The Steep Path Ahead [Familiar of Zero AU]

[shadenight123]

Chapter Fifty

When Saito opened his eyes, he was staring at a nicely painted ceiling with the drawings of angels and clouds. The soft snoring on one side of the bed told him he wasn't alone, and as he turned his eyes from the ceiling to the figure laying there, he smiled awkwardly at the sight of a sleeping Louise.

Her hair was kind of shiny, as if she had recently taken a hot bath, and as the locks looked all kinds of fluffy, she seemed as defenseless as possible in her sleep. He couldn't help but move a hand towards her hair to gingerly pat it, and just as he did, a small coughing sound caught his attention from the other side of the bed.

Saito blinked, and turned his eyes to a figure with strawberry blond hair just like Louise, who was however wearing a noble lady's dress. Her eyes were kind of sharp, just like Louise's when she was pissed off, and she had a bruise the size of a fist on one side of her face. Her glare alone should have been considered triangle-level magic, or whatever level it was that meant 'you are going to lose that limb soon'.

"H-Hello, L-Louise's older sister?" Saito hazarded.

The woman's eyes narrowed to thin slits for a brief moment, but she curtly gave him a singular nod. "You-How much do you value your life?"

"A-A lot?" Saito hazarded.

"Quantify it," the woman said crisply.

Saito had to blink, because he couldn't understand what the woman was saying. He couldn't understand one bit of it. "Uh-I don't know?"

"Louise," the woman said, her eyes softly turning to look at the girl fallen asleep right by his side, "Refuses to leave your side. So, of course, I could stop her, or I could stop you. Of the two, she has my spirit, so I am sure she won't be stopped. Tell me what is your price to stop. Do you want a title? Lands? Ten thousand ecus? Five hundred thousands-"

"Mother-" Louise's voice came out as a tiny growl, her eyes snapping open. "No buying off my partner."

Louise's older sis-ahem, her mother, didn't as much as flinch, but she did bristle slightly and resettle the hem of her gown, her hands clasped together upon it.

"Louise," she mumbled, "Think about the situation-"

Louise shook her head as she rubbed her eyes, stretching her arms without a care. "I have. It's been a fun week, the happiest of my life, but I can't forget my promises just because I'm now blessed with wealth, or the Founder will punish me."

"A week?" Saito asked, groggily.

"You've slept a whole week. Father, the Duke, is a skilled water mage and healed you up properly even though he kept muttering curses under his breath," Louise said primly. "But they're both good people once you get to know them."

Saito looked from Louise to her mother, and the bruise on the side of her face, and then back to Louise. "Uhm-"

"I punch really hard when I'm angry," Louise said, as if reading Saito's mind. "And you weren't awake when it happened, but I kind of blew up a whole wing of the palace. But we made peace," she nodded. "Just, you know, I had to show off as Louise Françoise Le Blanc de la Valliere and have a proper noble lady temper tantrum, just so they'd know what would happen if, as a proper noble lady, I'd end up having to stay inside a room rather than go with my partner on very important missions."

"She is too much like me," Karin muttered under her breath, her eyes half-closed as she brought a hand to her face. "I now understand why my mother cursed me to have children as headstrong as I was to 'get even'." She clenched her hands tightly. "Still, Louise-my little Louise-we only had a week after years, and we need to properly reintroduce you to society, and you'll need to meet the Queen, and there are a lot of things you missed that willed need to be rectified at once. You'll need to enroll into the magic academy of Tristain-"

"I'm an adventurer," Louise said with a huff. "I don't need to go to school."

"School is kind of important," Saito said, his Japanese self shining through. Louise grumbled, and stared at Saito with a half-narrowed gaze.

"You-on whose side are you on? Don't you want to return home? How am I supposed to help you with that if I'm stuck going to classes? Have some brains for once!"

"But you just found your home, Louise," Saito replied. "And you barely spent a week with them-it would be unfair-"

Louise smiled, and then gripped Saito's shirt collar and pulled him up an inch away from her face. "If you don't get me out of here I am going to go mad," she hissed. "I can't even go to the bathroom alone."

Saito chuckled nervously. "They...care about you?" he hazarded, only to receive a snort in reply.

"Yeah," Louise said with a small smile. "They do-"

Karin coughed in her hand. "I can hear you both."

"Good, so you know I'm not going to spend months as a prisoner inside this place," Louise grumbled. "If you want, we can compromise-" she had a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Oh?" Karin's own eyes glinted in the same way as Louise's had.

Saito would have loved to silently slither away from the upcoming firestorm, but he was unfortunately caught in the middle of it, his body still felt sore, and he had little desire to leave the warmth of the bed he was tucked in.

He simply made a nervous smile and hid most of his body below the sheets, hoping they'd reach a satisfying conclusion in a short amount of time.

Four hours later, he dearly wished for a weapon of some kind just so he could jump out of the window and survive.

Seriously, Louise and her mother were so similar it made it all the more shocking how they hadn't recognized each other at first sight.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Fifty-One

Saito had the sinking feeling he was being observed. He didn't know if it was because he spent most of his time with Louise, and in turn with the rest of her family who hadn't dropped their fussiness once, or if it was because there was someone waiting for just the right moment to strike him out.

Still, he ate considerably better than normal, and he also enjoyed watching Louise squirm in lace and corsets and mighty uncomfortable shoes.

"You are having fun," Louise said curtly, giving him a glare and blowing a lock of pink hair off her face, where it had apparently been willfully put by a master hair stylist to give her a 'proper, dignified look'. All that Louise knew was that she had never hated her long hair more than in the following days.

"I am," Saito said with a nod. "I am really having fun right now," he added.

It was thus with great chagrin that Saito was soon the next target of the Duke and Duchess' efforts.

His cloak as a knight of the North Parterre around his body, his hands actually manicured -who the hell would have thought a male needed that?- his hair shiny and pristine, his clothes made of things he wouldn't have been able to buy in a hundred years, and yet for all of that splendor, there was a sword by his hip.

It was admittedly a beautiful sword with a golden guard and with a sheathe made of silver and white gold, but it had been part of 'The Deal'. Louise was the Duke and Duchess' heir, and as such, she had to be presented to High Society. Since the Duke could dispense titles and hand over the land he managed as he saw fit, Saito had found himself titled with the rank of 'Baron of La Baume' and given a plot of land that had been meant for Louise's deceased older sister.

The reason he was wearing such clothes and standing stiffly to attention was because Louise and him were no longer in the palace of the Duke and the Duchess of La Valliére. No, they were at the royal court of Tristain, where Louise would be presented to the Queen, or the Princess -the Queen was suffering from a case of ill health, and whispers were she wouldn't survive for much longer- and also to her other, older sister.

The woman known as 'Eleonore Albertine Le Blanc de La Blois de La Vallière' had yet to be seen however. She was married to someone very important within the palace, and as such spent most of her time keeping company and educating the princess.

As proper etiquette would have it, Saito had to wait outside the ballroom's secondary doors for the nobles to assemble inside, and then he would have to step inside while holding Louise's hand. The girl had yet to arrive down a long staircase of sorts. The way the doors were placed, the moment they opened them from inside, everyone would take a look at the stairs and watch Louise descend the stairs. Saito would come into 'show' only later, and guide her inside.

They would then be properly presented to the Queen -or the Princess. Saito didn't know who was inside the ballroom. He could hear the chatter, and sometimes he managed to catch the yell of the announcer giving out names like candies. 'The Earl of this', 'The Count of that', 'The Viscount of this-that', and some of the names were so long Saito didn't know if it was the announcer presenting two people at the same time or if someone had just been so unlucky that their parents hated them so much as to give them long names.

Still, there Saito was.

"Saito!" Louise hissed from above the stairs, out of his sight. "Are you there?"

"Yes!" Saito hissed back in reply, trying to crane his neck to catch a peek of Louise, and failing miserably at that. "These clothes itch!"

"Well, at least you can breathe and have trousers!" Louise retorted. "You should see what I'm wearing-I look like an overgrown meringue!"

Saito chuckled at that. "I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Just you wait-remember not to laugh when you see me!" Louise hissed. "And do you remember what you have to do? I hope I get everything right-"

"Relax," Saito said. "It's part of the deal with your mother, isn't it? I'm sure you'll make her proud."

"Yeah, yeah, my mother-well, my father's the nice one of the two, who would have thought he'd be the one with the secret candy stash-"

Saito simply chuckled once more, and Louise grew quiet. "Saito," she said in the end. "Thank you."

"For what?" Saito asked, puzzled.

"Nothing. I just felt like saying thank you. I might be a noble lady now, but saying 'thank you' should never-"

And then the doors opened with the sound of trumpets.

"The Duke and Duchess de la Valliére are proud to present to the royal court their long lost noble daughter, the most noble Lady Louise-" and with the start of her name being pronounced, Louise appeared from the top of the stairs, making her way down as the lights from within the ballroom made her literally 'glint' from the amount of white that had been used on her dress. It looked more like a dress meant for marriage, but the sleeves were short, and white gloves covered her hands. She had a necklace of pearls around her neck, and as her face flushed slightly red from embarrassment, she still managed to descend all of the stairs.

She even had white shoes and white earrings, and a white shawl over her strawberry blond hair, with a trio of feathers on it.

Saito had no words, but he didn't need any.

"Presenting her is her fiance-" that had been part of 'The Deal'.

The choice had been between removing Saito outright from the equation -which would have been problematic in the long run, since rumors would have abounded- or insert him somehow in Louise's social circle. Since it was considered rude to ask to see someone's wand -and quite the common element in modern misunderstanding comedy all throughout Halkeginia- if Saito was a Baron, then he probably was a mage, and if the Duke had allowed him to be Louise's fiancé, then he was of strict moral fiber.

Probably.

Nobody really cared about him anyway, since he was the lowest level of nobility.

It also helped Louise, because it meant she could 'breathe' and avoid suitors. It had been a win-win situation for both sides.

"Lord Saito Hiraga, Baron of la Baume, knight of the North Parterre," and as Saito brought his hand up to greet Louise's one, he entered the ballroom filled with people that stood by the sides of the room, allowing them to walk straight through them and towards the Queen -and the Princess, who was also present.

Saito didn't know why the princess emitted a small gasp at their sight, but perhaps it was a hiccup -those happened always in the most inopportune of moments. Still, the ceremony's formality made both Saito and Louise tense, and it was only once the words of rite were said and done that the most dangerous part of the 'Ceremony' came into being.

Louise was not a good dancer.

Saito wasn't either, but he tried his hardest not to overstep.

That night, Saito's feet screamed bloody murder and swore eternal vengeance to Louise's own.

When the rest of the nobles joined into the dance, Louise's father 'stealing' Louise away for a dance, Saito gasped for fresh air from the nearest balcony, taking a moment to himself.

"Good evening," a male voice said next to him, making him turn and raise an eyebrow at the grey-haired -or perhaps silver-haired- man with a goatee of the same color. "Having a pleasant night, Lord Hiraga?"

"I apologize, but-" Saito looked nervously at the man. How was he supposed to recognize a Count from a Viscount, and a Baron from a Duke again?

"Do not worry, I rose to my title through military methods," the man said with a chuckle. "And I can't stand the stuffy ballrooms either," he added with a quip. "I am the Viscount Jean-Jacques Francis, of Wardes. When we aren't surrounded by other nobles, please do call me Jean-Jacques," he added. "I am also the consort of Lady Louise's sister, so that will eventually makes us family," he said with a wink. "From a knight to another-if Lady Louise is anything like her older sister, I hope you are quick to dodge whips."

"She prefers punches and kicks," Saito replied earnestly. The Viscount laughed gingerly at that, and as the two shared a few more words, the man finally looked on at the ballroom and sighed.

"See that man talking with Queen Marianne? He's the King of Gallia. I don't know when, but he started to have this sort of interest with the Valliére family that-well," as the Viscount spoke, Saito's eyes moved to a blue-haired man wearing one of the strangest dresses he had ever seen. "Quite annoying, with all the messages and letters he kept sending, but one can hardly say no to royalty."

"Yeah," Saito said with a half-numb nod.

"By the way," the Viscount said offhandedly. "Have I ever told you the tale of the Knight Ivaldi, and of his bloody victory over the dragon?"

Saito furrowed his brows, and then remained to keenly listen on to the tale.

The rest of the night was kind of a blur.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Fifty-Two

Louise had finished dancing with her father -much to the older man's chagrin- and had survived talking with enough nobility to make her head spin. She didn't know if they really had blue blood or not, but she did know that she had never smiled and bowed so much as she had in that night. She had also been aptly 'ditched' by her dancing partner, who had taken to the balcony in an effort to survive.

He was talking with the Viscount of Wardes, who was apparently the husband of her older sister. She had met her, but there hadn't really been much in the form of hugs or recognition. It was if someone had driven a sharp metal rod up that woman's back, and her glare was definitely something only Karin the Heavy Wind could manage to surpass. They had barely exchanged a few words of greeting...and nothing more.

There had been no heartfelt reunion of sorts, and the older woman had left her a short while later, entertaining conversations with other nobles around the ballroom.

Louise had thus naturally gravitated towards the buffet, which had been strategically placed near the Queen, who seemed to be entertaining with a half-bored expression the King of Gallia, who was smiling brightly, as if incapable of understanding his 'pleasant' conversation was anything but the most trite of things.

His niece Charlotte had apparently left the ballroom after a short amount of time, but considering her character, she was simply not the type interested in balls. The Princess had done so too, excusing herself because she felt faint.

It was as her eyes moved past the table filled with exotic delicacies that she heard it.

It was a simple 'thump'.

Her eyes turned to where a fully armored man landed, his cloak billowing with pure dark, and his visor obscuring his traits -all of them. Frankly, it felt like an over the top actor playing the part of the evil knight -especially with the spikes.

Only a few nobles had noticed him.

But by then, it was too late.

Louise had thought the bandit on the griphon had been 'fast'. She had thought nobody could be able to top that speed.

She had been wrong.

The man was wearing a full suit of armor, and by all accounts, should have been as slow as a snail. Most definitely a devastating foe, but outright slow when it came to charging in the middle of the nobles at court.

He had not been.

The floor cracked with his quick burst of speed, something that made him flicker out of sight for a bare instant. When he next appeared, his sword arm had finished the piercing gesture that impaled the King of Gallia straight through the heart, leaving the man to widen his eyes in disbelief.

"Oh Charlotte..." the King of Gallia whispered with a faint smile as he gazed at the armored man's helmet, just an inch away from his face. "I knew...you would break my heart." A smile blossomed on the dying king's lips as the knight pulled the blade out and swung it again, slicing the head neatly off before anyone could as much as blink at the sheer speed.

Karin the Heavy Wind hadn't needed to blink to charge right in front of the knight, who had set his sights on the Queen next. Even without a wand, the hammer of air that the Heavy Wind sent against assassin did its job in pushing the man away, forcing him on the defensive. The knight's blade shone briefly, and the air hammer that should have, by all accounts, sent the man out of the window instead merely dispersed harmlessly.

The blade pulsed as the knight slammed it on the ground, rippling it with the same strength as the air hammer had. As the shrapnel forced the Heavy Wind to shield the Queen from harm, the knight jumped backwards, towards the same balcony he had come from.

"Reconquista sends their regards," the knight growled, the blade held in front of his face before he threw himself out of the balcony and becoming nothing more than a shaky blur in the dark of the palace's gardens.

"After him!" the Viscount of Wardes yelled, jumping off the balcony together with Saito, both of them having a sword -in the Viscount's case a swordwand- in hand.

A couple of guards rushed out of the ballroom, leaving a half-shocked Louise to stare at the corpse of the dead King of Gallia that was but an arm's length away from her, and at the shocked expression on the Queen's face. "Marianne-" Karin whispered hoarsely.

"Karin," the Queen said. "Hold me-I think I'm going to faint-"

The Queen proceeded to do just that, forcing Karin to grab hold of her and call for aid, just as many nobles began to yell their indignation at Reconquista, clamoring for something to be done against those vile foes.

The Cardinal took that as the cue to make silence.

"Silence."

As the staff he held that was a symbol of his office slammed on the ground, the floor trembled as it repaired itself, removing all traces of the knight in armor from having ever stepped inside the ballroom. "The Crown will act against this grievous offense from Reconquista," the Cardinal continued, his voice easily reaching across the entire room.

"Most Noble Lords and Ladies of the court," the Cardinal added smoothly, "Please permit the palace to offer you hospitality for the night, and if not, an armed guard to escort you safely back to your mansions."

As the crowd began to calm down, and filter out following the servants, the Cardinal turned his weary eyes to the Queen who was being held by Karin. "Follow me, Duchess, we must talk further-"

The Princess took that as the cue to return to the ballroom, her breathing raspy from having probably ran all the way from her room. "M-Mother?!"

"Princess, please-now is not the time," the Cardinal said. "Lady Louise-" his eyes turned to Louise, who hadn't yet moved from her spot, too busy being mesmerized by the lines of blood traced on her white gown to actually consider moving. "Please step away from the corpse."

With a startled gasp, Louise did just that. The corpse hadn't been moved yet, and the blood was still pooling out on the floor.

More than an hour later, Saito returned by Louise's side. His clothes were rumpled as if he had ran across the gardens by taking the hedgerows head first, and there were more than a few twigs in his hair.

"I ended up blasted against a hedgerow," he said in the end. "That man-damn, the Viscount's fine-did you know he's the Captain of the Griffin Knights-"

Louise clutched her white gown stained with blood and didn't say a word at first. "Louise?" Saito knelt in front of the girl, who had been sitting outside the queen's personal rooms in wait for her mother. "Louise-hey-"

Her arms clutched tightly at Saito's neck and as she began to cry, Saito's eyes widened briefly. Awkwardly, he returned the hug.

Of course, that was the moment the door opened to reveal the Duchess and the Cardinal.

"We have other matters to discuss, Cardinal," Karin said, averting her eyes from the awkward scene with a snap to her tone.

The Cardinal blinked owlishly, and then grimaced, taking a deep breath. "Very well-let us speak in my office. Your daughter and her fiancé should be present too, I suppose."

As the Cardinal walked ahead of the group, Louise hesitated only briefly, but then outright ripped the bloodied pieces of silk off her gown.

She had enough layers of the stuff that one more or one less made no difference.

And it didn't matter anyway if she appeared proper or not any longer.

She was just glad Saito was there by her side once more.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Fifty-Three

The Cardinal had apparently aged a great deal in the time that had passed since Saito and Louise had last seen him. Once they were inside his office, he turned to stare at all three of them. The office was surprisingly devoid of paperwork, or books. It was as if it had been recently emptied of pretty much everything but the desk and a few chairs.

"May we dispense with the usual pleasantries and reach the core of the matter?" the Cardinal asked, his voice wary and tired.

"You have never been one to mince words, Mazarin. Has time changed you?" Karin remarked dryly.

"One never knows," the Cardinal said. "I would have thought after what you learned, you might be less inclined to-" his eyes moved to the perplexed Saito and Louise. "You...did not tell her?"

"Well-actually," Louise stammered, "It's more like-on whose side are you!?"

The Cardinal blinked owlishly, just as Karin did pretty much the same.

"You told me she was my mother, and sent us her way with a letter, but-but then we were attacked by this guy who wanted to kill us, and I ended up opening the letter, because it didn't make any sense why the guy would say something like 'the crown', but in the letter-in the letter you wrote I was an impostor! So-" Louise wrung her hands in disbelief. "Just-I don't understand. It's clear now that you weren't lying when you spoke to us, but why lie in a letter?"

"I...I presume I know nothing of the sorts, but it does confirm my suspicions," the Cardinal said softly. "Someone must have swapped the letters. I can only presume it must have been done while the letter was still in my office, in the time before you departed once more."

"Could someone tell me what is going on?" Karin asked, "Before I leave to ask Pierre to fetch my swordwand, that is, because I have a feeling I will be needing it shortly."

The cardinal exhaled. "Well, this was a long time coming," he neared a drawer, and pulled out what looked like a large glass vase containing an amber liquid. He poured a glass, and then shrugged, proceeding to chug on the bottle as he gestured for Louise -and by consequence Saito- to 'explain'.

Louise didn't explain, mostly because she was too busy trying to understand how a Cardinal could possibly drink that much alcohol without dying.

When Saito finished his very brief explanation, Karin's hands had already grabbed the cardinal by the hem of his clothes, and was busy throttling him quite severely.

"How long!?" Karin snarled. "How long did you hide her from me, you vicious son of a-"

"My mother was a honest lady!" the Cardinal shot back angrily, slamming the glass vase on the ground, where it shattered. "The only one to blame is you, Duchess!" he held the wrists of the Duchess, "You couldn't wait! You had to find your daughter on the double! On the triple! Didn't matter the number of diplomatic accidents it would cause! Didn't matter if the Germanian ambassador was throttled out of a window, or if half the knights of the corps suddenly resigned to follow you in your inane crusade! For three years I sought out your daughter through my own means, just so I could slap in your face your weakness when compared to the Crown!" the Cardinal's face was red. "But then you had to go and move a mountain. You had to build an outpost, you just had to order the knights of the Manticore to follow you! And those fools did! The King told them not to, and they followed you!"

The Cardinal snarled, jabbing one of his fingers straight against the middle of Karin's chest. "Do you have any idea what that meant?! That was the closest you could have gone to treason! The Crown has power as long as the people that swear fealty to it respect it! But to find your daughter you decided to shit on-"

Louise cried out in shock, clutching her ears.

"Everything!" Mazarin continued. "The nobles whispered! It's always been about magic, our nobility! The Duchess can move a mountain-what can our King do? The Duke's the bastard in the royal line, he's a descendant of Brimir too! So, frankly? When someone killed your second daughter?" his eyes narrowed. "I was glad they did just to see you realize how weak you were."

The cardinal ended up flying against the wall, his back hitting the empty shelf and cracking it apart in a shower of splinters. "You overstep yourself!" the Duchess roared, blades of wind forming all around her as they began to soar and spin with quite the deadly precision.

"Mother! Please stop!" Louise screamed, rushing to clutch on to one of Karin's arm.

The cardinal spat out a bolus of blood from his mouth, and stood back up, if shakily holding on to the side of the wall.

"So no," the cardinal hissed. "I had no intention of giving you back your daughter just so you could return to court with your heir after having thrown the worst of all temper tantrums. My king died of worry and heartache, fearing for his kingdom to be divided, because of you!" he pointed an accusing finger at Karin, which made the woman slightly wince at the accusation. "The Queen would never have punished you. The Princess is too innocent for the politics of the court. So I did what I had to do for the King and for the Country of Tristain, and there goes not a day where I am not glad I did what I did, because right now, in court, you are alone Duchess."

The cardinal wiped away the blood from his lips and neared the desk, where the glass filled with the amber liquid still remained. "It took me decades, and your husband-oh you should be glad your husband did his best to hold on to what little he had. If you had been alone, I would have taken everything from you, the title, the power, the money-everything, but not your life." The Cardinal drank the liquid, throwing the glass on the floor where it shattered. "Just like you took my King away. Just like you weakened the Crown."

"Mazarin-" Karin tried to speak, but the cardinal actually managed to out-glare the Duchess, which was probably nothing short of a miracle.

"And yet, for all of my work, I was willing to accept my punishment. Founder knows the sleepless nights, how wrong it was to keep a child away from its mother-a child who had no sins for being born to a selfish bitch."

Saito had to bring a hand to his mouth to stifle his gasp of horror.

"So, Duchess, I knew where your daughter was, and I hid it from you. To this day, I will apologize to your daughter a hundred of times, but do not think even for a second I would not do this again," he curled his lips up in disgust, "You committed treason, and you were punished for it. Be thankful the crime was not paid with your life and that of all those who followed you rather than the crown!"

The cardinal then took a deep breath, panting as the silence in the room was interrupted only by the crackling fire in the chimney nearby.

"Now that this is out of the way-" Mazarin said, only for the Duchess to spring into action, grabbing the cardinal by the throat and slamming him once more against the empty bookshelf.

"This will never be out of the way, Mazarin!" the Duchess all but roared, cracking with her air magic the very walls and shattering the windows. "I will never forgive you," Karin snarled. "I would have welcomed death a thousand times over the pain I suffered in these years! You were not merciful, you bastard-you were being vicious and vindictive!"

"I acted...for the best interests...of the Crown," Mazarin hissed back, clutching on to the hand that was doing its best to severe his air flow, "That...makes my actions...justice itself."

The Duchess dropped the cardinal on the ground, and like a lion stalking for prey walked with heavy steps towards Louise, proceeding to hold her tightly as if afraid the cardinal could somehow manage to still whisk her away and make her disappear.

For his part, the cardinal shakily managed to stand back up once more, his will nothing short of legendary. On one side, Saito really didn't like the way the man had done things.

On the other, he had to admire the sheer tenacity a person easily in his seventies needed to stand back up after being treated that way. And, of course, the sheer size of his masculinity to insult - straight to her face - the Duchess.

Yes, Saito could admire a specific trait of a person without admiring the whole person.

On the other hand, Louise had gone through enough pain and misery because of him that Saito couldn't really be a lot sympathetic to the man's effort to hold himself up for the second time.

"Now..." the Cardinal said shakily, "There is a reason the crown did not move against Reconquista, even though by blood and alliance alone we should have," his eyes moved from the Duchess to his desk -or what little remained of it, as a stray blade of wind had neatly severed it in half. "Tristain is being blackmailed into not acting," Mazarin wobbled towards the chair past his desk, which had miraculously survived the onslaught. "The leader of Reconquista managed to get his hands on some letters written by the Princess," the cardinal said as his hands clenched against his knees. "Some compromising letters which, if revealed, could prevent the marriage with Germania. We need that marriage," the cardinal sucked air in sharply. "With the death of the king of Gallia-his body hasn't yet gone cold, we need that marriage to safeguard us when the Gallian army will come knocking for answers."

"Tell them it was Reconquista," Karin snapped.

"Because the security of half our knights corps wasn't enough to stop a lone agent from stepping inside and killing the King, while he was surrounded by nobles of Tristain, and somehow nobody, not even the Heavy Wind, was capable of stopping said knight from leaving?" Mazarin laughed. "They will never believe it. Even if they do, they will demand we move. A shrewd person would force us to wage war for her, send our armies to die on Albion soil, and make us weak."

The cardinal shook his head. "The letters must be recovered, but we cannot send anyone easily recognizable. They have spies within these very walls, and they will know if someone of our usual agents moves."

"So why are we discussing this?" Karin said. "I am renowned throughout the whole land."

"Yes, you are," Mazarin said. "Your daughter, and her partner, are not. If they leave by tomorrow, they can easily reach La Rochelle and take a passage for Albion with no one the wiser. A bit of hair dye, and they will not be recognized by anyone-"

"Cardinal-your next words might very well be your last-"

"She managed to overpower your Cutter Tornado spell, Duchess," the Cardinal snapped. "And the boy had been knocked through a wall, and yet managed to rush to your daughter's side faster than the wind itself. No, Duchess, if you cannot go, then your daughter, who seems to be a deign successor of your magical prowess, should go. Perhaps this would wash away the sins of her mother, who did not heed the call of the Crown until it suited her?"

"I will not send my daughter on a battle zone," the Duchess hissed. "I'll go myself if that's what is needed."

"Then, Duchess, go ahead. Go and turn an entire nation red with blood, but if you miss just one agent of Reconquista, if you miss just one letter, then you will ruin the Crown. When the Queen will hear of the failed marriage of her daughter, when she will hear of what her daughter did, when the whole country will hear of it-then rest assured, her death will be at your feet, just like that of the late king," Mazarin hissed the last words out through a choked down sob. "And I will ensure, if that happens, that you will have to waddle through the corpses of every single noble of the court and their men before I will allow you respite." His eyes narrowed down.

"I'll do it."

Louise's voice had been surprisingly clear. She pushed away from her mother's firm embrace, and stepped right by Saito's side. "But I can't do it alone. Saito?"

"Fine by me, partner," Saito said with a shrug. "There's just one thing I don't understand," he added. "They have the letters and they don't want Tristain to intervene, but then they kill the Gallian king which in turn means Tristain will be forced to intervene all the same?"

"Perhaps they expect Tristain not to intervene at all, anger Gallia, or pacify it, and then spark a war between Germania and Gallia with Tristain in the middle of it. The plan of Reconquista is the unification of all of Brimir's descendants under a single kingdom-" the cardinal took a deep breath. "But it is considerably late, there is much I have yet to do, and I would like it if I had the time to think."

The cardinal opened a drawer of his split in half desk, and pulled out a bottle of a different color -smaller than the 'vase', but still pretty big in its own rights. "Tomorrow at the crack of dawn I will tell you what needs to be done to track down those letters," the man sighed, uncorking the glass bottle, "Now-if you would all kindly vacate the premises..."

They left in silence.

There were no words after all.

There were no words at all, if not for Saito's thoughts ranging from the 'did that really happen?' to 'Man, the cardinal sure can hold his liquor'.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Fifty-Four

There was something strange in sleeping in the same house as a corpse. Saito didn't know why it bothered him so much, since the palace was pretty big and the Gallian King had died in the ballroom, on the far end of where the sleeping quarters were.

As the servant that had shown him his rooms bid him goodnight and closed the door to the admittedly spacious room, Saito sighed and then shuddered slightly. Someone had opened the window of his room, probably to change the air, and hadn't bothered closing it. As he moved to close it, he removed the cloak around his shoulders, letting it fall on the ground. With the window closed, he began the delicate process of undressing from the sheer amount of clothes he had on his body.

"What a day," he groaned. Louise was probably taking it far worse than him, or perhaps her mother was. Still, he'd better go to sleep early since they'd be off by the next day. It was kind of puzzling, trying to understand the Cardinal. Didn't Tristain have better suited people for the task? Did it really have to be Louise and him?

He settled on the border of the bed, sighing once more.

The bed shifted slightly.

Saito blinked, and then carefully stared at the bed's strange form hidden by the sheets. There was a light wiggling, soon followed by a bush of blue hair emerging from below the sheets, a face with a pair of red glasses on it.

In a second, Saito had done a jump back worthy of an Olympic master and knelt, his head low. "L-Lady Charlotte!" he exclaimed, "I-I apologize! Th-This must be the wr-wrong room!"

"No," Lady Charlotte said with a small yawn, stepping out of the bed and thankfully still clothed. "I decided to catch a nap here," she added. "For fear of the Reconquista coming for me," she said kindly. "I hope this does not bother you?"

"N-Not at all!" Saito said. He did blush slightly, and look away.

"There is also another reason for why I am here," Charlotte said, looking at Saito. "The noble retinue that my uncle brought are all in distress, but they are also quite incapable. At most, there is a line mage among them. I would rather be protected by one of my knights rather than by any of them," she smiled softly. "But who would have guessed your partner, Louis, would turn out to be the long lost heir to the Valliere family. It must have come as quite a shock."

Saito blinked, and chuckled nervously. "Well, sort-of. I mean, I'm glad for her and all-"

"I mean for your sexual orientation," Lady Charlotte said bluntly, making Saito guffaw and choke on his spit. "You like boys do you not, Sir Saito?"

"I-I-I do not!" Saito squawked out, "I mean-no! It's just that-that-"

"Ah, so you knew she was a girl from the very beginning?" Charlotte said, stifling a giggle. "Forgive me for making fun of you at your expenses, Sir Saito, but I do need something to cheer me up after the sad event of tonight."

Saito's expression changed from embarrassed to worried in a couple of seconds, his eyes softening up, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't be," Charlotte replied. "I am sad, because I could not watch the life leave that man's eyes." Her eyes hardened to orbs of ice, which kind of made the cold breeze on the back of Saito all the more chilling -he had closed the window, hadn't he?

"W-What? But he was your uncle, wasn't he?"

"He was a monster," Charlotte said flatly. "Make no mistake, I do not like Reconquista, I do not like their methods, I do not like what they do-but I would gladly kiss whoever killed the King of Gallia," she clasped her hands together tightly. "The things that man did-they cannot really be spoken. Well, now they can, since I'm the future Queen of Gallia, I can say them all if I want to," the girl shuddered, "But they aren't pretty, so perhaps it's best if they're kept secret."

"Lady Charlotte-why are you here?" Saito asked carefully. "Couldn't you have sent for me?"

"I do not trust my uncle's men, Sir Saito. I am a powerful mage in my own, but I do not trust any of them, especially with my sleep. On the other hand, Louis -and by consequence Louise- had nothing but the highest of praises for you. I'd feel safer falling asleep with you guarding over me, rather than all of my retinue put together."

Saito nervously chuckled. "I-I'm flattered you think so highly of me, Lady Charlotte, but-"

"Call me Charlotte when we are alone, Sir Saito-no, Saito," Charlotte said softly, a light blush on her cheeks.

Saito blinked. Wait. Louise couldn't have possibly been right, could she!? No, no, the girl was clearly shocked for the death of her Uncle and needed reassurance, it would be utterly shameless to take advantage of her sad state like this!

"Lady Charlotte," Saito said, "I am unworthy of such familiarity, and it would be improper-" that was how it went, wasn't it?

"I am the Queen, or will be. I decide what is proper, and what is not," Charlotte said with a huff. When faced with such a cute pout, even Saito's morals were unfortunately prey of a losing battle.

"T-Then C-Charlotte," Saito said. "Are you sure you can trust me? I mean, you know nothing about me-"

"But what little I know is of the highest quality," Charlotte said. "And I have yet to be proven wrong. So, Saito, guard over the sleep of your Queen -at least, as long as you keep being a Knight of the North Parterre, that's among your duties, you know?" she giggled next.

"Right," Saito nodded awkwardly.

Charlotte settled back beneath the bed sheets, still dressed, and closed her eyes after putting the glasses away on the bed desk. "Then, good night, Saito."

"Good night...Charlotte?" but the girl was already asleep, apparently.

Saito sighed, and after quietly grabbing the nearby plush armchair, decided to sit on it and 'stand guard'.

His head, meanwhile, was drawing graphs of cuteness between Louise's sleeping face and that of Charlotte's.

His common sense, on the other hand, had surrendered and barricaded itself behind a brain-door, screaming at the top of his lungs that something fishy was going on.

Unfortunately, he wasn't heard.


Rarely is Common Sense heard after all.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Fifty-Five

When Saito woke up, he realized he had been moved from the plush armchair to the bed. Since there no longer was Charlotte in the room, and the window had been left open, it was highly possible the girl had left early in the morning.

Unless he had been dreaming that, of course.

"Strangest dream ever," Saito mumbled as he stood up and walked towards the water bowl by the drawer. Near it, he frowned at the sight of a small blue handkerchief. "Keep me for good luck?" he mouthed as he read the words that had apparently been written with snow. "Did-Did I end up in a fairy-tale or something?" he hazarded to his reflection, who didn't really answer.

Still, it meant Charlotte had slept in his bed the night before, and left at the crack of dawn. He folded the handkerchief and pocketed it. The reason he had woken up so suddenly had been a knock at the door, but by the time he reached the doors, the knock had been substituted with a hurried knocking, and then a 'stomping' on the door itself.

Someone had apparently melted the door's lock-no, not melted, but 'frozen over'. Puzzled, but armed with a dagger, Saito proceeded to crack the ice on his side of the room and then move aside as the door opened to admit a red-faced -from the effort- Louise.

"You locked your door for the night?" Louise asked, gasping for air. Her strawberry blond hair was gone, replaced with dark raven locks, and the mask of iron she used to wear was slung beneath her neck. "At least hurry up opening it when someone knocks! What if it had been an important noble?" she huffed. "Come on, settle your dress a bit -did you sleep on the chair or something? We need to-" then Louise blinked, and drew near Saito, sniffing him. "Saito," she said sweetly. "Since when do you use perfume?"

Saito blinked. "Uh?"

He sniffed the air around him a bit. "What perfume?" he furrowed his brows.

Louise, for her part, walked towards the bed and sniffed it -kind of like a dog- and then tapped her chin. "Why do you have scented sheets?" she asked next, stepping back towards Saito. "Did you perchance let your nobility get to your head? You didn't do anything silly with a maid did you?" Louise was smiling, but it was more similar to the Joker's smile than the kind, angelic smile of a loving cute girl.

It was the sort of smile that made even Batman's soul freeze.

Saito had read many comics, and he knew just where that smile would send him if he allowed this to continue. "I slept on the armchair!" he said, getting down on his knees and holding his hands up in a sort of 'mercy, my lord' gesture. "It was Charlotte! She came in through the window because she couldn't sleep alone! She was afraid and-"

"Oh," Louise blinked. "Why didn't you say so in the first place?" she added, her crazy-smile now gone and replaced with a giggle. "I thought it was something like that. I'm glad you were a proper gentleman. That's just like a knight should be." She began to walk towards the door, but stopped just in time to give Saito a wink. "Let's go gallant knight Ivaldi, did she give you a handkerchief professing her love for you, your pretty blue princess?" she added with another giggle, shaking her head in disbelief.

Saito blinked, and never in his life had he been gladder he had put the handkerchief in his trouser's pocket, rather than in his shirt's breast-pocket.

The Cardinal's office had been apparently refilled during the night with all the missing paperwork. It was as if the man, expecting the Heavy Wind's retaliation, had removed all important documents that could have potentially been torn to shreds.

"Let us dispense with the pleasantries," the Cardinal spoke as he stood up from his desk, his expression perfectly leveled. After everything he had drunk the night before, he still seemed outright unfazed. Even the wounds on his body had disappeared -probably through magic. "The last known owner of the letters was Prince Wales, the cousin of Henrietta. Those letters must be found, and they must be destroyed. There are a total of five letters," the Cardinal added, "At least, hoping the Prince did not lie. The Reconquista assaulted his camp while they were moving, and managed to steal them from his personal secret hideout," the Cardinal actually snorted. "He should have burned those letters rather than keep them as keepsakes."

Shaking his head, the Cardinal took a deep breath. "There is a blockade set up by the Reconquista, and the major ports are all in their hands. However, as adventurers you will have an easy way in. The island is one whole battlefield," Mazarin sighed. "But you managed quite the list of feats, and I am sure you will prevail once more." He inclined his head to the side. "We may have our divergences, and we may not see eye-to-eye, but if the Crown falls, then no one will win."

Mazarin opened a drawer, and pulled out a large bag which he handed over to Louise. The purse jingled with coins. "This should be enough to buy you passage, and weapons. For all purposes, the Kingdom of Tristain will know absolutely nothing, and cannot be connected to this. Find the five letters, destroy them, and then return. The letters should have the signature and the royal symbol of Tristain waxed on it. It is imperative those are destroyed."

He clasped his fingers together. "From what I heard, you are capable of great amounts of destruction, not unlike your mother," he took a deep breath. "Frankly? If destroying an entire city will allow you to destroy the letters too, then do so. There is nothing worthy more than the Crown. As a noble of Tristain, I hope you will come to understand this."

"Isn't that...a bit too harsh?" Saito hazarded, only for the Cardinal to glare at him.

"No."

"But my magic is easily recognizable-"

"It is not Wind, thus no one will connect you to the Heavy Wind," the Cardinal said. "Depending on the strength, they might simply think it was an Elf."

"Simply think-just who would think that!?" Louise's voice came out shrill. "I will not destroy a whole city! That's-That's monstrous, Cardinal! Founder Brimir would never approve, and neither would the Gods!"

"The Royals we serve are Brimir's descendants," the Cardinal said crisply. "They are Brimir's law upon this land, and they must be protected. That is how we ensure ourselves a heaven, no matter our sins. Serve the Crown, and in turn, it will be as if you were serving Brimir himself. Certainly, Father Christoff taught you that?"

"He did," Louise nodded softly. "But I won't do that. Even if it comes to the point where I might be cast out as a heretic, I will never do that."

"That is fine," Mazarin said. "I was merely stating you are allowed to do so."

"Where should we start looking?" Saito asked next, even as Louise remained quiet, still clutching on to the pouch with the ecus.

"I have developed an extensive network of like-minded people over the course of the years," Mazarin said. "You will embark on a ship from La Rochelle and reach the port city of Scarborough, from there, you can make your way to Newcastle where the last remaining forces of Royallists stand, or head to Londinium, where the command structure of Reconquista is hiding. Meanwhile, I'll make sure to alert my men in Albion. Perhaps some of them have already an inkling of where the letters are. Act swiftly, recover those letters-and may the Gods save the Crown."

When they both stepped out of the Cardinal's office, there were far more questions than answers.

"So..." Saito said softly. "We're going on a letter hunt, without even knowing where those letters are."

"And the Cardinal did say he had men in Albion already," Louise mumbled. "Perhaps he already knows where the letters are, but didn't want to tell us outright?"

"You think he's afraid the walls have ears?" Saito quipped dryly, only for Louise to snort in reply.

"Walls can't have ears, Saito. That's silly." She sighed. "We'll have to go without the cloaks. We can't be adventurers and knights of the North Parterre."

Saito scratched the side of his head. "There's something wrong in this. There's something really wrong in all of this and I can't seem to understand what it is."

"I don't know either," Louise said, her shoulders slumped. "I mean, the Cardinal hates my mother, but he apparently entrusted the safety of the Queen to her. I just don't understand. After everything he said and did-I'd expect him to do something else."

"Maybe he's gone senile?" Saito hazarded. "He is old."

Louise scrunched her face up in thought. "It could be that," she said. "Then, perhaps...we should pray for his well-being?"

"After everything he did?" Saito asked, his voice tinged with disbelief.

"Forgiveness is the quality that the Founder preached the most," Louise said. "At least, at first. Then he moved on to say that all Elves must be purged with the holy fires of Heaven's Judgment, but...for the most part, I think forgiveness should always be considered. Which is why I forgive your perverted thoughts day after day."

"You still kick me in the shins though," Saito pointed out.

"Even forgiveness has limits," Louise replied icily. "We don't have to like the Cardinal, Saito. We just have to restore the good name of the Valliére-"

"That the Cardinal dragged into the mud, he said so himself-"

"All the more reason! He is clearly willing to forgive the Valliere by giving me a chance to redeem it! And you heard him when he said he was sure of our strength? He was praising us. Come on Saito, we'll bring the Valliére name back to its past splendor."

Somehow, Saito wasn't feeling as optimistic as Louise.

Perhaps he was being biased, or maybe Louise was the one with a bias.

Yet, the sense of wrongness intensified.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Fifty-Six

Louise had already said her goodbyes to her family the previous night, so they simply headed for the stables, took one horse and headed off into the city first, and then the countryside in the general direction of La Rochelle.

"Just how is the Cardinal supposed to warn his men that we're coming?" Saito asked.

"Pigeons, perhaps?" Louise hazarded. "Father Christoff had this very smart pigeon that would always go back and forth. They're also really inconspicuous, so nobody bothers with them unless they're told to look out."

Saito held on to the reins, the wind striking his face. "It just keeps bothering me," Saito said. "I mean-It's like he's sending us to Albion just to drive us away from Tristain."

"You think the Cardinal's working for Reconquista?" Louise asked. "By the way he acted, he'd rather die than let a single hair be cut from the Queen or the Princess' head."

"I'm not saying that," Saito said hastily. "Just-what's the point of sending us unless he's expecting us to fight? We're strong, but we don't need strength for this mission. Wouldn't his spies be better suited for this task?"

"Maybe they aren't. I mean, maybe they're people like...like Siesta, or like a wealthy and pious merchant who is too fat to even walk up the stairs. Their hearts might be in the right place, but their physique isn't."

Saito clicked the back of his teeth with his tongue. "Still not convinced."

"It's not like the Cardinal hurt you, Saito," Louise said hotly. "I'm the one who was hurt the most from this, but if I can forgive him, then I see no reason why you have to keep disliking him."

"How can you forgive him, faith or not, is something of a mystery," Saito muttered.

"Well, you forgave me, right?" Louise asked. "And isn't the situation similar? Why did you forgive me for taking you away from your family?"

Saito bristled. "It wasn't your fault. You didn't really mean to do it. You took responsibility. And, well, you promised you'd bring me back home."

"The Cardinal was not the one who kidnapped me. He hid me from my mother. He hurt my family, but he was hurt in turn. He was willing to take responsibility back there. If mother had cut his head off, he would have probably died standing. He was taking responsibility, and he even allowed mother to guard the Queen again, which means he is trying to make things better. So...why should I not forgive him?"

"Because he's not feeling guilty for what he did?"

"Saito...then you should not forgive me either," Louise muttered. "Since you're the best thing that happened to me since I have memory, I'm not feeling the slightest bit guilty at having summoned you. I just can't."

Saito's cheeks heated up as he looked away, stuttering slightly, "T-That's kind of a con-confession! L-Louis! Please!"

Louise giggled. "It's the truth," the back of her head hit Saito's newly bought breastplate. "And now, partner, let the horse gallop! We're secret agents for the Crown now, so let's go!"

The two days trip to La Rochelle passed without a single accident. No bandits, no gryphons, no patrols stopping them. The news of the King's death hadn't yet spread to the border, or perhaps it was being kept secret to prevent widespread panic. As it was, the real problem turned out to be finding a ship willing to head over to Albion.

"Look, even if you paid my ship's worth in gold ecus, I still wouldn't do it," a captain said gruffly. He stood by the counter of an inn overlooking the pier, a pier that was surprisingly devoid of water and instead had ships neatly resting on wooden surfaces, with pillars to hold them firmly in place. "Last time I did a run, those Reconquista bastards took everything from the ship except what I had nailed down. You'd have better luck buying a dragon and going with it."

This hadn't been the first captain they had asked, and as it turned out, it was a common sentiment shared by many others.

Louise's shoulders slumped down as the duo ended up spending dinner at a nearby inn. "Damn it! We'll really end up having to buy a boat if people keep refusing us," she crossed her arms over her chest, and sighed, letting her mask 'thunk' against the table's surface.

Saito chuckled nervously. This was quite the problem, but they were nothing if not resourceful, so perhaps-

"E-Excuse me?" it was a timid voice, which seemed to come from a young girl holding on to a staff, and with a pair of black-rimmed glasses on her face. Saito blinked, for a brief instant pondering why the face looked familiar, but then quickly ignoring the thought. The girl had long and shiny black hair, and was also wearing a simple, but pretty thick, black shirt and a pair of trousers quite a few sizes too big for her.


The way her hair shined, it was similar to that of Louise's own, so perhaps magic had been used to make it look all the prettier. "I-Am I correct to assume...you are looking for a passage to Albion?" the girl asked, shyly twiddling her fingers together. "Because-"

"Not interested," Louise said flatly, making the girl blink.

"Louis?" Saito said.

"Look, we're not third rate adventurers who let any pretty face twiddle us around their pinkie fingers," Louise said roughly, her eyes glaring at the girl. "So scram-this scamming attempt of yours has failed-"

"I-it's not that!" the girl exclaimed, quite red with her face. "I-I just wanted to tell you that there's a captain by the docks who'll sail tomorrow morning for Albion," she took a deep breath. "I'm not-not really used to speaking with people. And-and I just wanted to be nice. The captain's name is Morgan-his ship is 'The Petite Chevalier'. Just-just so you don't get lost, if you want I can show you tomorrow morning?"

She clutched on to her staff tightly, looking down at her feet and fidgeting a bit more.

Saito gave one look at Louise, who in turn was torn between claiming that she was faking it, and actually wondering if anyone could fake so badly.

"I'm sorry for my partner," Saito said. "He's always been wary of strangers," he added. "So-what's your name? I'm Saito, and this is Louis."

"Oh-I'm Josette," the girl with long black hair said with a small smile. "I'm going to Albion with my friends-we heard there's a lot of money you can do if you're good, and the abbess will be happy if we bring her back some coins-"

"That is very nice," Louise grumbled with her 'manly man' voice, "But we don't care."

The girl actually looked hurt, as if somebody had snapped the neck of her favorite bunny.

"Louis!" Saito snapped curtly, earning only a click of the tongue from Louise, who crossed her arms over her chest tighter and looked away. "Forgive him, we traveled a long distance to get here, and he's still sour from being tired."

"Ah-No, you're very kind, mister adventurer," Josette said with a small smile. "I'll be going back to my friends now. I'm sorry for bothering you this late-"

"Tomorrow," Louise said curtly, "Wait for us," she added, looking at the girl with a snort. The girl simply smiled cheerfully, and after bowing to them both, she returned happily to where her 'friends' were. There was a light purple haired girl with green eyes wearing a simple black dress, without any frills, and a large muscular man with white hair and red tattoos over his face.

"She looked nice," Saito said simply.

"I didn't know you liked them so young," Louise growled, clutching the handle of her swordwand.

"But my heart is already taken," Saito continued, a hand to his chest. "My dear princess-"

"That would explain everything," Louise said with a chuckle, a smile once more set on her face. "Ah, Saito-seriously, you shouldn't joke on something like that," she shook her head.

As the dinner passed, they ended up sharing the same room -and the same bed- once more.

This time though, Louise's fingers clutched firmly against Saito's chest while falling asleep. Usually, she'd just give him her back or something similar.

Sighing, Saito's arms proceeded to engulf Louise's lithe body. Even if she put up a strong front, whenever she was scared, she'd end up showing it in her sleep. He didn't know when he had taken to hold her during her sleep, but one thing was sure.

He wasn't the only one suffering from nightmares.

Louise's at least stopped when she was held in someone's arms.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Fifty-Seven

The next morning saw a bright and shining day welcome a hair-rumpled Louise and a yawning Saito down in the inn's main hall early to catch the boat towards Albion.

Josette welcomed them with a smile that would have been fit for an angel, at least to Saito's interpretation. "Good morning!" she said cheerfully, only to receive a half-gurgling reply from Saito. On the other hand, Louise was quick to wake. "I'm Louis, adventurer, triangle water and fire mage," she said gruffly, extending a hand towards Josette. "We should make proper presentations."

"Oh! I'm so honored!" Josette said with a honest and awestruck voice, clutching the hand and shaking it like an overactive squirrel. "I'm Josette-I'm a Dot Water mage!" she smiled with such brightness that, if Saito had doubts on her being an angel descended from heaven, his doubts would have washed away under the light coming from that cheerfulness.

"This is Jeanette! She's quick on her feet and uses daggers! She's also an Alchemist-" as Josette made the presentation of the light purple haired girl, Saito instinctively took a step back, "And a Dot Wind mage!"

"Josette," Jeanette said with a warm smile, "I can present myself just fine," the girl said, making a prim bow which would have been enhanced had she been in a frilly ball gown, but which was pretty cute all by itself -if Saito could think so, and he most definitely could think so. He still took a step back because, as always, Alchemists always seemed to brew trouble wherever they went.

Oh, an alchemist 'Brewing trouble'. He most definitely had to use that joke sometimes.

"I am Jacques," the burly man behind both girls said. "I am their older brother," he looked down at the two adventurers and narrowed his eyes with the same glare an overprotective father would give a would-be son-in-law. The fact he had a big slab of iron on his back just made the glare all the more convincing. "Earth Dot."

"Well-" Saito said with a chuckle. "I'm just a normal mercenary," he scratched the side of his cheek. "But I'm good with any weapon."

As he mentioned that, he shifted his bow a bit to reveal pretty much the lance on his back, the sword by his hip, and the daggers by his belt.

"Oh, that's great!" Josette said cheerfully. "You must be seasoned adventurers then! Are you going to Albion to fight the war or to deal with the clean-up?" as she asked that, she began to walk out of the inn and towards the docks, which were placed quite high -since the ships were flying, they didn't really need to be 'ground level'. "I heard there are a lot of monsters now, and feral familiars-like young dragons, manticores, even a few Chimera!"

"What about you?" Louise asked in turn roughly. "Aren't you a bit too inexperience to fight a war?"

"It shows, doesn't it?" Josette asked with a slight wince. "But-you see, the Abbess really needed the money for the church, and we three, well, Gallia doesn't really have a mean to teach bastard daughters and sons in a fancy academy like the other countries have. We're all 'fallen nobles' bastards here, so we decided we'd stick together. We did small jobs around the abbey and got enough money for our 'big start'. And now here we are! If we're really good, we might even bring back a whole bag of Ecus for the Abbess!" there were stars in her eyes.

Such innocence was something that physically hurt to watch. If Saito had to describe Josette in one catchy sentence, it would be something like 'This cute girl can't be this innocent!'.

"Clean-up," Jacques said with a rumbling voice. "We will be doing clean-up."

"Yeah, that," Josette said with a sigh. "B-But we'd be really good in a fight! We took down that rabid dog, didn't we? It was terrorizing the countryside!"

"Josette-it was a mangy mutt that needed a piece of meat to stop being terrifying," Jeanette said kindly, sighing and shaking her head at the young girl's antiques. The more he looked at the Trio, the more it seemed less like they were brothers and more like Josette was the 'kid' of the father-mother duo.

The way Josette closed her eyes and moved the staff around seemed to settle it too, since she was kind-of trying her hardest not to show how embarrassed she was.

"That is more acceptable," Louis said suddenly, her expression a glare and her arms crossed in front of her chest. "Frankly, if you had told me you were going to fight in the middle of a battlefield I would have done everyone a service and had Saito knock you three out. He's fast enough he can do it," she glared next. "Didn't you think how worried the Abbess might be if all she'll see at the end of the day is only one of you coming back with the remains of the others? Fighting monsters isn't a game. Saito and I have the wounds to show for it! And enemy mages are terrifying! You never know what spells they might know, or how they might fight-haven't you heard the tales? There are a lot of bandit mages that are so strong, they can make lightning fall from the sky!"

"B-But the more dangerous the mission, the more money it makes!" Josette shot back.

"Money's not everything in life, kid!" Louise said hotly. "You need to know your limits," Saito coughed awkwardly, "When to stop," Saito coughed again, "When not to enter a fight you can't possibly win," Saito coughed even harder, "Saito, are you perchance sick?"

"No, no, just something in the back of my throat," Saito said with a light chuckle.

"Do you want a honey candy?" Louise asked with her 'manly' voice, propping out of her belt a small pouch. The trio of newly minted adventurers in front of the duo began to salivate like hungry wolves, and, just because Louise couldn't help but show pity and care, she offered a candy to each of them.

Five content adventurers thus walked upon the ship of Captain Morgan, who was apparently a lanky teen with blond hair and a foppish hat, with a rapier by his side. "Welcome! Welcome to all!" he said with wide gesture of his hat. "I am Captain Morgan Bleu, but you may call me 'Bleu'! This ship sails routinely to Londinium, so all are welcomed aboard! As long as you pay the fare, that is."

He wriggled his eyebrows, "Oh-Mademoiselles Josette and Jeanette! You two are splendid as the day we met-"

"Yesterday," Jeanette said flatly. "We met yesterday."

"Of course, but still I kept your lovely faces in my heart!" the teen said, his hat to his chest. "Well-" he looked at the two new arrivals. "We'll set sail as soon as we haggle out the price for the trip."

Louise's eyes shone at the word 'Haggle'.

Saito, simply, settled his back against the wooden guard of the ship and chuckled, muttering a quick prayer for the poor bastard.

In the end, when the ship set sail, they were simply hired to provide security for the duration of the trip rather than have to pay anything at all.

Louise was a fearsome monster when it came to haggling.

A fearsome, but ultimately cute, monster.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Saito held on to the wooden guard of the boat as it departed, his eyes watching with dread as the land below kept distancing itself, replaced by the vast ocean of blue water. Up above, in the far off horizon, the floating island of Albion was but a far-off dot. "It's said that once, Albion was a land just like any others," Josette said, her voice catching Saito off-guard as he was busy contemplating the clouds.

The boy turned to look at the dark haired girl, who held on to her staff. "The legends say that one day, the people of Halkeginia decided to stop waging war against the Elves. They were tired of bloodshed, tired of not hearing the Founder's voice, and that they could just live in peace with the Elves if they stopped attacking."

Josette looked up at the floating island. "The gods took offense to that, and with thunder and shaking grounds they ripped the land of Albion off the ground and into the sky, where it will stay until the point where, tired by mankind's inaction, it will come crashing down on our heads and punish the wicked, the sinner, and the heretic."

She clutched on to her staff then, and smiled awkwardly. "That is what the Abbess used to say. If you do something naughty, and you aren't caught just yet, it doesn't mean the Gods approve. It just means the island has yet to fall on your head," she fidgeted with her fingers together. "I-I hope I'm not boring you, Mister Saito? It's just that Jacques' sick and Jeanette is taking care of him, so I'm feeling a bit lonely-"

"It's fine," Saito said. "Louis' busy running around like a little kid. It's his first time on a flying boat, and he wants to savor the feeling," he added. There was an awkward few minutes of silence, neither knowing what to speak of.

"So-" Josette said, breaking the silence first. "You fought lots of strong creatures?!" her eyes were shining and sparkling jewels of curiosity, her fists held tightly beneath her chins to grab at the hem of her clothes, she looked up with pure hope on her face.

Saito smiled, and brightly began to recount his adventures. The girl had wide eyes all throughout his tales, and as she ended up sitting down to keenly listen on, so too did Saito do the same.

"And there was that time with the man-eating plants! I had Louis slung over my shoulder, a sword in hand, and these things with teeth coming down to eat me! And there was this golem following us-it was really a nasty situation, there seemed to be no escape!"

"Oh!" Josette had both hands in front of her face, her skin pale. "That must have been scary!"

"It wasn't, not really," Saito replied. "It was annoying, kind-of. I used my sword to cut my way quickly through the plants, while the golem was too slow and had to slow down. Also-I discovered the mage's familiar was a spider, so when I found out-" a hand gingerly gripped his shoulder, and as he turned, Louise's kind and loving smile clearly showed itself through the mask, together with her gaze.

"Saito-are you filling the girl's head with nonsense?" Louise asked in her 'manly' and 'angry' voice. "Did you tell her of those times I saved your life? Like against those mercenaries?"

"I was getting to that part, Louis," Saito said. "Maybe later-"

Josette's eyes were wide as Louise took over Saito's role, and as she clapped in sheer thrill, she remained a dutiful listener until the very end.

"You are both so awesome!" Josette said, "I hope I can be like you one day!" she clasped both of her hands tightly as if praying, her eyes holding tears of delight in their corners. "Do you both adventure for the thrill of it? Or is there a lady you are trying to woo? Is it that perhaps you are already married? Oh! Were you banished because of forbidden love for a noble lady or-"

"N-Nothing of the sort!" Louise rambled out, crossing her arms in front of her. "Really! We just felt like it, and decided to start. Then everything else happened."

"So...you're adventurers for fun?" Josette asked, her brows furrowed and her expression puzzled. "But then-then there's no one waiting for you back home?" she asked next, a little bit of sadness creeping in her voice.

"I-It's not like that!" Saito exclaimed. "Look..." he sighed, "You have to understand it's not easy to say so," there were tears falling down Saito's eyes as he realized there was only one way out of the curious and innocent look on the girl's face. It was the only way, but even then, it hurt to say it, "Because there is a lot of prejudice-but the truth is that Louis and I...we are a couple."

"B-But you're both males," Josette said, looking from Louis to Saito. "How does that work?"

"That's-That's nothing a proper lady should know!" Louise snapped in a 'manly' voice, making Josette blink and wince at the shrillness of the voice. "Still! You have to keep it a secret. It's bad publicity, but-"

"So you had to escape in order to love each other!" Josette's eyes were suddenly sparkling once more as she grabbed one of Saito's and one of Louise's hands, uniting them with her own clasped over them. "That's just so beautiful! I am sure love will definitely triumph between you two!"

Saito's tears would have filled an ocean. He was never going to break free from this misunderstanding, was he?

"Josette!" Jeanette said from below the deck, only her head coming out. "Stop disturbing the two kind adventurers and get down here! Jacques' feeling better and we have to decide where to start looking for work!"

"Oh-Oh right!" Josette blinked as she let go of both of their hands, bowing primly as she waved them goodbye and hurried below deck.

"Louis-" Saito began, only for Louise to let go of his hand and sigh.

"There are a lot of people counting on us, Saito," Louise whispered. "We can't babysit a group of children-of orphan children-of orphan, noble bastards children-just because one of them has a sparkling 'please hug me now' look."

"Please?" Saito hazarded.

"Just as far as Londinium," Louise said firmly. "And anyway, it's just because we're headed in the same direction and a proud nun of Brimir would do that. Even if I'm not a nun," she added with her 'manly' voice. "So-only as long as we're looking for those things, and as long as they don't slow us down-" she gave him a soft glance. "You'd be horrible with children, spoiling them rotten."

Saito simply chuckled at that. "Well, I am too young to have children. Back where I'm from, you need to be at least twenty to be considered a proper adult."

"Strange," Louise said. "But it explains so, so much," Louise said, and then dropped down right by Saito's side, letting her back be held by Saito's shoulder. Holding a knee close to herself with both of her arms, she sighed.

Captain Morgan didn't move from the helm of the ship, simply whistling a catchy tune as the land of Albion drew closer and closer.

"Oh my," he remarked with a dry smile. "Just in time~" he said. A small group of drakes seemed to be flying nimbly down from Albion and towards the ship, "The welcoming committee."

It was a patrol of four Dragon Knights from Albion. Three were white and nimble, but one was instead crimson and slightly bulkier. "Three wind drakes and a fire one, standard practice then-"

It was only when they drew nearer that 'Captain' Morgan Bleu realized something.

The four dragons were devoid of knights.

This meant they were wild familiars.

This also meant the peaceful trip was about to turn very, very badly.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Fifty-Nine

The ship rolled suddenly to the side, making Louise yelp as Saito held on to her. "Trouble ahead!" Captain Morgan yelled from the helm, "Feral drakes! Three wind, one fire!"

The ship wasn't a galleon, and at most resembled an old whaler. It had no cannons, and held itself aloft by whatever magic engine it possessed, but it wasn't a fast one, that much was sure. The trio of wind drakes were upon them in seconds, their speed enough and their talons so sharp they cut through the wooden mast within mere seconds, rupturing it and making it crash on the side.

"Hold on!" the Captain yelled, even as Saito held on to Louise's arm with one hand, and clutched on to the boat's guard with the other.

The ship that had begun to roll on one side suddenly swerved back in alignment, but the trio of white drakes on the ship showed their teeth and fierce claws, slamming against what they perceived to be the weakest and tastiest morsel. Unfortunately for them, with the bridge back to being flat, Saito was on his feet with the poleaxe in both of his hands.

"Oh look Louis! We went from three gryphons to three dragons!" Saito said with mock-cheer. "This is going to be a great day! I just know it!"

Louise didn't answer, busy as she was chanting a quick spell with her wand, the tiny sphere of pure white appearing on it within mere seconds. "I'm taking the one on the left!" she said next resolutely, rushing ahead as Saito did the same for the other two, swinging the poleaxe with enough strength against the side of the head of one of the drakes that the impact didn't just shatter the weapon, but also half of the dragon's face.

The creature fell down dead, much to its fellow's surprise.

"Myur?" the creature said in a soft murmur, before turning its sharp, hateful eyes on Saito, who had moved to his sword next. "MYUR!"

The drake rushed forth, its claws ripping at the surface of the ship, but just as its fangs were about to impact against Saito's shield, a resounding explosion made him slip, snapping an inch away from his intended target. Saito took that as the cue to sidestep the head and bring the sword down in a piercing thrust that went straight through the neck, hitting a vein and letting the blood spray out.

Yet it wasn't enough to kill the creature on the spot, who simply swiped with his claw in an arch at Saito's small frame, who would have jumped past it, if not for Louise giving her back to the attack, busy as she was trying to aim properly with the spell on the tip of her wand once more. Her drake was still standing, but had lost an eye and a quarter of its teeth. Thus, Saito had to hold his ground with his shield, entering a strength contest that he had no hope of winning, but which made him plant his sword on the ground and hold on for sheer life behind his shield.

In that moment, the fire drake landed on the front of the whaler and roared, opening its mouth with flames gathering within.

"Stop him!" Saito yelled, and as he did, from the deck below Josette emerged with a sphere of water easily the size...of Saito's head. The water struck the creature's snout, even the dragon's flames didn't as much as waved because of it. The water vapors, however, were a sickly green that didn't escape the boy's eyes.

Jacques emerged next, the large iron slab on his back clutched firmly with both hands. He jumped right in front of the dragon, and through magic, the iron slab began a giant battering hammer that slammed against the side of the creature's face, pulverizing and making it slip its hold.

When Jeanette emerged, Saito's dragon had turned to face him with both claws, the blood giving him a faint rosy color near its neck. A dagger flew through the air and hit Louise's dragon in the remaining eye, making the creature go blind as it screamed, before the tiny sphere of white exploded against it's already damaged head, splattering remains everywhere on the main deck.

The last wind dragon looked angrily as it swished its tail, before opening its wings and trying to jump off. He did not go far as Captain Morgan jumped on one of its wings with his rapier and sliced it neatly, the membrane shattering and bleeding. "Oh no, I'm bringing your carcasses up for reagents to repay the damages done to my ship!" the Captain said hotly, "En Garde, vile beast!"

In answer, the dragon pulled its body forward, jumping with all four of its legs upon the middle of the deck and making it crack, splinters of wood sailing everywhere.

It dug one claw through the bridge as Louise finished chanting for yet one more explosion, and even as Saito rushed for him, the once-familiar drake knew how to disable a flying ship from sheer experience. There was a resounding crack, and a blast of wind ripped asunder the very deck they were on.

Just as that happened, the explosion from Louise's wand tore apart the dragon's head, leaving nothing behind but a cauterized headless corpse.

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done.

"Saito!" Louise screamed as she was flung away, only for Jeanette to grab her arm at the last possible second, preventing her from falling down to her doom. Still, the boat was starting to capsize again.

"Louis!" Saito yelled in return, even as he clung on to a piece of rope from the ship that was losing altitude. Well, not all of the ship was, just most of it. The part that wasn't seemed to be a mass of pulsating rocks that was easily breaking through the already damaged bridge, and upon which Saito set his sights.

He didn't know how they worked, only that they had to go up rather than down, and he had to act fast.

He dropped his shield and sword, clutched on to the dagger, and ran up to the massive rock -the windstone engine- that kept rising in the air. With the rope, he made a quick jump over it and tied it as quickly as he could, dagger in his mouth. He didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He rushed to the other end of the boat just as the engine finally broke free from the wooden remains of the bridge.

His hand clutched on tightly to Louise's wrist, while Josette's staff grabbed his foot to hold on. Tightly holding on to the dagger in his mouth, Saito could taste his own blood as his teeth dug in the cold metal, while his limb pulled Louise up, his other one busy not being wrenched out of its socket by the combined effort of holding with his foot Josette and Louise's lithe frame.

With his partner firmly secured to the rope, he hoisted up Josette, just as the rest of the crew somehow were floating on to the rock by themselves.

"Levitate is a very useful spell when you are the captain of a flying ship," Captain Morgan Bleu said with a gasp of relief as he held on to the rope, his feet firmly planted on the windstones. "This is not how I planned to make the trip, by the way," he added. "I was thinking I could get you kids safely to Londinium and then be on my way to get pretty chicks at a nearby hovel!"

"Is that all you can think about, you perverted captain!?" Jeanette actually spoke shrilly, holding on for dear life. "Just-Just how are we supposed to get back down?!"

"Well, not my fault," the Captain said. "I hired you two to protect my ship!" he added, looking at Louise and Saito.

"Well, maybe if your ship had been a bit stronger-" Louise snarled back. "Saito, are you holding up all right?"

"I'm fine, Louis," Saito said, smiling even as he held on. "Will we capable of reaching land with this?" he asked.

The Captain smiled. "Depends. Anyone of you a Wind Mage?" at Jeanette's huffed nod, he smiled, "Great! Then we aren't going to crash and die horribly! Try to put a small dot spell inside the windstones closest to Mister Saito when I tell you to. It should make us move in the opposite direction, closer to the land-important thing is getting close enough and up enough that we can levitate down-cause otherwise, it's going to be a massive pain in the ass otherwise."

"Ah-but Mister Saito's not a mage," Josette said. "I'll-I'll help him down!" she said resolutely.

"Oi!" Louise said snappishly. "Why not me?"

"Mister Louis-you didn't cast Levitate when you were falling. Do you perhaps not know it?" Josette asked shyly. "I thought-"

"Well, I don't know it. Never bothered learning it. Never cared for it. I really like the ground!" Louise snarled in her 'manly' voice. "Still, I'd rather it was your brother -he's stronger and can probably carry more weight."

"Oh, I see-you don't need to fear! I won't come between your love! I mean-it's a beautiful thing to be jealous-"

"WHO. IS. JEALOUS." Louise roared, making the engine shake a bit.

"Louis! Calm down!" Saito yelled, holding on for dear life. "How long till we reach the top?"

Captain Morgan Bleu hummed, closing one eye and looking at the landmass up above. "I'd say...three hours at the current rate of ascension. Oh, and you all would do better to strap in. It's going to get pretty cold once we reach the clouds. Did you know they're made of water? Cold, cold, water?"

Nobody laughed.

Everyone simply did the wise thing and held on tighter to the rope.