Chapter Thirty-Six
When Saito opened his eyes, he was within clean bed sheets. The sun's rays came in from the nearby windows, and the room was a white candor that made his eyes kind-of bleed. He winced from the refraction of the light, and narrowed his eyes looking sideways, where a half-asleep Louise was holding her arms crossed beneath her chin, her sleeping face all scrunched up in worry.
She twitched her nose and then made a cute little sneeze before waking up suddenly, rubbing her eyes still blurry from sleep. "You woke up," Louise said with a sigh of relief. She was without her mask, and her strawberry blond hair shone with a hundred different colors, each prettier than the last one. The mask was on the bed sheets in front of her, held with one of her hands.
"Yeah," Saito nodded. "Are we at an inn?" Saito asked, although with the fact there were at least a dozen beds around the large room, it felt more like a school infirmary than an actual inn room.
"No," Louise said, shaking her head. "We're at the Tristain Magical Academy," Louise added. "Lady Charlotte saved us while returning from her shopping trip in Tristain." She squirmed slightly. "She had to use pretty costly reagents to save your life, so-we are indebted to her."
Saito furrowed his brows. "I...see?"
"Also," Louise added, swallowing noisily. "You-You know the guy that attacked us? He-well, he didn't make much sense if he wasn't an assassin out for my life," she looked downcast. "So I opened Cardinal Mazarin's letter, I know I shouldn't have, but-but you know, I just wanted to know if the man had something to do with him or not-"
She pulled the letter out and bit back a choking sob. "The letter says I'm an impostor and that he simply left it up to the Duchess to deal with me," she clutched the already crumpled note in her hands. "Apparently Father Christoff tried to advance his position in the church by claiming I was someone I wasn't, and the Cardinal checked-and...and he found proof I wasn't who I claimed I was, and so he simply sent me to the Duchess so that I could get killed or something. He didn't sign the letter, but it's not like anyone else could have written this but his Eminence, right?"
She bit back another sob. "He-He could have just told me I wasn't the Duchess' daughter! He didn't have to send an assassin after me!"
"That-That doesn't make any sense," Saito said. "If that was the case-why not just wait until we reached the Duchess?"
"Maybe...Maybe he just thought we'd open the letter midway and forge another?" Louise hazarded. "I-I don't know how the man thinks, but I know I was simply holding on to a make-belief family that never existed in the first place!" as she wailed that out through a hiss, she clutched the sheets of the bed.
"You can't know that. Maybe he's lying in the letter just like he lied to us while we stayed at the palace-" Saito pointed out. "We could at least go and meet the Duchess. She won't kill us for that, will she?"
"Sure, why not," Louise said with a dry chuckle. "As if she'd meet two random adventurers while she's busy along the border. We'd have to catch up to her, and then near her and say 'look, my hair color's the right one, but I've got no other proof that I'm your daughter so tell me if I'm right or wrong'."
"Would you rather not ask?" Saito asked warily. "Come on-there's no harm in trying, is there?"
"Claiming to be someone's daughter from a noble family and then not being one carries the death sentence," Louise said in a whisper. "The Cardinal went as far as to hire an assassin to stop me from reaching the Duchess, and-and what if he was simply protecting the Duchess from another heartbreak? I mean," Louise sadly shook her head. "Me being the daughter of a noble? It was too good to be true."
Saito shook his head firmly. "No, too many things don't make sense, Louise-"
"Luise," Louise said. "Just-call me Luise and let's forget about this. We can continue looking for a way to bring you back home and-"
"Louise," Saito snapped at her firmly, sitting himself up and grabbing a hand of the girl, his eyes staring at hers with a firm gaze. "You have to at least try. If she sees you and doesn't think that you're her daughter, then you don't need to tell her anything. You can't be accused of faking being her daughter if you don't tell her anything, right? You could be walking down the street when she sees you, and that would be all-unless she nears you, but then it would be her starting this, wouldn't it?"
Louise bit her lips in thought. "Right-but...but what if she doesn't see me at all? You know how nobles are-"
"With the hair you have? She'd have to be blind or wearing a blindfold," Saito said. "Let's continue heading for the border, and see if we can find where she is. We will just claim we're adventurers and leave everything about the Cardinal behind us. I'm sure a mother would recognize her daughter if she saw her."
Louise took a small breath. "I-If that's true...it still doesn't change the fact we owe Lady Charlotte our lives and have to at least pay her back."
"How are our finances?" Saito asked with a wince, already dreading the price they'd have to pay.
Louise shook her head. "It's not a matter of money. Lady Charlotte actually needs a couple of adventurers to gather some things for her. Her familiar's too big and bulky to pick flowers and stuff like that. I still think it's too little to pay her back, but-" she clenched her fists, "I'm glad she seems like a nice person. She could have asked for anything, really."
Saito took a deep breath, and then winced as he pushed his body to the side of the bed. "Seems like I slept enough then," he said. "The sooner-the sooner we get started, the sooner we can go."
"Ah! No, you've got to rest," Louise said firmly, grabbing hold of Saito's arm and pulling him back on the bed. "You can't exert yourself yet! You stopped breathing, Saito! That's-that's all kinds of bad!"
Louise's fingers trembled as she held on to Saito's arm. "Just-just stay put, and I'll get to it. You did enough protecting me, and the reagents are just in the woods nearby-it won't take me long to get them, and-"
"Louise, the assassin is still at large," Saito said. "There's no way I'm letting you go alone!"
"But-" Louise looked away. "You'll just get hurt again!" she snapped at him. "And you might die, and this time there might not be anyone nearby that can help! And I don't want that, Saito! I don't want you to die protecting me! How am I ever going to bring you back home if you die here!?"
Saito looked sadly at Louise, and then shook his head. "We are partners, right? So we do the job fifty-fifty. I protect you, and you make things explode. It's normal for me to get hurt, I'm the meat shield-it doesn't mean you're not doing your side of the job! Like how you made those armored men sleep, or blew up that golem the first time around-I couldn't have done that, but I could keep you safe until you did it."
Louise took a small breath, and nodded once. "If-if that's what you want then...then I should tell you that you are no longer my familiar-the runes...they disappeared while you slept. I think it's because you stopped breathing, but...but you're free now, Saito. If-if you don't want them-"
Saito's eyes went down to the back of his hand were, indeed, no runes were to be seen anywhere on the skin. "Ah-Oh," he blinked. "Then...I guess we need to get those back. I mean, not being able to fight makes me kind of a weak partner to have."
"Are you sure?" Louise asked once more. "I mean, really sure? We can just...I don't know, take things slower-"
"Louise," Saito said flatly. "We are not running away from the confrontation with your maybe-mother."
Louise nodded, and pulled out her wand. "Well then-by the power of the pentagon of the five elements..."
When the words were said and the wand touched Saito's chest, Louise swallowed noisily and used both hands to grab Saito's cheeks. "This-well, you know it definitely means absolutely nothing."
Her lips locked with his for just a brief instant, and then she pulled away, taking a few deep breaths. "Here, it should be done-" and indeed, on the skin the runes appeared once more.
There was a knock by the window, rather than by the door, and as Saito frowned and moved his head to look, Louise quickly put her mask back on, clutching on to it as if it were a lifeline.
"You are in a relationship?" a third voice asked, as she stepped inside from the window, it was the blue-haired girl that had saved them, and who was apparently raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"It's-it's not what you think, lady Charlotte-" 'Louis' said, sheepishly looking away.
"It is fine," Charlotte said with a nod. "Love is beautiful no matter those involved," she added before looking towards Saito. "You can walk?"
"Oh, yes," Saito nodded, getting out of the bed and stretching. "As long as I get my stuff back, I'm ready to go!"
"Saito!" Louise hissed, "Show some respect to the noble lady that saved your life!"
Saito sheepishly scratched the back of his head and then bowed deeply. "I'm sorry! And-and thank you for saving my life, Lady Charlotte!"
The girl simply shook her head with a small smile on her lips. "That is fine. This...this is the list of ingredients I need," Charlotte said, pulling out a thick looking parchment from her robes. "The majority of those...are around the woods. This-" she pulled out a thick looking book, "Has pictures of what you are looking for," she added. "Please take care of bringing back exactly what is shown on the picture. Many plants are...poisonous, a few are...venomous, and some of the animals can be dangerous."
"I'm sure it won't be a problem, Lady Charlotte," Louise said with an eager nod as she opened the parchment, and then blanched at the first item in the list -the very long list. "There's a wyvern in the woods?"
"And a basilisk," Lady Charlotte added softly. "And an Hydra, and two large worgs, a specter-a couple of young dragons-"
Louise took a deep breath, and then nodded. "We will return with the ingredients asked, or die trying."
"Please don't," Charlotte said with a worried look. "That is merely the complete list of what I need. Start with what you feel you can acquire and then move up until you have them all. Bring back what you managed to find by the end of the day-many might spoil otherwise. Don't overexert yourself too much...it's not good for your health."
The duo of adventurers simply nodded, and bowed once more before leaving.
Charlotte watched the two go and stifled back a light giggle.
She really should tell about two male adventurers being together to her friend Kirche, but if she did that, the girl would try to 'fix' the two by using herself. It was better not to.
And it was a refreshing change of pace to have people near her who didn't know she was the heir to the throne of Gallia after her cousin's...untimely...
No.
Charlotte shook her head. It was better not to remember.
"Kyuuh?" Sylphid asked from the window.
"I'm coming, Sylphid," Charlotte said softly. "I know we have lessons starting soon."
She walked out through the window soon after, and as Sylphid brought her back down to the level where her classroom was, she stepped in through the window again.
"Lady D'Orleans-" the teacher sighed. "Please...doors are there for a reason."
She knew that as well.
It was also why she refused to swing one open.
