A small whirlwind forms and cuts the maids finger.
A small drop of blood forms from the cut on her finger and drips onto the floor. Isabella grabs the maids other hand when she instinctively tries to hold her finger.
“Do not move.”
Isabella grabs the doll from the table beside her and holds it up to the blood dripping from the maids finger.
The servants face contorts in fear.
Then… Something unexpected happens.
The doll begins to swell up, taking on the appearance of the maid perfectly.
“Hiii….”
The servants back away, their faces distorted even more than before with fear.
“You girls don’t have to be so scared. This is an ancient magic item, a magical doll called Skirnir. As I just showed you, it can transform into a perfect copy of whatever it drinks the blood of, even copying its abilities and skills. See?”
At this Isabella begins to beam and smile. Skirnir, who has disguised itself as one of her servants, grabs the sewing tools and some textiles from the wardrobe in the corner of the room, and sits down to begin mending.
At this the maids cover their mouth with their hands and their eyes widen.
Skirnir began to create a highly skilled level embroidery… Specifically, the embroidery that the maid who had given it her blood was skilled it.
“After receiving this gift, a question came to mind… If two beings of exactly identical skill fought to the death… Who would win?”
The servants begin to tremble even more than before.
Northern Flowerbed Knight Tabitha-sama has arrived!”
The voice of a guard echoes into the room. At this the maids look relieved, since Isabella-sama would undoubtedly change her focus to her.
The door opens and a small petite girl with blue hair and blue eyes enters. For a moment, Isabella has a disgusted look on her face… But that quickly changes to the eyes of a bird of prey spotting a vulnerable rabbit.
“Come here, doll.
She waves her hands towards Tabitha and calls her over.
Isabella looks into Tabitha’s eyes.
“Do you want to see your body double?”
Tabitha remains speechless.
Looking at the nearby table Tabitha can see various dolls, about 20 of them, sitting on the table.
“These are dolls made with ancient magic. It can completely transform into the person that it sucks the blood of. Wouldn’t you want to fight yourself?”
Tabitha and Isabella exchange glances for a moment.
Isabella begins to glare at her cousin… But ultimately breaks eye contact first.
“This is your mission. Unfortunately, it is a terribly easy and mind-numbing mission though.”
Isabella throws a letter at Tabitha. Upon receiving it, Tabitha turns to leave the room.
“Wait.”
With that, Isabella throws one of the magic dolls on the table at Tabitha.
“– Take one. A doll for a doll girl. Isn’t that ironic?”
Flying under the endless blue sky, a wind dragon soars over the capital of Gallia, Lutèce, its bright and magnificent blue scales sparkling with an intensity rivalling that of the blue sky itself.
“Onee-sama, Onee-sama.”
The wind dragon calls out to her master, who is riding on her back, but even those words from one of her closest friends still leaves her immersing herself in the book in her hand that she is reading.
“You know, you should talk to Sylphid once in a while. I am pretty much always dying of boredom you know, kiyu kiyu.”
The one making those cute squeals that do not match its fearsome face is Sylphid, the wind dragon. Sitting astride on her back is Sylphid’s little master, Tabitha.
As usual Tabitha ignores her, and is sitting perfectly still, completely absorbed in the book before her.
“But, this next mission is going to be so much fun!”
Sylphid, appearing to be enjoying herself, begins to nod her head.
“I can’t believe that Onee-sama is going to be a teacher! Can Onee-sama even act like one to begin with? Kiyu!”
“I am not a teacher. I am just going to be taking a student to school.”
Yes, her mission this time is to “get a noble aristocratic child to attend Lutèce Magical Academy”.
This is not a mission that Tabitha, an elite knight as a Northern Flowerbed Knight with better things to do, would normally be given.
“I am so excited to see what will happen! Kiyu!”
In Lutèce, the capital of Gallia, there are many schools that the children of noble families attend. There are not only magical schools that the magic, there are also girls schools that teach noble etiquette for aristocratic girls, military academies that train the next generation of soldiers, and so on.
The Lutèce Magic Academy in particular, an aristocratic school, has classes and a history that rivals the famous Tristain Magical Academy, and a course offering befitting the great prestige of Gallia.
The vast, cross-shaped school building, modelled after two staffs, is located in the middle of the city in an area simply called “Old Town”.
Up close the institution is even more spectacular, with its massive towers all lined up, including dormitories for international students from various kingdoms, dorms for the children of local aristocrats, and a huge magic research tower called La Toure.
This is an elite academy for only the equally elite few, with only the children of wealthy and powerful aristocrats, both local and international, allowed to attend.
And Tabitha’s mission with this institution… Is for Tabitha to get a 15-year old boy named Olivan, who attends Lutèce Magical Academy, to attend the academy at any cost.
The mansion where Olivan lives is located in the corner of Rue Lombard, not far from the academy. Olivan’s house, owned by the Count de Ronal family, has with its walls produced many fine ministers and generals, and has served the Gallian royal family since ancient times. It is a splendid mansion befitting a splendid family lineage.
At the front of the mansion is a huge statue of a manticore, sitting above the gate and facing the main street.
As Tabitha stands in front of the gate, the manticore statue opens its mouth.
“What can I do for you today, maam?”
“Gallian Flowerbed Knight, Tabitha.”
Tabitha briefly states her name and title. However, as there is officially no “Northern” flowerbed, she omits this part of her title.
With that the front gate opens with a loud sound. Tabitha enters, and Sylphid began to follow.
However, Tabitha merely points to the sky. Sylphid, with a sad squeal, began to fly over the mansion in circles in frustration.
First, Tabitha is taken to the drawing room of the mansion. The drawing room looks like a jewellery box, full of glittering ornaments. Normally a girl of her age would be looking around the room with fascination, but Tabitha doesn’t even blink.
In the middle of the drawing room is a woman, sitting on a huge sofa that is at least 3 meters long, her large body looks as fluffy as the sofa she is resting her body on. This woman, a living symbol of the decadence of Gallian aristocracy is the Countess of Ronal… Olivan’s mother.
She look over Tabitha from top to bottom.
“Are you the Flowerbed Knight that the royal palace has sent?”
She speaks to Tabitha in an old fashioned way.
Tabitha gives her a small nod.
The woman continues to stare at Tabitha for a short while, then suddenly puts her hand on her chin. The lady rings a magical bell, and the butler who had led Tabitha to the drawing room suddenly comes in.
“You asked for me? Maam.”
“Who asked for you to call a child? I asked for a “chevalier”. I do not need a play mate for that child, I need a knight who can instil some courage in that coward.”
The butlers face becomes pale.
“Maam, I am afraid to say this but Tabitha-sama is undeniably a Honorable Gallian Flowerbed Knight, having earned the title of chevalier at the age of twelve.”
“Tch, “Chevalier”… Now-a-days the title of “chevalier” is seemingly as abundant as a merchants license… Hmm. Hmmm.”
The Countess of Ronal gestures towards Tabitha who steps forward. Then, her plump, apple-like hand reaches out and lifts up Tabitha’s chin.
Looking into Tabitha’s eyes, she nods.
“I will leave this to you. Plan accordingly.”
What could she have seen in Tabitha’s eyes to change her mind? Regardless, she has given Tabitha her blessing to begin her mission.
The Countess of Ronal rings the magical bell again.
“You called for me? Maam.”
This time, a red haired maid appears.
“This is Olivan’s servant. If you have any questions, ask her.”
At this the servant girl approaches Tabitha, and bows.
“Mr.Olivan is resting in his room.”
As the pair walk down the hallway lined with portraits, the female servant, named Annette,introduces herself to Tabitha. She is a fairly young woman, at about 18 years old, with a kind personality almost like an older sister. She is a healthy and beautiful looking woman with dazzling brown eyes with fiery red hair tied up with a maids headband.
The red hair actually looks fairly reminiscen tof Kirche’s, Tabitha’s friend from the magic academy… However that is the extent of their resemblance, and the maids gentle atmosphere is a far cry from Kirche’s who has more of a raging fire kind of gentle.
Annette begins to explain the Olivan situation in a heartbroken voice.
“Earlier this year he had started attending Lutèce Magical Academy but within two weeks… He stopped attending.”
“What was the reason?” Tabitha asks.
“Well… He won’t explain anything to our master, his wife, me, or any of the other servants… So we don’t know…”
Annette shakes her head, confused.
“Regardless of his wishes, the masters wife is insistent on sending him to the academy… Naturally us servants have no say in the matter…”
Annette explains in a troubled voice. Odds are she is caught between her masters wife wishes and Olivan’s wishes who does not want to go to the academy. Either way, it is beyond unreasonable for a knight to be called out for such a trivial matter. The reality of the corrupt Gallian royalty must be rearing its head here.
Annette stops in front of a door made of flashy oak and adorned with a manticore emblem.
“This is his room.”
Annette knocks lightly on the door in a polite gesture.
“It is Annette. Please open the door, young master. If you would be so kind!”
There is no reply. Annette takes a deep breath and looks down.
Tabitha puts her hand on the door handle to open it, but it’s locked.
Without hesitation, Tabitha casts Unlock.
However… As expected of an aristocratic mansion. The locks have been put under a powerful “lock” spell. A triangle class unlock is not strong enough to overcome it.
However, what Tabitha does next is far beyond Annette’s imagination.
“Lana Del Winde.”
Tabitha begins to chant a powerful attack spell, specifically “air hammer”.
“Wait! Knight-sama! What do you think you are doing!?”
Tabitha completes the spell, swinging her staff at the door, paying no mind to the panicking Annette.
Bogon! A loud boom sounds, and the previously, albeit still “locked” door is blown away.
Tabitha walks into the room, not even bothering to introduce herself.
Inside is a fortress of luxury for any boy. The first thing to catch Tabitha’s eyes are the bookshelves lined up on three sides of the room. On these shelf’s is a large number of figurines, some imitating girls, some soldiers, some are big, some are small, and some are even moving with the assistance of magic.
There is also a number of game boards, puzzle boards, and decks of cards scattered on the ground. More noticeable, however, are the empty dishes and wine bottles scattered everywhere. Within that room is the mixing odours of an adolescent boy and the smell of half-eaten food mixing together to create an indescribably repugnant scent. While the room looks luxurious, one might expect the room to be a decrepit prison based on the smell.
In that room is a boy sitting on a large bed with a canopy in the middle of the room, staring at Tabitha with a stunned expression on his face. His body is stout, much like Madame Ronal.
It is the boy Tabitha was sent here for, Olivan.
“Wh-, who are you?”
Tabitha wordlessly waves her staff.
Suddenly, Olivan’s body begins to float. For a boy of his age, he is extremely large. What is more, it is obvious that he has rarely if ever left the mansion as his skin is pure white. Olivan makes a strange noise, his whole satin nightgown covered body shaking as he flails about.
“Wh-, what do you think you are doing! This is incredibly disrespectful to do to a noble! Annette! Kick this person out!”
Regardless of what Olivan might say, there is no way that the commoner Annette can stop a mage… She has been reduced to watching in horror.
Tabitha begins to head out of the room, controlling the floating Olivan with her staff.
“Hey! You! Where do you think you are taking me!?”
Tabitha answers in a single word.
“Academy.”
Olivan ended up “walking” down the main street, floating still in his nightgown, passerby laughing at such a ridiculous sight.
“Hey! Just put me down already! I can walk there by myself!”
Tabitha finally lets Olivan land on the ground… Albeit, it is more like he slammed onto the ground, his plump rear hitting the cobblestone causing a loud sound, Olivan wincing in pain. Those laughing already the sight of him floating are now laughing even more, some even crying now.
“Do you know who I am! I am the heir to the Ronal family! If you dare to laugh at me, you are laughing at the entire Ronal family!”
Olivan begins to yell at the bystanders, his face bright red in both embarrassment and rage. The passerby begin to panic and cover their mouth. Behind, Annette comes running with a change of clothes and begins to help Olivan get dressed. As Annette begins to help Olivan get dressed, he begins to desperately try to hide as much of himself as possible.
Finished with getting dressed, he jerks his chin towards Tabitha.
“Hey, you. First things first, tell me your name.”
“Gallian Flowerbed Knight. Tabitha.”
“A Flowerbed Knight? You? Please, don’t you lie to me! You are even smaller than me! How old even are you?”
“Fifteen years old.”
Tabitha replies calmly. As if he had lost interest in her, Olivan turns around, and begins to head back the way he came to return to his families mansion.
“Where are you going.”
Olivan replies without turning around.
“Going back home. I said I would walk, but I didn’t say I would walk to the academy. Alright? Next time you dare to cast a spell on you I will have my father behead you!”
Tabitha doesn’t waver her staff, but instead whistles. As if she had been waiting for this moment, a cheerful Sylphid descends from the sky and grabs Olivan’s shirt with its mouth.
“Uwa! Hey! Put me down! I said put me down!”
After passing through the magnificent gate and arriving at the front garden of Lutèce Magical Academy, Sylphid drops Olivan from her mouth.
“Guhu!”
With a groan, Olivan falls to the ground.
They had arrived right in the middle of class. Students dressed in matching cloaks are in the middle of their magical centred classes nearby. In Gallia, there is a predominant attitude in that nobles should become knights. Because of this, military arts are encouraged first and foremost in classes, as seen right now.
Tabitha nods at Olivan.
“Okay. We are here.”
Tabitha had anticipated Olivan speaking back to her, but… For some reason, Olivan had become a completely different person than he was before, looking as frightened as a house cat standing before a lion.
“Wa… Uwa… Ku…”
Recognizing the large man Olivan, who had appeared in such a dramatic manner, aristocratic students who had been engaged in their military classes gather around him one after the other.
“Ah! Look who it is! “Crybaby Olivan”!”
“Hey, fatso! Pretty cheeky of you to suddenly just show up on a wind dragon!”
“No no! He was just dragged here in its mouth, don’t you know?”
The aristocratic students, dressed just as luxuriously as Olivan, all begin to laugh at him. These students must be from some of the most powerful and influential families in the entire world.
Annette, shaking in fear next to Tabitha, mutters to her in a troubled voice.
“Oh dear… That is the son of the Vassonpierre family, and the eldest son of the Marquis de Fonsardagna family… All of them are young lords…”
The children of slightly greater nobles begin to tease Olivan, who is now crouched down in fear.
“Hey hey! You haven’t been coming to the academy lately! We were really worried about you!”
“That’s right! I was getting bored not having anyone to play with!”
The students help Olivan to his feet.
“Today’s class is magical combat practice, right? Well we will help you make up for slacking off by practising with you!”
“Hey, that’s a good idea Albert!”
The tall and athletic looking boy at the front of the pack who had offered to help Olivan practice apparently is called Albert. Judging by his atmosphere and that everyone else is behind him, he must be the leader. Albert takes a step forward closer to Olivan, but Olivan just remains trembling.
“Hey, how can you cast a spell if you are shaking so much?”
Albert waves his wand. A whirlwind appears and blows Olivan away. Then, the belt of his pants breaks, and his pants slip down to his feet.
“Ahaha! You look great! Oi!”
The boys begin to surround Olivan and bully him by casting spells one after another on him. However… None of them are breaking the rules of magical combat practice, and Olivan isn’t protesting himself, so the teachers turn a blind eye. Realistically, none of the teachers want to deal with the aftermath of intervening in noble affairs either.
The boys eventually leave, probably feeling refreshed after bullying Olivan for so long. In response Olivan can only look down, embarrassed.
Tabitha understands now… Olivan doesn’t want to go to the academy because he is afraid of being bullied.
Regardless, Tabitha fulfilled her mission of “taking a noble child to the academy”, and so turns around to leave. However, she is stopped by Annette.
“Please wait! Please, just help master Olivan!”
Tabitha only stares at Annette.
“Both his mother and father look down on him with shame. If things stay the way they are, there will be no place for him at home or at the academy. I cannot help but pity him…”
Tabitha stares at the pitiful looking servant Annette for a while, before giving her a small nod.
When Olivan returns to his room at the mansion with Tabitha, suddenly he becomes talkative.
“This is not a joke anymore! They are merely abusing their families authority to protect themselves! This isn’t fair!”
Olivan complains seeming to forget his own families authority and his status as the son of a great aristocrat as he declares how unfair everything is.
“Hey Tabitha. Now you understand, right? There is no reason for me to go to the academy anymore nor is there a place for me there.”
“Because you get bullied.”
“That is wrong! Even if it were true, I could take out each of those guys with one punch if I wanted to get serious. But their family is a higher ranking than the Ronal familiy… I cannot do anything to them.”
In actuality, the status of the Ronal family is quite close to those other boys mentioned earlier. Apparently, he was making excuses to himself by telling himself this.
“However, that is why I cannot go to the academy anymore. I might get violent if this keeps up!”
Olivan began to read a book.
Looking at the title, it appears to be a noble in which a legendary hero is the main character.
Looking around at the bookshelf… The bookshelf’s are packed with stories of heroes. Apparently, Olivan was a fan of heroic epics. It is a bit ironic, a bullied child in love with heroes stories.
As Tabitha watches, Olivan pulls on a string hanging from the ceiling.
About five minutes later… There was a knock from the door.
Olivan waves his wand, and the door opens with Annette, his private servant, coming in. Pushed in front of her is a cart and a tray with food on it.
“Your slow!”
Yelled at, Annette hurriedly began to arrange the food on a small desk attached to the bed… It would seem that Olivan had set this up so that he could eat while lying down. The food appears to be quite a luxurious feast.
Olivan remains silent with a sullen expression on his face. Annette then began to scoop up some of the soup and bring it to Olivan’s mouth.
Clearly this is how Olivan normally eats, Annette feeds him. While there are many lazy nobles… None are nearly this bad.
Olivan takes a sip of the soup before spitting it out.
“This is disgusting! And there are carrots in it!”
“I-, I’m sorry! However, carrots are healthy for the body…”
“I do not care if something is good or bad for my body! I am saying that it is bad!”
Olivan’s selfishness is causing Annette trouble.
Olivan, after demanding that his food be recooked multiple times, seems to have gotten sleepy after eating and began to snore.
Anette bows to Tabitha, who had been standing blankly in a corner of the room.
“Knight-sama, I have prepared a room for you, so please get some rest there.”
Annette says with an apologetic voice as she leads Tabitha down the hallway.
“I’m sorry for asking you to do something so troublesome for me… Ah, it is not healthy for a young boy to spend all day in his room like that, reading… Neither the master nor madame are interested in his education or lifestyle. All they care about is the family names status outside of this household…”
Annette mutters with a sigh.
“As you have seen, Olivan has a particular personality that pushes servants and people away… No one wants to be close to him. He is completely alone. Personality I think the matter of him attending the academy at this point is a trivial matter, what I am worried about is his future as a man. This is not a problem that I can solve myself… And Olivan has no capability himself to solve this problem himself never mind anymore problems that might come in the future. It pains me to ask you this but I would appreciate it if you could help Knight-sama. Please, help me change Olivan.”
Tabitha nods with an expressionless face. As usual, her demeanour has no indication as to whether she is serious or not.
The next day…
Tabitha goes to Olivan’s room to wake him up. Seeing Tabitha standing by his bedside Olivan began to shout.
“I told you I am not going! And that is that!”
“My mission is to send you to the academy.”
Tabitha expressionlessly explains to Olivan.
“Are you even listening? Didn’t I already tell you this yesterday? If I choose to get serious and deal with them, things will become complicated for everyone involved. If I ended up doing that, the Ronal family name…”
“Then do that.”
Tabitha replies curtly.
“A fight between two noble children wont bring serious damage to either house.”
“You don’t know that! And anyway, I…”
“It is fine if you lose control.”
“Huh! What!”
Tabitha continues speaking in a flat tone.
“You don’t have the courage to either way, you are just a coward.”
Olivan began to blush having a girl say that he is a coward, despite said girl being a bone-fide knight.
“How insolent!”
Olivan began to uncontrollably yell, unable to bear the embarrassment.
“I am a gentleman. There is no way that I could get violent over something so trivial!”
Still, with Tabitha staring at him… He begins to scratch his head, becoming uncomfortable.
“Are you good at magic? How many elements can you use?”
“Three.”
“A triangle class mage… Okay, I just came up with a good idea. I need you to cooperate with me.”
Olivan hops out of bed, walks towards his desk… And grabs a key from inside a drawer.
When Olivan arrives at Lutèce Magical Academy, once again bullies began to quickly approach him much like yesterday.
“Hey, Olivan! You left so early yesterday, why is that?”
Albert, the leader of the pack of bullies, approaches and speaks in an amused voice.
Olivan could only smile uncomfortably. Such a submissive smile only served to further rouse the bullies urges to further tease him.
“I have a favour to ask of you today.”
“A favour?”
“Yes. A new tavern just opened on the east end of Leeuwen Street. The food there is apparently quite popular. I was thinking about going to try it out after school today.”
“And of course, your coming with us, Olivan.”
With Albert’s arm on his shoulder, Olivan involuntarily stiffens.
“I-, I think I will have to turn you down for today…”
Albert, however, walks up to Olivan and begins to pat exaggeratedly pat his shoulder.
“Come on, come on! What are you talking about? I forgot my wallet today, so how could I afford to go out and eat without someone to pay?”
“Didn’t I, um, pay for you yesterday already?”
“Don’t say pay, I am just borrowing. Right?”
Olivan began to tremble as Albert slowly continued to corner him.
However… There is something different about today.
“I-, I’m warning you.”
“What did you say?”
“You guys should stay away from me from now on.”
“What are you talking about? What is up with this guy.”
“If I get serious, I might end up hurting you.”
“Hey, listen to this guy! Listen, you are merely a dot, and on top of that, a coward. What do you think you can do to us lines?” (TL Note: For those unaware, depending on how many element you can use your title changes. Dot is 1, line is two, triangle is 3, and square is 4.)
The boys surrounding Albert begin to laugh.
“Who says I’m a dot?”
Muttering a spell, Olivan begins to wave his wand.
“Eh?”
Suddenly, Albert begins to float.
“Hey! You! What are you planning!”
Suddenly, Albert plunges headfirst into the flowerbed in the courtyard.
“That bastard!”
Outraged, the boys in Albert’s pack raise their wands at Olivan. However, before they could even begin to cast a spell, a gigantic whirlpool sweeps them all away.
The boys who had been blown away let out a groan before unsteadily standing back up. Before Olivan could even realize it, the students who had assembled around him began to laugh at the easily beaten bullies.
The boys who had previously been bullying him began to talk in startled voices.
“… Wasn’t that “air storm”!”
“… A triangle class spell.”
Olivan mutters triumphantly.
“What do you think? Now you know what I am truly capable of, right? This whole time I have been hiding my true power. Do you know what they say about master? A master doesn’t brag about their skills! Why would a master feel the need to brag? They already proved to themselves that they are a master of their art.”
The bullies can only leave with frustrated looks on their faces.
At this, Olivan can only let out a nasty laugh.
“Ahahaha! Look at them run!”
Later that day, Olivan sneaked around the outskirts of the school building, hiding in the shadows, until he came to a blind spot hidden between the incinerator, school building, and planted trees.
After carefully checking his surroundings, Olivan opens his mouth.
“That’s enough.”
Suddenly… The air in-front of Olivan began to warp and shake.
As if a section of reality had been cut out, the space shift, and Tabitha’s face appears from within. To his surprise, only her head appears, as if floating in the air.
However, looking closely, Tabitha’s torso could be slightly made out, hidden under a cloak that reflects the surrounding scenery.
“What do you think of my families heirloom, “invisibility cloak”? This is a legendary piece of magical equipment that was gifted to my ancestors by Brimir in order to rescue a princess who was captured by fairies. It is quite useful, huh?”
It is essentially a magical cloak that makes you invisible whenever you put it on. Earlier, she had used that cloak to hide behind Olivan, secretly reciting magic while making it look like he was the one casting it. It was because of this that last night Olivan and Tabitha had been up late, with Tabitha practising casting magic in tune with Olivan’s movements.
Tabitha nods and hands the cloak back to Olivan.
“Eh? Why are you giving me this?”
“Return.”
“Why?”
“You have no need for me now.”
Olivan shakes his head.
“Wait wait wait wait! I still haven’t gotten back at those bullies for making fun of me!”
“……”
“Are you listening? That magic you cast earlier, I can actually cast it too! However, I don’t know what to say yet. I haven’t awakened to my full potential yet, alright! That is why I cannot cast it myself yet!”
Olivan begins to make excuses, speaking in a mad ramble.
“I finally understand that! Get it? Wait, here, look!”
Olivan in a hurry pulls a book out of his bag.
“I am just like the “Hero of Ivaldi”! Just like he did, I can awaken my inner power! And right now is the time for me to awaken to that power!”
Olivan begins to gesture with his wand, a powerful spell formulating within his brain.
Tabitha mutters to herself.
“I know a girl just like you.”
“What?”
“That girl too is worried about her incompetence. But unlike you, she doesn’t disguise her weakness with the strength of others.”
“I am not disguising or pretending at all! I will awaken one day to my power! I can feel it! After all, I am the heir to the Ronal family!”
Tabitha ignores Olivan’s yelling and continues to speak.
“Do you know why she accepts her weakness?”
Olivan quickly moves towards Tabitha, and roughly grabs her by the shoulders. He glares into the eyes of a girl who is only about a quarter his height.
“Because she has pride.”
“I have pride too!”
“Deep down you know the truth. This won’t achieve anything.”
Olivan bites his lip.
“Do you enjoy lying to yourself?”
“Shut up, or else I will ask my father to send your head flying from the rest of your body. Do you think that just because you are a flowerbed knight you can act arrogant to me? You are merely a knight. If my father, a count, were to say a single word, your head would be separated clean from your neck, and no one could help you.”
Olivan stares at Tabitha, however… suddenly he collapses.
“Im just so frustrated and tired. Please understand…”
“……”
“Do you think I don’t know the truth? Of course I do! I know that… The only reason they even bully me is because I am fat… They are the worst, worthless trash… But I can’t do anything to stop them.”
“You are not bullied because you are fat. You are bullied because you look and act awkward, as well as have no confidence in yourself.”
“I know all that! But I can’t help it! I have always been like this!”
Olivan goes silent for a while, but then murmurs in a pleading tone.
“Please help me. There is no one else I can ask… No one will help me. Isn’t that okay? Today is the first time I enjoyed being at school…”
“There must be someone who you can ask.”
“No there isn’t! There is no way there is! I know that better than anyone else!”
Tabitha remains silent, but then as if she had agreed to help, she takes back the cloak, tucks it under her arm, and walks away.
The next day, Olivan became “active” like a fish out of water.
It had been such a long time since Olivan had been to class, that when he arrived to class his teacher became surprised to see him.
“Oh! is that you, Olivan! It has been such a long time. Have you been cured from your chronic Nantoka disease?”
The whole classroom erupts in laughter.
It would seem that Olivan had made up some random name for his make-believe illness to claim that he was resting. His face begins to twist in frustration, but he immediately puts on a smile as if to say “watch me” to everyone.
It seems that classes are starting now. As far as Tabitha could see, the content and the curriculum seems to be similar if not the same as Tristain’s.
At the head of the class is a middle-aged teacher wearing a strange hat and pointing to a beaker on the teachers table.
“Now, who would like to use the water in this beaker to cast “ice arrow”? Ice arrow is a spell that crystallizes water vapour in the air, turning it into ice, and then shapes that ice into an arrow. However… Using the water vapour in the air makes it a much more complicated spell, so for now we will use the water in this beaker.”
No one raises their hands, probably out of fear of failing and being embarrassed.
However, shortly after, Olivan immediately raises their hand.
“Hey, Olivan, are you seriously going to try?”
Everyone other than the students who had been hurt by Tabitha’s magic yesterday begins to laugh out loud.
“Well, just watch.”
Olivan stands up, and waving his wand casts a spell.
In line with his movement, Tabitha, who had hidden herself under his desk wearing the invisibility cloak, casts a spell.
Bika, the water in the beaker cracks into ice! The beaker erupts, and a splendid glittering ice arrow appears! However, not only that, but the water vapour in the air begins to freeze too, forming countless ice arrows.
Voices of admiration erupt all over the classroom.
The arrows then fly towards the teacher, kankankankan! The ice arrows embed themselves into a perfect outline of the teacher, with his eyes and mouth wide open.
“Hiiii…”
In shock from fear the teacher collapses onto his butt on the floor.
During break, all of the students from Olivan’s class gather around him.
“Olivan, that was amazing!”
“I never knew you were such a great wizard!”
“well, you know.”
Olivan puffs out his chest in pride.
“Even amongst the upperclassmen there aren’t that many triangles!”
“Are you listening? Triangle class spells are not something to be used lightly. It is just that lately, well, people have been taking me too lightly… So I decided to just show off what I can do.”
Olivan declares, turning up his nose in pride.
After school…
Olivan in high spirits returns home.
With Tabitha finally able to take off her cloak, Olivan looks at her and crosses his arms.
“Tomorrow we are going to cast “lightning cloud”. You’d better practice.”
Satisfied, Olivan lies down to read a book. Perhaps beginning to feel hungry, he rings a nearby bell to call for Annette.
Feeling sleepy after eating and drinking to his hearts content… Olivan falls asleep.
Annette bows, thanking Tabitha profusely.
“Dear knight, I am sorry for Olivan’s disrespectful attitude…”
At that time.
The face of a giant wind dragon appears from outside the window. Deftly pushing open the window and sticking its neck in it glares at Tabitha with angry eyes.
Annette can only back away in fear.
“Hiiii…”
The wind dragon moves its head closer to Tabitha and speaks in a small and quiet voice.
“Onee-sama. What are you even doing right now?”
“Th-, the dragon just spoke…”
Annette collapses to the floor in fear, waking Olivan up. Having just woken up he rubs his eyes absentmindedly.
“Hii.”
However he faints upon seeing Sylphid’s massive head in his room.
Tabitha scratches her cheek in annoyance and mutters to the still collapsed Annette.
“Gargoyle.”
It is still a secret to everyone other than Sylphid and Tabitha that Sylphid is a legendary beast, the Rhyme dragon, so whenever someone manages to catch her talking Tabitha quickly disguises the truth by calling her a gargoyle.
Gargoyles are a popular thing in Gallia, so Annette easily believes it.
“I-, I see… I was so surprised.”
Now that it is okay for her, Sylphid turns back to Tabitha and glares.
“Onee-sama. What is the meaning of this?”
“What.”
“What? You should be asking yourself what you are doing! Why do you continue to listen to that selfish and bratty fat boy! Just leave him alone! Everything that has happened to him is nothing more than his own fault!”
Sylphid began to scream in genuine anger as she bites Tabitha’s entire upper half. Tabitha merely stands there and lets it happen.
Even more outraged than before by her masters complacent behaviour, Sylphid spits Tabitha back out and continues to yell at her.
“I cannot stand this any more!”
Even still, Tabitha remains silent.
Annette placedly interrupts Sylphid, who is becoming angrier by the second.
“I am sorry… Gargoyle-san. I asked your master to do something so demeaning and belittling… But my master is by no means a cruel person.”
“Eh, who is this? Wait… You look so cute tearing up! Kiyu!”
“About three years ago… is when I started to work here. That memory of mine is around then…”
Annette closes her eyes as she begins to speak from her heart.
“I had lost my family to an accident, and came to this mansion through a relatives introduction. I was just a young girl who had just moved from the countryside and had nowhere else to go and no knowledge of city life. I was frequently scolded… Whenever I ironed clothes I would damage them, and whenever I carried dishes I would drop them. I was nicknamed “Slow Annette” and there wasn’t a day that went by where I wasn’t scolded for something.”
“……”
“Every day had been hard and sad. I had no friends, nor anyone to be friends with… All I could dream of was the day when I could leave this mansion behind. However, I had nowhere to go… Then, one day…”
Annette smiles.
“While cleaning the living room, I broke a vase that was being displayed on a shelf… I was completely stunned and terrified. I had been told before that that vase was worth so much that it would takes years of my salary to afford one… I shuddered, wondering what kind of scolding I would get. I was so afraid and desperate to end it all that I was prepared to throw myself into the nearby river and kill myself as both an apology and an escape. However… Olivan was the first to arrive, and he said “I will say that I broke it while playing in the living room. Just leave everything to me”.”
Annette looks over at Olivan, still unconscious on his bed.
“I was so happy in that moment! I truly felt like I had been saved! That is when I decided… Even if no one else would be on masters side… I would be there for him. I decided to be his ally until the end. From then on, I worked as hard as I could to serve him. Over time, I got used to the job and no longer made any mistakes. Everything I am today is thanks to Olivan… So now it is my turn to help him…”
Hearing that side of Olivan, Sylphid couldn’t say anything… She fell silent.
Tabitha remains expressionless.
Perhaps she has an idea in mind?
But Sylphid has no idea what she is thinking at all.
“Mou! Fine then, do whatever you want! But that doesn’t make it okay to spoil him!”
Shouting that as her final words, Sylphid takes off into the night sky.
The next day…
When Olivan, who had passed out unconscious the night before wakes up,
“I had the most terrible dream…” he mutters.
“A dragon came from nowhere… And it suddenly started talking.”
“My gargoyle.”
Tabitha, who had apparently been waiting for Olivan to wake up, murmurs from his bedside.
“Huh? A gargoyle? If you had one you should have at least explained that to me!”
Olivan pulls the string beside his bedside and rings a bell, calling for Annette. As usual he eats his breakfast while yelling at Annette, and after breakfast the selfish aristocrat heads for the academy with Tabitha in tow.
Arriving at the gate they come across a pack who had been waiting in ambush. These are the same guys that Tabitha had blown away with her wind magic the day before.
The leader, Albert, approaches Olivan who begins to slightly tremble.
“Wh-, what do you want?”
Albert begins to speak while Olivan nervously mutters.
“I challenge you to a duel!”
“A-, a duel?!”
Olivan immediately replies in a frantic tone.
“Yes, that’s right. You got us because of that surprise attack yesterday. However, we are nobles. We cannot stand idly by or run away when we get humiliated in front of so many people.”
“Hey now, are you sure? I am a triangle class mage you know…”
“S-, so what! Who cares!”
Albert doesn’t fall for Olivan’s bluff, his anger and humiliation pushing im forward past any fear or doubt.
“You got it? After school today, we will be waiting at the Saint Folian Temple. Don’t forget. You better be there.”
Saying that, Albert rounds up the boys behind him and leaves.
Olivan, left behind, trembles for a while, but then looks up at Tabitha, who is wearing the cloak behind him.
“Did you hear that, Flowerbed Knight? They challenged me to a duel, right? This time, I will beat them so soundly they will never dare to raise a finger to me again. Got it?”
After school, Olivan returns to his mansion to prepare for the upcoming duel…
Sneaking into his fathers room, he rummages through the various chests and drawers.
“Hehehe, found it…”
After rummaging around in a chest he finds what he was looking for, a war costume handed down through the Ronal family for generations. The lining of the cloak has the families manticore crest, woven with elegant gold thread.
Putting on the elegant bright red cloak Olivan poses in front of a mirror, looking like the ancient heroes that he looks up to.
“All troops, advance! Hehehe.”
Raising and lowering his staff, Olivan pretends to be a hero ordering his troops to advance on his foes.
Returning to his room with a satisfied look on his face, standing next to Tabitha is a woman with long hair of equal blue as Tabitha’s.
“Who are you?”
It is Sylphid disguised as a human, but Olivan has no way of knowing such an astounding fact.
Tabitha uses her usual lies to deceive Olivan.
“Gargoyle.”
“A gargoyle? Just how many of them do you have?”
Sylphid began to vent her pent-up frustrations on Olivan. Apparently, she had been listening in on Olivan and the bullies from the sky using her keen hearing.
“If you have been challenged to a duel you should fight it yourself!”
“Hah? Despite being a gargoyle she dares to act cocky with me!”
“This has nothing to do with me being cock! What do you think you are doing? Have you no pride as an aristocrat? You are having Onee-sama fight when you were the one who was challenged! You are nothing more than a coward! A coward to the extreme!”
“This is none of your business! First of all, your master said she would work with me. She said that she would help me… Don’t you try to get in her way!”
Sylphid at this looks in disbelief,
“You know that she isn’t helping you for your own good, right?”
“Then enlighten me as to who she is helping!”
“She is trying to help those who believe in you.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
Sylphid begins to explain.
“Annette-san!”
“Annette? Ahhh, my servant. She believes in me? What are you talking about?”
“Listen, will you? You helped Annette-san in the past, right? Despite how badly she was treated by everyone here you showed her some kindness, and for that she has been grateful ever since and devoted herself to you. She has continued to devote herself to helping you despite everything you have done to her since! She believes in you and continues to, hoping one day you will wake up and face reality!”
“I helped Annette? When did that happen?”
“When Annette broke a vase, you told her that you would say that you broke it instead…”
At this Olivan bursts into laughter.
“Ahahaha!!”
“What’s so funny!?”
“What is wrong with that girl? This is all a misunderstanding! Back then honestly I didn’t care about her at all, I was just trying to help myself! Every year we go on a family trip to Lagdurian Lake, but that year I just didn’t want to go. But even if I told my mom and dad this I would just be dragged along anyway… So I tried to make them angry by saying that I broke the vase. All I wanted to do was make them angry at me and punish me by making me stay home!”
“What did you just say!”
“And guess what, just as I expected I got to stay home as “punishment”! My plan was a resounding success! And that servant was grateful for that? Man am I a genius! And who cares about that, she just works for me for the money anyway!Gratitude? Believe in me? As if she ever had any of that!”
Sylphid’s face turns red in fury.
“Kiyu kiyu! For someone as corrupt as you, Sylphid will return you to the Soul Well!”
Tabitha waves her staff and casts “manipulation” on Sylphid to prevent her from devouring Olivan right there and now.
“Onee-sama! Don’t stop me! Just one bite and I can kill him right now! Kiyu!”
“Wh-, what the hell do you think you are doing? You bastard gargoyle! Hey, you, mage, educate your gargoyle properly!”
Sylphid began to throw a tantrum, yelling and screaming as she desperately tries to kill Olivan, but Tabitha maintains her spell. Sylphid, sad and frustrated, realizing her futility hangs her head in disappointment.
Olivan looks at Sylphid with satisfaction on his face and begins to urge Tabitha.
“Dump that defective gargoyle in the river and lets get going.”
“Onee-sama! Don’t go with him! Let him face the harshness of reality for once!”
Tabitha began to speak to Olivan in her usual expressionless voice.
“I will follow you later, so leave now.”
(What?) Olivan looks confused at Tabitha, but came to the conclusion that right now it wouldn’t be wise to upset her.
“Alright. You had better come! If you don’t I will tell my father about this!”
After Olivan leaves the room, Sylphid turns to Tabitha.
“Thank you for taking care of me all this time. I will fly you back to your mansion… But after that please fire me. I do not want to be your familiar any longer.”
“……”
“I cannot love Onee-sama after today. I can put up with you being unfriendly to me, or even forgetting to feed me… But to take that boys side over me and helping him… I hate you for that, Onee-sama!”
Tabitha merely shakes her head.
“I won’t help him.”
“Fue?”
Sylphid, realizing what Tabitha’s plans are, begins to smile widely.
“I see now! In other words, you just tricked me to keep him believing that you would help him! As expected of Onee-sama! Kiyu!”
“I didn’t trick him.”
“… Huh? What do you mean?”
Completely confused, Sylphid tilts her head.
As Olivan leaves his room, he notices Annette approaching him from the front of the house.
–For a moment, his body stiffens.
Sylphid’s words from earlier come back to him.
(“She believes in you and continues to,”)
Olivan bit his lip.
(She is just like his father and mother after all. She abandoned me too a long time ago, right? Stop being stupid, Olivan! She only does her job because she gets paid, she doesn’t believe in me…)
Annette, noticing Olivan’s angry face, widens her eyes.
“Young master, is something…”
“Shut up!”
Olivan yells at Annette before running off.
Confused, Annette opens the door to his room that Olivan had just left. There she finds Tabitha and an unfamiliar blue-haired woman.
“Ara. Knight-sama… And who are you?”
“I am her gargoyle.”
Sylphid introduces herself.
“I see, I see. You have a lot of gargoyles it would seem. By the way, just now, Olivan was running around and yelling before leaving with a strange expression on his face… What is going on?”
“A duel.”
“Hii! A duel!”
Annette with an upset expression confronts Tabitha.
“Why didn’t you stop him!”
“Nothing will change.”
“Nothing will change?! A duel is a contest with peoples lives on the line! Please, at least help him for a little longer!”
Tabitha shakes her head.
“You will be the one to help him.”
The Saint Folian Temple is a temple closed off to the public. Located just a short distance from the street, it is a place where ordinary people cannot enter.
However, if there is one willing to throw away their faith there is one willing to use what is left behind, and the bushes growing around the decaying building makes it a great stage for those wanting to stay away from prying eyes.
This is a place famous for being a location for lovers, those with nefarious plans, and those who yearn for a duel.
The time is near evening, and thus it is too early for the lovers to appear.
By the time Olivan arrives, his opponents had already gathered and are waiting.
“Your late. Olivan.”
Albert glares at Olivan. However, Olivan is relaxed and looks him head on. Knowing that Tabitha would be nearby and ready to bring down his foes is enough to reassure him of his impending victory,
“Sorry about that, it took me a while to get ready. Besides, in times like this, the losers always show up first.”
Olivan confidently declares.
“Now, who will be my first opponent?”
Olivan looks around at the assembled boys.
“Albert, will it be you?”
Albert grins and shakes his head.
“Nope, not me.”
“What, are you a coward? Hah, are you scared of me! Then who is it? Honestly any one of you is fine.”
Albert raises his right hand.
From the shadow of the collapsing temple appears a tall mage around thirty years old. The air around him is from one who is too well versed in the realities of the world to be a nobleman. His long hair is tied back carelessly, and there is no cloak on his back. Instead, he is wearing just a frayed leather jacket, well worn pants, and dirty boots.
“Young master, is this truly my opponent?”
The man begins to laugh, pulls out his wand, and points it at Olivan.
“Ah, yes, that is right Celestan. Please make sure to beat him thoroughly. There is no need for you to hold back, he is a triangle class mage after all.”
The man, named Celestan, begins to grin.
“I will be happy to do that for you. You have paid me quite fancily for this after all despite being a wandering mage. If I don’t live up to your expectations I am afraid of what will become of me after all.”
Olivan immediately became swallowed up in emanating power and blood-lust from the mage. From the way he speaks, it seems that this is a mercenary. In this world most mages are nobles, but there are some who are not. There are also those who threw away their pride of a noble and became criminals or mercenaries for coin. Although their names might never be known… There are quite a few and not to be underestimated.
The man in front of Olivan, named Celestan, seems to be one such mercenary.
“… Hey. What are you doing? I was not aware that this was going to be a proxy battle.”
“I will return those words right back to you.”
Albert laughs before tossing a letter to Olivan. Upon reading what was on the letter, Olivan becomes speechless.
On the letter:
“Olivan is not a triangle class mage. The Flowerbed Knight, who made themselves transparent behind him with a magic tool, was the one casting magic.”
“Someone kindly decided to inform me of this. Well honestly this all makes sense, how could someone like you become a triangle class mage in a day or two when you have no talent for magic to begin with?”
Olivan began to turn around with a panicked look on his face.
“Hey! Tabitha! Where are you! Hey!”
But… There is no reply.
Olivan’s face turns pale. Turning back around, Albert triumphantly declares to Olivan,
“Oh my! It looks like your hired mage ran away! But this is still a duel you know… So let’s have a fair fight of course.”
With an amused look on his face Celestan happily readies his wand.
“Hey, boy. Please help remind me the etiquette of a duel. It has been a long time since I have offered to exchange lives with a noble… I might have forgotten how to do it.”
There is no etiquette to be seen here, however. Olivan, frightened for his life tries to run away, but Albert’s friends were ready for this and immediately moved to block his escape route.
“H-, help me…”
His face distorts as tears begin to run down his cheeks.
“What’s wrong? Do you not know the etiquette either? A shame, in that case we will just have to have this duel my way…”
At that moment Celestan begins to chant a spell…
“Please stop! Please, just stop this!”
A girl in maids clothing comes running towards Olivan, her bright red hair dancing in the wind.
“Huh? Who are you?”
“A-, Annette…”
It is Annette, Olivan’s personal servant. As if she had been watching this entire situation from the bushes and shadows nearby she deftly ran in between Celestan and Olivan and fell to her knees, bowing her head.
“Please don’t hurt the young master! You’ve made your point already! He is still just a child!”
“Get out of my way.”
Celestan says coldly, but Annette is not afraid. She desperately keeps her head down, pleading.
“Please! I do not care what happens to me, but please don’t hurt him!”
Ignoring her, Celestan continues to chant his spell.
Annette, desperate to stop him, stands up and grabs onto his arm.
“You are in the way!”
Enraged, Celestan unleashes his spell onto Annette instead.
Buba! A loud explosion sound resounds this dilapidated area, echoing off of the temples stone walls, and Celestans “fire ball” explodes on impact with Annette’s belly, knocking her to the ground/
“Tch…”
Celestan clicks his tongue.
“Annette!”
Olivan couldn’t help but run over and groans upon seeing the wound on her stomach. The power of Celestan’s fireball is extraordinary, her abdomen burn black, her clothes, charred and burnt off, and her skin emitting a foul odour that Olivan had never smelt before.
“Annette! Annette! Someone use water magic, quick! Please!”
“It is pointless. That is a fatal injury.”
Celestan spoke in a calm voice.
A voice from someone used to sending people to an early grave.
“Annette!”
Olivan could only scream at the top of his lungs.
Then… Annette’s eyes slowly open.
“Young master…”
“Why! Why would you do something like that for someone like me! Why didn’t you just leave me alone like father and mother!”
“I believe in the young master… That he is actually a kind and good boy… The young maser who, just like in the past, will protect me again one day…”
Olivan began to scream with tears streaming down his face.
“Th-… That was all a lie! I never protected you! You don’t know the truth!”
Annette smiles, an angelic smile full of mercy and compassion.
“I know. I know the reason young master protected me… I know it well.”
“… Eh?”
“But even then I believe in the young master. Even if everyone else in the world says otherwise, I believe in you.”
“Why! Why do you!?”
“Because… That is what it means to “believe”…”
After murmuring that, Annette finally closes her eyes.
Olivan could feel her body heat rapidly leaving her body.
Holding the corpse of Annette, Olivan began to shake.
Everyone just stood there dumbfounded for a while, but after a short while Albert lets out a dry laugh, perhaps unable to bear the tension anymore.
“Ha, haha…, S-, so what. A-, a commoner woman died, who cares!?”
At this everyone else begins to laugh as well.
The only one not laughing other than Olivan is Celestan. An elite mercenary through his whole being he is merely watching, timing his attacks, and preparing his next move.
Olivan slowly stands up.
But even still, he is shivering.
“Hah, look at you! You’re crying!”
“Look, its Crybaby Olivan! How can you duel if you’re crying, huh!?”
“I-, I will… Not…”
Olivan can barely breath at this point.
In a pitiful and miserable state he stands up and raises his wands, before screaming out in a throat wrenching scream.
“I-, Iw ill not… I will not lose to you—–!”
At this the aristocratic nobles fall down in laughter, their noses running and crying in laughter.
Olivan chants a spell with his head both pale from the fear and bright red from the anger.
A small, minuscule even, yet powerful whirlwind began to spin and crashes into Albert’s face who was too distracted from laughing.
But still, in the end it is just a whirlwind made by a dot. Albert’s cheek merely has a slight cut with a few drops of blood dripping from it.
But upon touching the cut and seeing blood on his finger, Albert’s anger reaches its peak. Returning his face back to a smug smile he orders Celestan.
“Hey! Celestan! Kill this guy!”
“Understood.”
As if Olivan were a mere rabbit, the hound has been ordered to thoroughly torment and kill its prey.
Ten minutes later…
However, for those present, it feels like an eternity has passed.
“… I-, I will not stop.”
No matter how many times Olivan has been blasted with magic, he merely stands back up. Every. Single. Time.
Everyone is watching with a thin smile on their faces…
For the twentieth time, Celestan casts a spell on Olivan.
Air Hammer.
This is a spell that hammers a ball of air into its target.
“Gufu!”
Dosa! With a thud, Olivan again collapses to the ground.
But even now… Olivan stands back up. His face, swollen and unrecognizable, has already swollen to about twice its original size due to the magic attacks that he has been receiving.
His war costume is nearly unrecognizable from its original splendour.
But still, he stands up.
His consciousness might be waning, it is a question to those still there if he even is conscious at this point. Willpower is the only thing keeping him standing.
Celestan turns to Albert and speaks in his cold voice.
“If I do any more than this, he will die.”
Albert might be trembling, but within him something has snapped and his voice is sharp and resolute.
“I don’t care! Do it!”
A mercenary must faithfully carry out the orders of his employer.
Celestan, ending this, fires a massive arrow towards Olivan… But just before it impales him, it is sent flying away by a different arrow.
“Who is it!”
Emerging from the nearby shadows is a small, blue-haired girl wrapped in a navy blue cloak.
Tabitha.
Celestan, a veteran mercenary, immediately could see his opponents strength, and narrows his eyes.
“Name yourself.”
“Gallian Flowerbed Knight, Tabitha.”
“Celestan! That must be the knight! The one that dared to humiliate us! Kill her!”
Celestan turns to his employer with cold eyes.
“Shut up.”
“What did you just say?!”
“You didn’t say anything about a Flowerbed Knight.”
“……”
Without saying a word Tabitha readies her staff.
“Hey, young lady, do you know who the Northern Flowerbed Knights are? Unlike you normal Fowerbed Knights, they cannot walk where the sun shines… They cannot even really call themselves knights.”
“……”
“Once upon a time I was one of those Northern Flowerbed Knights. Eventually however I ended up getting into some trouble with the other Flowerbed Knights, got fired, and now live a mercenaries life.”
“Listen to my orders!”
Albert shouts at Celestan.
“Young master. This one here is will not cost you extra. After all, this will be a duel between knights.”
With that, Celestan readies his staff.
His stance is that of a traditional Gallian Flowerbed Knights.
“Celestan Olivier de la Comange. Come.”
Buo! The air between them rapidly expands before forming into a huge ball of fire.
Fireball, but of a much greater scale than the last time it was cast.
This triangle class spell assaults Tabitha with a ferocious force.
It is a terrifying spell that can home in on its opponent, meaning one cannot just simply dodge it.
However, Tabitha does not even try to move… The moment the spell hits her, she simply waves her staff.
The fireball becomes split cleanly down the middle.
A blade of frozen vapour created by Tabitha rips it in half.
As both halves move past Tabitha the flames become devoured by the cold air, make a sizzling sound, and disappear! In its wake, all that is left is a cloud of white vapour rising into the air.
Celestan smiles.
“It is clear that you are not a Flowerbed Knight merely raised in a green house. When it comes to the Flowerbed Knight’s these days, they are merely just incompetent nobles who were given the title of Chevalier by their influential parents.”
A blade of wind attacks Celestan.
Casting levitation, Celestan dodges Tabitha’s attack by floating above it.
“However, that is not true of us Northern Flowerbed Knights you know? Despite us having no title to proudly declare and no parents to shove us through the ranks, our abilities and skill are undeniable. Plus, we can even do things like this.”
Celestan casts a spell, and a fire ball flies towards the fallen Olivan.
Tabitha fires off windy icicle to intercept.
The two collide, making a sizzling sound before both disappear.
Celestan doesn’t miss Tabitha’s momentary distraction and immediately casts another fireball towards Tabitha.
“Il ful de la sol winde.”
With shocking speed Tabitha casts fly and flees into the air. The ball impacts the location where Tabitha was a mere second ago, with some of the flaming impact striking Tabitha.
Her cloak and blue hair are slightly burnt.
She lands on the ground and waits for an opening to attack. She cannot simply stay in the air forever, lest she drain all her mental strength.
“What do you think? Aiming at a fallen civilian is not something that a normal Flowerbed Knight who cares about their appearance can do, right?”
Celestan shoots out fire attacks one after the other.
Tabitha, cornered, is forced onto the defensive.
Celestan speaks with a smile on his face as he lets off one fire ball after the other, as casually as if he were merely playing a game of catch.
“Hey now, whats the matter? You know, I was one of the weaker members of the Northern Flowerbed Knights. Have you ever heard of Flower no.7? She is supposed to be a wind user like you, and it is said that the storms she could create were enough to snuff out any and all flames! Compared to her, your wind is barely a breeze! What a pathetic Flowerbed Knight!”
While speaking, Celestan releases a spell that had had completed the steps for earlier. While speaking to Tabitha, he worked runes in between his words.
A huge storm of flames begin to dance along the tip of his staff.
The flames, like a tornado of fire, begin to engulf Tabitha.
The second they cover her whole…
Buo!
Along with a flash of light, a blue vortex swirls around Tabitha.
The vortex shoots up into the sky, like a dragon aiming for the blue expanse.
Within that vortex is countless ice particles, ready to rip and freeze anything that enters it. Tabitha’s blue hair flies and is thrown everywhere by this fierce wind.
Ice Storm.
Those ice particles… To cast this spell requires the caster to be of triangle level, and the creation of ice using wind and water…
The tornado of fire is immediately swallowed up by the whirlpool of wind and ice.
Amidst this vortex, Tabitha’s figure disappears.
“Tch!”
The moment that Celestan tries to regain visibility by blowing away the vortex and ice particles…
He could only gasp when he finally notices that the petite Tabitha had instantly closed the distance between her and him and was now at point blank range.
She had closed the gap by flying.
“H-, ha…”
As soon as he murmurs that, a massive ball of air collides with his stomach.
The air hammer spell, produced in Tabitha’s extended palm, explodes directly into his abdomen.
From this impact, Celestan loses consciousness.
The moment he falls to the ground, Celestan realizes that the way that Tabitha had been casting her spells is not the way a proper knight would.
She cast her spells in short form, whispering and hiding her lips from her enemy…
The way she fought was a way one would actually fight with their lives on the line and the only goal being to win.
On top of that, her ice storm possessed a strength capable of extinguishing his flames in a mere second.
“That ice storm… So you are no.7…”
Tabitha turns to Albert and the others who are dumbfounded and unsure of what to do now.
“Hey…”
Tabitha calmly approaches Albert and the others who back away in fear.
“The duel is a draw. It is over now.”
Albert and his gang nod repeatedly, before running away with unsteady steps…
Tabitha, ignoring the fallen Olivan, approaches Annette, the wound on her stomach still smouldering and blackened.
However, after muttering two or three short runes, Annette’s body shrinks and takes on the form of a small doll. Specifically, the small magic doll that Isabella had given her a few days ago.
This doll that Isabella had given her can transform perfectly into whatever provides it with a few drops of blood…
The magic doll Skirnir.
Stuffing it into her pocket, Tabitha turns around.
Annette, the real one, is standing there unharmed.
Noticing Tabitha had turned around, Annette begins to bow at her over and over again. However, Tabitha merely ignores her, and flies off into the sky.
Melting into the blue expanse, Annette could hear Tabitha’s high pitch whistle shortly before she could hear the flaps of a dragons wings.
When Olivan finally woke up, it was already late at night.
Upon trying to sit himself up, he realizes that his entire body is sore and not listening to him. His wounds had been grievous, and even when he tries to fight the pain to stand up he learns that it is impossible as his leg is broken and unable to support any weight.
Crawling on the floor of the dilapidated temple he fights the pain, looking for Annette.
Looking slightly up… He can see someones feet in the darkness, looking down at him.
Horrified at the prospect of being finished off, he slowly raises his head in fear.
“Oh my, you look even worse than I thought!”
It is Annette.
Olivan could only tremble in disbelief.
“What have you done? Mou! Isn’t this the masters cloak! You will be scolded for sure now! Mou!”
“… Annette?”
“I will help you move. Mou, we need to get you back to the mansion and treat your wounds quickly…”
Annette crouches down, her back facing Olivan. Not sure what is happening anymore, Olivan crawls to her and clings to her back.
But… I thought you were killed by that mercenaries fire ball…”
Annette with a cute laugh,
“The young master was merely dreaming.”
“… It was a dream?”
“Yes, it was just a bad dream. Now it is time for you to wake up.”
Olivan is silent for a short while… Before muttering in frustration.
“I see, that was a dream. But still, I lost.”
“You lost, isn’t that right?”
“Annette, I am… So frustrated…”
“It is normal to be frustrated when you lose. But you learned a lesson today, didn’t you?”
Olivan sheepishly nods.
Then, in a low voice, he tells Annette that he wants to go back to school.
Sylphid flies through the air, the night sky illuminated by its two moons.
Tabitha, her master, is riding on her back.
“Kiyu kiyu! As expected of Onee-sama! I thought you were just acting strange… But all along you had a plan! Kiyu!”
Tabitha remains silent, not replying.
However, used to her silent master, Sylphid continues to chat.
“Still, you know a lot! I did not know that you knew how to use a Skirnir!”
Tabitha silently thrusts out the title page of a book that she is reading towards Sylphid.
The book is titled “Ancient Magic Tools”.
“I see! Onee-sama’s book reading habit can be useful sometimes than!”
However, after her initial enthusiasm Sylphid’s tone becomes rather accusatory.
“Still… There was no need for you to help such a selfish boy! Onee-sama, why did you help him? Did you see something in him?”
Tabitha finally opens her mouth.
“Because he is a lonely person.”
“Why does that mean that Onee-sama has to help him?”
“I am a lonely person too. We are the same. The way he acts is because he doesn’t know how to fill in his loneliness. What appears on the surface for either of us is just different.”
At this Sylphid falls silent.
She recalls the Skirnir in Tabitha’s pocket.
A doll that takes on the form of whoever it sucks the blood of…
It is no surprise than that by looking at Olivan, Tabitha can see a bit of herself.
But still, Olivan and Tabitha are two completely different beings. Their personalities, looks, appearances, skills, everything is different. So why would Tabitha say that they are the same?
No matter how much she thinks on this question, Sylphid cannot come to a conclusion.
While she cannot come to an answer… Sylphid is sure that, regardless, she wants to help her master. And that is because Tabitha is the kindest person that Sylphid has ever known.
There is even a chance that Tabitha is kinder to Sylphid than her own dragon clan.
Sylphid lets out a squeak and flaps her wings as hard as she can towards Tristain.
As the pair continue their largely one sided chat, Sylphid began to think to herself (“I hope that one day I can help Onee-sama overcome this loneliness.”).
The next day…
Tabitha returns to Tristain Magic Academy and is quietly reading a book in her room.
For Tabitha, times like this are a rare bliss.
But suddenly… There is a ferocious knocking on her door. Despite Tabitha casting a “silent” spell to mute the knocking… The visitor just decides to barge on in anyway.
As expected, it is her friend, Kirche.
Because of this, Tabitha has no choice but to cancel her silent spell.
Like a music box suddenly springing to life, words begin to fly out of Kirche’s mouth.
“Tabitha. We are leaving now! Start getting ready!”
Kirche reaches out and grabs the book from Tabitha’s hand.
Tabitha in her expressionless voice states what Kirche should have to explain this situation.
“Void Week.”
As if those words were enough, Tabitha begins to try to take her book back from Kirche. Kirche, not satisfied yet, holds the book up high, where Tabitha’s tippy toes reach couldn’t grab it because of how short she is.
“So you do know. I know how painful this week can be for you. But right now, we need to ignore that. It is a week of love, Tabitha! Love!”
Tabitha began to shake her head, confused on why she has to go with Kirche for Void Week.
“Ah, that’s right. You wont leave with me unless I explain it all to you. Ahhh, damn it! I am in love! Right? But the guy I am in love with left with that Vallière! I need to follow them to find out where they are going! Do you get it now?”
Tabitha shakes her head. She still cannot understand her role in all this. Naturally she cannot agree to anything unless she understands it well enough. From Tabitha’s view, Kirche is being awfully rude right now.
“We are leaving! Get off your bed, let’s go! Call your familiar, we cannot catch up without it! Come one help me, please!?”
Kirche begins to cry out and beg Tabitha.
Tabitha finally reluctantly nods.
Finally things make sense, Kirche wants Tabitha’s help as she cannot catch up without the help of her familiar.
“Thank you, Tabitha! I will point you in the direction they left in!”
Tabitha nods again.
Kirche is a close friends of Tabitha’s. And that friend approached her with a request that only she could fulfill. In that case, while it might be hassle, she has no choice but to accept it.
Tabitha opens her window and whistles.
The sound of her high pitched whistle fly across the open and endless sky.
Suddenly, Sylphid can be seen flying closer from off in the distance.
”I could fall in love with such a beautiful thing!” Tabitha looks up at her friend vaguely thinking things while her friend begins spouting strange things, wondering if she is being serious or not.
This is something that she had never known or felt before coming to this academy…
It feels nice and makes her happy to be needed by a friend.
Silvered Tongue Reborn 