Volume 8 Chapter 5 (2/2)
Theup, he shut his eyes…
Naudiz Isaz Ehwaz
Voice ca 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 so 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 le 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 men, distorted
“Fue…?”
Like a fog clearing up, the distorted air returned back to normal… Men looked at the air dumbfoundedly
“That? What just happened here?”
“This? Why we are in this place?”
Tiffania informed the men in a perfectly composed voice
“You got lost in the forest”
“R-really?”
“The ar the forest and then head straight to the north”
“T-thank you…”
Step by step, the men 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 theirthe forest’ When they reach the highway, they will forget about us completely”
“It’s ic?”
Tiffania nodded Then Saito realized so
“Then, the dragon knights that were helped, have lost their memory as well…”
“So You know those people”
Saito nodded
Magic that erases one’s memory…
Wind, Water, Fire, Earth…
Whichever eleht of, none could do that
Unless…
But isn’t it a legendary element?!
While tre, Saito asked
“…just nohat ic 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 irl who had an impossible chest… secretly had an impossible power as well
“Anyway… Why are you able to use that power? Please, tell me”
That night, to hear Tiffania's childhood story, Saito ca room
In Tiffania's house, there were three roo, her bedrooroups of three, but though they lived separately, they ate in Tiffania's house After finishi+ng the dinner and seeing off children to their houses, Tiffania took solasses on the table
Fireas burning in the fireplace In addition, so roasted on it
“I'ht, 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 er brother… the Grand Duke as ruling over this whole land of Saxe-Gotha My father was a Grand Duke of the royal faement 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 whyan elf, came to the White Country to become father’s, is unknown to inia, no one thinks of elves pleasantly, it must have been some 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 forthat sort of life I still recall it The back of a mother who absent-mindedly watched the door… Since I had the ears of o 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 irl friends either
“However, that sort of life with mother was not too difficult Father, who caentle and ht me how to play musical instruments and read books”
“I see”
“The day when that sort of life ended caed look, caerous 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 soer, father, had an elf as a e scandal, if not more Still, father refused to banishimprisoned father and did all sorts of tricks to search for our whereabouts And, at last, ere found”
Saito held his breath
“I still remember it well The day when the Advent Festival started Many knights and soldiers came to the house in which we hid ourselves The noble as father's vassal, however, desperately resisted but was no hts‘ footsteps echoed in the corridor,the wand given totime When soldiers entered the room, mother said”
Saito shut his eyes
“'I will not resist We elves do not want to fight’ Yet,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 someone help?”
“No The spell, that I used today, saved me”
“Then how did that ic 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 iteer When I was small, I often played with the them”
“Music box?”
“Yes Treasure given to the royal fa 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, soic tune Mysteriously, no one else butstill fit“
Saito held his breath She looked like she was re
“Once I heard the tune, in e However, I did not say that to anyone, because I did not want the 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 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 came to do in the first place, Tiffania said
“The runes that came with the tune I heard from the opened music box, remained forever in my head Since then, those runes saved me many times…”
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 erous”
“Legendary? Exaggerated!”
Tiffania laughed
“Me, 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 memory”
To Tiffania, who has grown up in a separated from people place, it was hard to understand the i
Saito drank wine as well
While drinking, his eyelids became heavy
Tiffania was literally shi+ning like ht
Saito ruh 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 shi+eld of the lord His left hand wields a large sword and his right hand wields a long spear, protecting ilance
The right hand of God is Vindálfr, the kind-hearted flute of the lord He doh 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 ives me trouble…
Taking the four disciples, I came to this land…
Saito oken up by a singing voice
It was not daybreak, as the twooutside the
“…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 ht shi+ned 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 tily asked Derflinger, as leaning against the chair
“…Hey, Derf You know so?”
“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 me”
“What?”
“Louise’s Void must also have been awaken not by coincidence There ht?”
“I do not know After all, I as But, it is not that important to knoay Partner, you are not a Gandálfr anymore”
“I think you are hiding so from me”
For a er’s voice became serious
“Partner, I will say it once”
“What?”
“I love you Strange and honest Therefore, please re: no matter what I say or do, I think about what is better for you I will tell you when the tiht…”
“Is that so?”
“It’s wisdom, I tell you, it’s wisdom”
Though Saito was about to say so… 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 hometown?”
“Aye”
“It can’t be the reason for nostalgic feelings It’s the tune that Bri about his hometown It’s just homesickness I say”
“Briround?”
“It is so Maybe”
“Maybe? Remember and answer properly!”
“Stop saying foolish things It’s hard to reo Can you in detail, res?”
Saito poured wine into the glass
He drank it and muttered
“Briuess Everyone, in Founder Bri 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 uys' hometoas 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 homeland where the elves lived
Saito felt a sense of intimacy with Tiffania
Her hometoas also not here
She, like ly about her pointed ears
Tiffania's tears, illuht, shone brilliantly
Various things whirled in Saito’s mind
The war that finally ended…
The sign of Gandálfr that disappeared…
Theof 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 meet Louise
Because… all that Louise needs is Gandálfr… not this Saito Hiraga
As he thought, he unknowingly began to cry
The tears of hoether