Crowe here!
Aria here~
And we're back to start off "Season 2" of Zero's Grace! We're so sorry it took us a while to post this chapter out, but there had been numerous events that kept us both busy to write back to this chapter. Actually, we have planned to release this chapter waaaaaaaaay back in August, in fact half of this chapter was already written then. It was simply unfortunate there was a sudden change in plans to how our College Schedule would work out. Of course, there had been other numerous personal problems and such, but most importantly: we also changed how this story will go through after trial and error, and we're finally happy to say that we now have a good direction of where this story will go! Now that's enough from us for a bit!
Of course, this will be a short chapter, considering this will be a Prologue to the coming "Trumpets of War" Arc, or TWA for short. Anyways, we're back now, and expect some daily updates per month! Hopefully, this chapter would be worth the wait. After all, we're starting off with a bang.
This story isn't M-Rated for nothing.
EXTREME TRIGGER WARNING
First off, we'd like to thank everyone who chose to follow and favourite this story during the time we were gone! Thank you so much for the support(we're also assuming that some of you have gone back to reread this fanfiction from chapter 1 to the latest~). Hopefully, we will still be able to hold up to your expectations! Now, for the reviews we've been craaaaving to answer!
verifiaman, indeed it was hellsing! Thank you for reading and your continued support, we hope this chapter will be worth the wait.
Artyom-Dreizehn, thank you for reading, and for your gracious feedback! Wow, we truly do not deserve to be praised as much, but thank you! We're happy that you consider this fanfic as a proper light novel, we hope that it grows more than just the feel of a light novel though. Your question will finally be answered in this chapter, so better start reading! You'll see more of how the Butterfly Effect will affect this story. We based some of the decisions here on that after all~ Aria: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, I KNOW RIGHT, BUT CROWE DIDN'T WANT TO PUT THAT DETAIL IN. I personally find it too annoying and just end up tying my own hair back so it won't bother me whenever I doodle. He reasoned out something about how "every few sentence, or at least once a paragraph, we'll end up needing to write Mipha having to keep moving her anime hair to the side." Though, he does have a plan to tie that in, but frankly I'm displeased with how he's going to put that in. You'll find out soon what I mean!
flo463, thank you for reading and choosing to give our story a chance despite the preference! Don't worry, Saito here will continue to have his traditional harem, but only in a more realistic and gritty sense compared to how he developed his harem in the anime. You'll only get to find out soon what will happen to him next! Unfortunately, it's not a reference to Kane, Command And Conquer. It's the speech from the Major, a character from Hellsing, which is who this fanfiction's Cromwell is based of!
OmegaDelta, truly Halkegenia isn't prepared for the demon we've decided to unleash. Thank you for your feedback, we hope you continue reading and like this chapter despite its shortness!
Xinfo, thank you for reading, and the feedback! Hopefully, we hope you like this chapter!
Crowe: Yes, truly the best villain monologue in anime. It's crazy how great it is no matter what dub in language it is! KRIEG! KRIEG! KRIEG!
Aline1, thank you for reading, and the feedback! We truly hope to make the chaos gods proud, but Tristain and Halkegenia will need more than one hero to save them.
ultima-owner, thank you for reading, and your continued support! We hope you like this new chapter, despite how long it took us to put it out.
Crowe: I've thought that Cromwell was such a waste of a minor villain that we had decided to level him up a bit. It's actually not that far off from the original intents the Cromwell had from both the Light Novel and Anime. We just decided to give a little more... "flair" into it.
The Dark Hour, thank you for the feedback, your continued support, and reading! Yes, we believe the same way as well how Mott's arc had been greatly skipped. It's such a great time for Siesta's character development, but it was wasted so much from the many fanfics we've read. We wished to change that here, where everything is all about character development and how the choices they make will greatly affect the future! You'll find out soon what Saito is in this chapter.
Aria: Ah, about the whole, er, complicated thing from separated worlds, yeah oops~ It'll happen, BUT not in the way that it ruins the tempo of the story. We've already found out how to mix both stories together without making the story too complicated and ludicrous to even happen in a real story, we really racked our brains for it, you know? We can only hope that we execute it as well as we planned it to!
osterreicher97, thank you for reading and your feedback! Truly, Halkegenia is going to be demolished. We hope you like this chapter!
Crowe: Well, if the last chapter was darker and realistic, then I wouldn't know how to call this one, hahaha.
xhope14x, thank you for reading, and your support! We hope this is worth the wait for how we took the story next. We truly stepped it up here with the first POV, and hope it won't be too much.
Nemoskull, thank you for reading, and your feedback! Surely, our fanfic isn't that good to be rare, but thank you regardless! We're still developing right now, and we hope to develop our skills further alongside this story! We hope you continue reading along with us.
Guest#1, thank you for reading, we hope you're still reading this story and continue to support it!
Crowe: You could say that Mott had all been chewed out :'))
Aria: Don't make jokes anymore.
Crowe: I'm sorry, I'll properly reflect about that.
Guest#2, thank you for reading, and, uh, managing to stomach what happened about the whole dick-memberment and the dungeon thing. We're glad that you think we did a wonderful job, hopefully that we'll be able to keep that standard! Though, we'll warn you since this chapter is definitely leagues more disturbing than the previous 2 chapters. Please, proceed with caution.
Guest#3, thank you for reading, and hope you continue to support this story!
Aria: Though, hopefully we're right in thinking that you're Guest#1, but, uhm, we wished to make sure so we made you Guest#3 instead!
Crowe: We're glad you liked the phrase, but, uh, we just pretty much stuck some random words in google translate. We have no ability to speak French at all, so sorry about that. We'll properly reflect on the topic.
NOW, without further adieu, enjoy the prologue of the new chapter you've all been waiting for!
Saito
The cold winds brushed against the cold and dark streets of Albion. His hooded cloak fluttered against the wind, and a shiver went down his spine as his skin made contact with the breeze. His trusted weapon was hidden from sight and chose to stay silent. Derflinger choosing to remain silent was a rare occasion, and normally, it was one that the boy celebrated. Preferably with a swig of a cold drink, and some wonderful warm meal that would fill his stomach However, such an occasion wasn't then. A distant explosion shook the buildings, and Saito's trained ears picked up on them. He loathed the fact that he could immediately recognize what that entailed. That damned Viscount drilled all of the information in his head, and he knew his adopted "sibling" wanted him to make no room for error. The scars he had received from the lightning bolt that blasted Wardes had inflicted on him ensured that during his earlier months of training. The event of how he almost got his identity slipped out when the guard caught him the night before almost gained him a new scar. Fortunately, his "esteemed sibling" felt merciful as he was still in a daze from that cruel horrible man's speech.
Still, he no longer had any time to lose. He dashed down the cold streets, the wind only picking up around him as his steel boots pounded against the pavement. The noise of steel hitting stone echoed in the streets, but only drowned out by the shouts and screams of people ahead of him. He cursed, and drew out his sword. His muscles were tensed, and his already fragile will was gathering all courage to fight. Derflinger made a distinct clicking noise to show its disgust. "I know Derf, but we don't have any other choice now, do we?!" Saito shouted in frustration, and Derf remained silent once again. The sword fully knew well what the boy meant. Saito had only been born in a poor man's family. He was a mere commoner, and was taken up by chance by that blasted Viscount. It was simply his salary that kept his family alive. He could've reported this to the authorities and received an ample reward, but he knew for certain that would only mean the very organization he was in will start targeting him, and his family. Truly, he had no other choice than working as a child soldier for the Viscount. He continued to dash down the streets, his heart only racing from both fear and his running. After a sharp turn he made, his eyes beheld the chaos that erupted before him.
He had already seen this sight on countless times; though, it never stopped his body from reacting the way it should. He felt the bile reach up the top of his throat, and his stomach heaved from disgust. He made a retching noise, as he tried his best to keep his composure. He knew that if he were any lesser man, like the one he was before, then he would've fainted. After all, who wouldn't before this sight? There were the organs and blood splattered on walls and streets; ones barely masked by the singed burns and black marks of explosives. The fowl stench that permeated the air reached his nose, the horrible scent of shit, blood, and piss all created a disharmony that threatened to make Saito leave the area. There were men fighting against each other, but it was incredibly easy to tell the difference. Saito watched on with a disturbed look at the manic grins on the Reconquista's Soldiers' faces, and fear on the other set of soldeirs. If one looked closer, there would be an extra disturbing detail that not even one person would dare overlook. It was one detail that Cromwell had suggested, and the one that further cemented it for Saito that Cromwell was no ordinary insane man. The mere ideas that came from the madman made his blood run cold, and the fact that he was being supported sent several alarms in his head. There were red objects with strings on top that were lit, ones that Saito could remember that Cromwell had called "dynamite". These red objects were strapped around the one side of the soldiers' body, the team that Saito could recognize as his… "fellow" soldiers.
He could remember the one person who opposed this idea, but was immediately fried to dust by that Sheffield person. He honestly couldn't tell what happened. She just snapped her fingers, and lightning struck through the window in order to hit the target. It had left a very unwelcome memory for him, especially the conflicted green eyes Sheffield had when she did it.
Saito couldn't help but feel that Sheffield was in the same page as him.
There were shouts of fear from the other side, and what seemed to be like the leader of the dimming platoon was shouting for his men to retreat. Unfortunately, Saito knew that these men wouldn't be able to do so. There was a war cry from Reconquista's side, and they renewed their vigour of charge.
Saito couldn't bear to join in as he'd watched on helplessly from the sides. His grip on Derflinger had loosened, as his knees buckled at the very state of his allies, and enemies. Metal clanged against each other; metal scrapped against another that created a screeching pitch that would've deafened the ears. Footsteps stomped against the pavement, along with the cries of madmen and dying men
The very natural song of war.
A sword managed to bypass the defences of the soldier, and said soldier screamed in fear and pain as it pierced through his throat. The Reconquista soldier viciously pulled his sword up, decapitating the man, and shouted a war cry. Another soldier, far from that one, had exploded as the dynamites had finally reached the end of their fuse, causing a loud and sickening noise to send the entire battle into silence. The soldiers of the enemy team had all looked shaken, but it looked like it wasn't the first time they had seen it. Of course it wouldn't, there was one who already exploded earlier. A war cry then erupted once again from the insane soldiers, and continued to make their way towards Albion's defending forces. "R-retreat! Run, just don't bother!" the leader had shouted, who completely lost his morale due to the insane tactics that Reconquista had. Honestly, Saito couldn't blame him. Even he would've run at that state. The Albion soldiers let go of their weapons, and immediately turned tail to flee. Don't let anyone leave alive. Shivers went down his spine when Saito recalled his mission, and his sole reason for being here. The daunting and sharp eyes of the Viscount pierced into his soul, and his already ragged and bated breath only quickened. He tried to calm his nerves by breathing slowly and steadily, but it seemed like that hadn't been enough to stop his grip on Derflinger from shaking.
"… Pardn'er, I hate this more than you do, but it's like you've said. We don't have much choice," his partner told him. He hated how true Derflinger had spoken, and how accurate his statement was. He slowly raised his sword in front of him, and he idly watched what little light reflected off its rusty surface. It still hadn't been cleaned off its rust, no matter what kind of magical solution they used. "If it's any better, I share the blood you've stained in your hands. Well, quite literally as they are stained on my body. Pft, if they were a lady's juices then I wouldn't complain, know what I'm saying?" Saito cracked a smile despite the pressure. Derflinger truly knew him well enough to know the type of jokes to cheer him up. Unfortunately, that kind of cheering up was only effective for a second. It was war he was facing, and war demanded no comedy, nor joking around. It demanded blood. As a child of war, it will be blood that he will have to give. From his spot, he forced his shaking knees to move. He dashed off and intercepted the retreating soldiers. Unlike the last time he fought a soldier, he had the advantage- mostly due to being more prepared this time compared to his rather amateur-ish standoff with the soldier that pursuit him. He also had another advantage: soldiers were too busy trying to save their hides to even notice the small boy that had come to stop them from retreating. The result had been bloody and rough. It had been amateur-ish, and executed poorly.
It had been enough for the fleeing soldiers.
Saito cleaved through the fleeing platoon with ease, as he'd noticed that most of them were all too weary to fight back. They could only helplessly watch as Saito's blade neared their necks, and watch the blood that would soon be flooding out of their throat like a waterfall. His blade sliced through flesh with relative ease, it felt like butter despite the fact Derflinger was rusted. It was the power of a magical sword from what he could convene from this short yet terrifying experience. A few managed to make noises of alarm, and alerted their leader, who immediately stopped running and turned to face the prominent threat. His surprise could be seen from the way how wide his eyes were beneath the helmet. "I-it's-!" his voice cut short, quite literally as the tip of Derflinger's blade found its way to pierce through the man's voice box. The man could only make spluttering and odd noises as he slowly fell to the floor. Saito only watched coldly as it happened, and turned to look at the other soldiers who all had stopped in their tracks. They no longer had any weapons on hand, and all crumbled to their feet and began to cry. Grown men were crying, and begging him and the Reconquista soldiers for mercy. Saito only looked up from underneath his hood, and saw the Reconquista soldiers coming close.
"You've done well, boy. Please, send my regards to the Viscount. Glory to Cromwell, glory to Reconquista!" the leader of the platoon called out to him. Saito only nodded, fully knowing the reason why they could not report to Cromwell. He could hear the fear in the man's voice, and he could only bite his lip. There was nothing he could do anymore, as he could see the fuse reaching its end. Even if he tried to save them then, he would've only been caught up in the blast. He didn't wish to die, not when he had family to feed. He only merely turned around to leave, and ran. He never looked back, even when he heard the explosion just several feet behind him. His cloak billowed from the force of the explosions, and he could hear the crumbling of the houses behind him. In fact, he had stumbled in his steps from the wind behind him. It had been a disturbing noise as rocks fell upon bodies, and the sickening crunches of bones and flesh echoed in the streets. Derflinger remained silent, to mourn for the dead, despite his usual tendencies to provide a quick joke to try and lighten up Saito's mood. After all, there was simply no joke to be made- to be had in a situation like this.
The poor boy kept on running until he finally stumbled upon the new headquarters that Reconquista had. It was deeper into the slums, and well camouflaged by the amount of poor people that surrounded it. He took his time there to catch his breath, as he sat down on the foot of the door before the building and set the bloody Derflinger at his side. His next instruction was to not enter the building until his "Esteemed Brother" had arrived. It had been silence for the most part between Derflinger and Saito as the boy tried to live down his memories of being in that disgusting and horrible mess. He was only a young teenager in his 16s, something like this wasn't supposed to be something he should be seeing. His vision tunnelled, his breath hitched and his senses felt numb and cold. He could feel the sweat pour down his temples and soak his clothes; his surroundings, he could only barely hear them. It was like he was submerged underwater, and his hearing was being muffled by something.
"-to, Saito!" a rusty and old voice called out to him. His eyes widened, and he exhaled a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding in. He turned to the source of the voice, and it simply had been Derflinger who brought him out of his thoughts. He sighed shakily, and closed his eyes to calm his nerves. "Look, pardn'er, I get it that this is incredibly hard for you, but try to keep yourself together," it spoke out. Saito flinched from the tone Derflinger spoke to him, but he knew he was right. He raised his hands and slapped his cheeks, but the haunting screams were still there. Beside him, Derflinger let out a sigh. "As always, war never changes. It's still the same through and through, regardless of whatever you aim to fight for. It's always the youngsters like you are the victims," it spoke out. Saito listened to Derflinger numbly, as he'd raised his tired eyes and roamed over the surroundings. He spotted a weapon shop, and a small smile found its way to his lips. "Hmm? What's wrong, pardn'er? Finally got you to smile for once, is dark humour your thing?" it sounded scandalized, but Saito knew he was joking. Saito sighed annoyingly, but the smile never left his face.
"No, it's definitely not my type of humor, Derf. I just remembered the time when I first met you."
"Hoho, that's been what, 3 years, 2 years ago?"
"One year ago, Derf. One year," he said while she shook his head ruefully.
Derflinger let out a hearty laugh. "What can I say, I'm growing old. My memories not with me, I've lived for over many millennia now to count!"
"It was five millennia, Derf. You told me that."
"Have I really? Strange."
Saito let out a small smile as he'd tried to hum his problems away and leaned back. In order to avoid thinking about what happened, he drifted his mind to the time when he met Derflinger. Actually, he had met Derflinger by mere accident. It was during the time when he had broken his sword and that damned Wardes threw him back to Tristain to look for a worthy sword. Saito couldn't understand why he couldn't just pick one out of the armory, but his "Esteemed Brother" insisted. It had been his "mission" then to look for a weapon that would greatly benefit him- in the price of just less or equal to 100 Écu. It had been particularly tough for Saito as he'd looked over the weapon shops from the nearby villages, and finally the main town that was nearby the Academy. He could remember spotting a red haired lady that made him stop in his tracks. Dear Founder, she was gorgeous. The pink haired one and the busty maid one were fantastic too. He could remember having the need to crouch down on an alley to hide his "sword" underneath his pants too. Wait, wait, bad, bad, that's bad, Saito immediately thought when he could feel his little-self perked up in attention from his dangerous and risque thoughts. He shook his head, and tried to recall how he truly met Derflinger. He hummed as he remembered the owner of the shop, who practically threw Derflinger at him when he asked if there was anything he could buy for 100 Écu. It was only during the way back to Albion on an airship in his private room when the sword finally decided to speak.
It was both a terrifying and enlightening experience.
Ever since then, he grew a sense of camaraderie with Derflinger; mostly due to the shared perverted jokes he had with the sword. It was Derf who had provided comfort in the nights he was being plagued by his nightmares, and gave him confidence whenever he fought and made sure that there wasn't anyone around to hear him. It was also Derf who taught him how to fight, and not the way his "Esteemed Brother" had. He sighed. If only Derf was a human woman, then things would've been much better now that he considered the types of things he'd went through with the sword. In fact, it was creepy yet accurate enough to consider Derf as a wonderful housewife. "Oi, you're thinking about something perverted again," the sword called out to him. Wisely, Saito ignored it.
"Ah, Saito. You've arrived early," a voice called out to him. Immediately, Saito stiffened and turned to the one person who had that despicable voice. There stood before him was Wardes, who had blood on his face and calmly wiping it off with a cloth. "You've been doing great recently. Keep it up, though if only I could say the same right now," the Viscount spoke to him with grave looks in his eyes. Saito was confused.
"Why, what's wrong?"
"Some… unprecedented developments that halted and would most likely put our invasion of Albion on hold until we resolve this. You and I will need to go back home," Wardes said as he'd handed a letter to Saito. "Cromwell's orders."
Saito's expression took a similarly grave one as Wardes as he'd slowly opened the letter. He read the contents, and his eyes slowly widened as he continued reading. A foreign princess was said to be visiting the Tristain, and the kingdom she came from was apparently unknown. Immediately, Saito understood the reason why the invasion would be put on hold. He felt immediately glad for the letter, and his hope of freedom rose. There was an unknown factor now that could threaten Reconquista, but there was a more important reason. He now finally had a chance to cut his ties from Reconquista. If he could just meet this princess, then he knew he would be free.
Now, it was only a matter of patience.
Mipha
It had been several weeks since the incident with the Count, and the princess was very glad to say that she had finally come to terms with the events. While, granted that she still had a few nightmares about the manor that kept her up at night, they were all manageable. Compare those nightmares with the ones she had from the battle with that blight, they were mere sweet dreams. In fact, she had been living remotely happily now, as even Louise had cheered up from the incident, as did Siesta. However, of course, there was a rather unfortunate side effect. Ever since the incident with Mott, it was now inevitable that the former Zora Princess would draw attention from the surrounding nobles, and the Crown Princess herself. She could remember Louise had broken into a panicked state over how they should handle the situation, until Siesta suggested that Mipha didn't wish to be disturbed.
Obviously, Mipha disagreed with that. She was completely fine with entertaining the guests; she believed that it was simply quite rude to send them away after they came from so far away just to meet her. It was part of her training as a royalty to entertain guests too, whether unwanted or the other. Unfortunately, her vote was outweighed from two to one. Ever since then, Mipha had been forcibly hidden in Siesta's room while Siesta and Louise sent the nobles away in disappointment of not being able to see the fabled "red-haired goddess". Kirche and Tabitha heard about this predicament in just mere hours after their first plan had been developed. Of course, being the good friends they were, they took it upon themselves to "protect" Mipha. Though, the ex-Zora would admit that the Germanian's methods were rather unorthodox. It was what Mipha knew what Daruk would say as "Overkill". In fact, the red head didn't understand what Kirche had planned to do with the suitors that she had caught. When she questioned the Germanian about this though, she only got the answer of a wink, and a teasing laughter.
On the flip side, the five of them were pretty much inseparable. They all enjoyed each other's company during their lunch breaks, even during the times when there were nobles outside. That day happened to be one of those days when they enjoyed tea together. It was the break time in the afternoon, where Louise's classes had just ended, and Mipha was finally free to exit Siesta's room to avoid being hunted down by her sudden influx of suitors. Though there was certainly no lack of suitors for the princess. The spectators could testify for that, as they'd watched the amount of male students grovelling at their feet before the pinkette. Their determination went that far just in order to speak, or even breathe the same hair as the princess.
"Ugh, won't these people ever catch a break?" Louise grumbled as she'd flicked her wand and casted a spell that softly escaped her lips. On the instant, a bright light sparked through and exploded underneath the floor of the groveling nobles, who all shouted in indignation as a response. She huffed when she heard them complain, and simply turned away with closed ears. The princess could only smile ruefully as she watched it happen. She sighed, and waved at the males who looked like they were about to attack the pinkette. It seemed like that was enough for them as they all sighed and left- eager to try again on another day. Honestly, Mipha was troubled with the harsh methods they used.
"Oh, hush, Mipha. You know that this is for your own good," a sultry voice spoke to her side, and Mipha sighed again. She disliked anything that could result to harm; well, perhaps the incident with the Count was a completely exception.
"I know, but it's just… Isn't that too much?" the princess trailed off as she'd frowned at the leaving students. While she understood that it was truly for her best, as she could remember her first week of being labelled as some sort of "goddess". That hadn't been a remarkably fun week.
"Nothing will ever be too much for them," Louise grumbled as she pulled a chair and sat herself down on the table of five friends. The only signifier that Tabitha was paying attention was her very subtle nod, and a quick sip of her tea. Siesta chuckled nervously from Louise's remark, as she poured a cup of tea for the pinkette. The young mage gave the maid a curt nod of gratitude, and sipped on her tea. She nodded approvingly. "You've finally caught my taste. I'm impressed," she said with all the dignity of a noble. Siesta's face lit up at that, and it was evident through the bright smile that currently donned the maid's face.
"Why, praise is beyond me, I'm not worthy of it, Miss Vallière," she said with mock shock on her features as she bowed her head. That caused different reactions on the table, whereas Mipha and Kirche were chuckling at the maid's antics, while Louise was embarrassed and turned her head away. Tabitha looked up momentarily and gave Siesta a thumbs-up. Siesta's apparent fondness of acting only grew since the incident, and when the princess asked her about that out of curiosity, the maid had replied "since I'm not that strong physically and magically, I need to be strong in somewhere else! So, I'll start out with learning to act, and maybe I can, uhm, trick people so I can get off nicely". The answer had caught the princess off guard, and Mipha felt admired of the maid's conviction. Whatever happened in the manor seemed to have sparked the sense of duty and courage within the maid. Why, that was the very reason why she had grown to tease her and the others more as day passed.
"Hmph, insolent maid. You dare joke about my praise?" the pinkette tried to raise her voice, but a moment's twitch of her lips said it all that Louise was simply joking back. Siesta had immediately rose up from her bowing form, her eyes wide, and her eyebrows all the way up her hairline. She quickly raised her hands, and waved them from side to side. "N-No, I wouldn't dare! Especially if it comes from such a talented noble such as yours truly," the maid spoke out, but that only served Kirche to gradually laugh. The princess, however, didn't have the leisure to. Mipha immediately turned her attention to Louise to gauge her reaction, but was only surprised when the pinkette had actually snorted from the joke, and tried to compose herself. That brought a warm smile to the red head's face, which the consequences could be heard as a few of the male students watching from afar had all fallen into the grass from the princess' beauty. She felt proud of Louise for being able to take the awful jokes now in stride. It had been her talent that had bothered the pinkette, but now that she was actually able to cast spells and progress with them, it had been like a weight was gone from her shoulders.
"Oh, talented, I see? Well, perhaps I should demonstrate one of my talents then, as a gift to someone who appreciates me," the pinkette said as she threateningly rose her wand. This time, genuine horror broke into Siesta's face, but nothing else happened. After all, Louise finally cracked and began to laugh along with Kirche. "H-hey, that wasn't fair!" Siesta complained, but there was a smile on her face regardless. Mipha had to let out a soft chuckle from the interactions between the two, while Tabitha had the faintest features of a smile on her lips. "Dear Founder, Siesta, your talent in acting has grown quite superbly. Though, you did break your character by the end," Kirche criticized. The maid only sheepishly scratched her cheek as a response. The table continued their cheery laughter, and took a few seconds to calm down.
"Regardless, Siesta, you've made this tea up to my tastes now. Well done," Louise said again, which Siesta took wholeheartedly this time. Mipha made a gesture for Siesta to sit down as well, which the maid gratefully took. She took the seat next to Tabitha. The bluenette only reacted by nodding her head. Kirche chuckled at the display between the two. "I never would've thought that in my entire life that the Zero would treat a commoner so kindly," the Germanian said. The pinkette blinked for a second with her eyebrows furrowed on her forehead. Kirche waved her off, and leaned back. "A lot of things have changed for us, huh. When I first came here, I honestly thought that I'd be fighting you for the entire time as a rival, Louise. Though, I guess that hasn't changed," she said with a glint in her eyes. That glint worried the princess, as she now looked alternatively between her master, and the pseudo-Gerudo. The pinkette only let out a dignified harrumph, before she took a sip of her cup. "I'll just let you know, Kirche, but I don't plan on losing!" The Germanian laughed at that, and took a sip of hers.
"We'll see, especially on the upcoming exhibition in two days," she followed up as she set her cup down. She grinned at Louise, who took a while to process that information, and Mipha had to admit, she was quite confused. What exhibition Kirche was talking about, she had no idea at all. Though, as the princess watched the rose cheeks of the pinkette turn pale by the second, she immediately thought that it was a bad thing. Just only seconds later and the pinkette let out a truly distressed shout as she clutched the sides of her head with her small hands. "Argh, I forgot about that! The princess is supposed to arrive too, how am I supposed to prese- introduce Mipha when she's already widely known all over Tristain!" She muttered loudly enough for everyone around her to hear. That put a little damper on the teasing mood Kirche had, and she chuckled nervously for it. The princess could only smile sheepishly as she looked at Louise with a bit of remorse from her expressions. Mipha knew she could've handled the situation more carefully, but it'd already happened. There was nothing they could do now.
"Tabitha, do you have any suggestions how we can, uhm, deal with this?" Siesta asked the one member of the smalle circle of friends who had been busy shoving her entire face on the book she was reading. The bluenette raised her head for a moment as she contemplated about the best course of action. "… None," the bluenette let out after a few seconds of tensed silence. The answer was obviously disheartening as the mood around the table became a little bit damper. It was one thing that Mipha disliked, so she hurriedly thought of a suggestion with all the grace she had as a princess. "U-uhm, we can try using our magic to create a pseudo shape and maybe try to mask it's a living thing?" she suggested as she frantically waved her hands around to try and uplift the mood. Fortunately, her actions had merit as the people around her giggled at her movements. Though, she never realized why. After all, she was truly an innocent princess who gets too flustered very easily.
Ah… Perhaps that's also another reason why I was denied to speak with any of the arriving nobles…
Mipha finally understood their struggles. The pinkette sighed tiredly before looking at Tabitha. "Will that work, Tabitha?" The pinkette asked. Tabitha stared straight at Louise, an action that left the young mage uncomfortable. Mipha could sympathize with the pinkette. After all, she had been one of the few of being under the bluenette's startling calculating gaze. "… No. Too obvious," the bluenette answered before she buried her face on her book once again. Louise sighed, and that left Mipha a little disheartened. "W-well, maybe we can just, uhm, find some magical animal and see what we got?" she asked. Louise was about to open her mouth to protest about that point, before she clamped it shut and thought about the idea. Mipha was fully aware of what she was implying.
She had picked up a book about Familiars some weeks ago, and it was in there that she had read that a mage can only have one familiar- though, that didn't mean that they didn't have the capacity to have more than one. It was apparently more thoroughly based on the user's Willpower, and it's dependent on that to summon more familiars. However, there was a difference between a familiar, and a "Familiar".
Then, there was also the fact that whatever magical beast they needed to find, it needed to have a similar affinity to Louise… whose current affinity was relatively "unknown". Even though she and the princess had made great strides in improving her use of magic, particularly how to utilize it, the question of her elemental affinity still remained. Quite frankly, it had been infuriating for both parties, but Mipha still kept her hope up. After all, what her master was going through right now had been similar to what Zelda had gone through. She believed that by helping Louise, she would be able to honour the Champions' Promise to the princess of supporting her through and through. After all, there was something in the pinkette that greatly reminded Mipha of Zelda. Not only was it the possible natural ineptitude of drawing their inner energies, but it was the elemental sign that she could somehow sense within the pinkette. In the past days, she had especially doubled her efforts ever since the incident with Mott. While she was not particularly well educated about the threat known as the Malice, she was easily able to recognize it, and its causes. The Mott's behaviour was a possible sign of creating Malice in this world that she had ended up in, and she fully took on the responsibility on her own to keep that from happening.
As a result of her intensified training of her magical arts, she had learned to sense the magical energies around her and be able to differentiate them. However, she was not capable of keeping that ability for even remotely a second due to the richness of magic around her. The last time she had tried to do so, it was during one of her training sessions with Louise; she passed out immediately the moment she tried it. However, it was during that moment that Mipha had sensed something in Louise- a power that Mipha knew that Zelda had, one that was eerily similar to the recordings of the previous users of Zelda's sealing powers that the Hylian Princess had told her when she inquired it. Honestly, it shocked Mipha, and that worried her at the same time.
She needn't another Ganon in her lifetime.
A light affinity, but I… highly doubt that is plausible. Especially considering the magical system these children use, Mipha thought to herself. In this world, a "light" element hadn't existed; that was why Louise's affinity is considered as "unknown" for the world. She also knew of the dangers of exposing Louise to her "brand" of magic, which was why she halted herself from teaching the pinkette any more than she already knew. If that wasn't enough, the two of them had talked about it, and they unanimously agreed to stop their experiments with Magic and Science. While that made progress a little harder for the pinkette, she welcomed the challenge. After all, she had successfully managed to use another spell, one that she called "Air Shield" despite it all. It effectively stopped all sorts of incoming spells, courtesy of Mipha and Tabitha who tried it out. They never invited the Germanian, who would most likely through another hissy fit once she saw the shield. "The shield already made Tabitha almost pop her eyes out, I dread to think of that Zerbst's reaction," was the answer Louise provided whenever Siesta asked why Zerbst wasn't the only one allowed during their magical sessions. It was truly not in Mipha's nature to agree with such rude remark, but she was forced to agree with Louise's remark. The last time that Kirche had seen Louise cast a spell was her "Fireball" spell, and the pseudo-Gerudo never stopped asking Louise about it after the day they arrived back at the academy. It had been a truly gruelling ordeal for her master.
Anyways, now there was the problem of finding the appropriate magical creature. It was Siesta who raised this concern, while she also raised her hand to speak. "Uhm, how exactly are we able to do that when Louise doesn't have an affi- eep!" she immediately stopped herself when the small pinkette glared at her. Though, the glare only lasted for a few seconds, before she sighed. She leaned back, and crossed her arms. "Not to mention, we need to make sure that this… 'familiar' would obey me obediently and have a pair of carved runes that won't look fake at all," she continued Siesta's comment despite herself. The five members around the table went into deep silence, as they all thought about the possible explanations of how to get Louise an extra familiar for the exhibition.
"…How about we ask one of your family members to 'borrow' a familiar, Louise?" Kirche suggested. Louise turned to her with a sickly pale expression, and immediately shook her head. Mipha's eyes softened at that. She knew that the pinkette didn't have a great relationship with her family, and only this person that her master had called as "Elder Sister Cattleya" could be considered as "family" to Louise. It was a thought that had greatly distraught the princess. After all, she was one who had been born into a loving, and kindly family. The distinctions she could connect between Louise and Zelda were even stronger now, and that made her all the more motivated to tend to the young mage as much as she could.
"Urgh, why don't you just have a normal affinity, Louise," Kirche groaned out as she slumped on her chair with a visible pout, and a thinking mind. Louise only laughed her statement off nervously. Mipha saw Siesta look to the side, before she made an "o" with her mouth.
"Why don't we just check out the nearby forests, maybe there's something out there?"
"None" came the swift reply of the bluenette. The maid was visibly disheartened by the merciless reply of Tabitha, but nonetheless continued to think.
"H-how about we find a normal animal, and uhm, apply some spells on it to make it look magical?" the maid suggested again. Tabitha looked like she was about to shoot down the suggestion again, before a contemplative expression had settled down on her visage. Kirche blinked at the suggestion, while Louise looked unsure of it. For the ex-princess, she smiled at the suggestion.
"Perhaps, that could work," Mipha said. "Maybe we could even perhaps make the elements circulate it, and make it have some sort of elemental property!" The others looked at each other, and thought hard about the suggestion.
"Plausible, yet difficult," the bluenette agreed to the plan.
"Hmm… while it's no different from Mipha's suggestion earlier, I suppose we could try to mask us using magic to help Louise, but won't we be found out easily?" Kirche followed the idea. Louise visibly looked conflicted about it as well. If there was even a simple square mage during the exhibition, then surely they would be found out.
"Don't worry, I have confidence in my ability to hide my spells! Nothing bad will happen, I promise," Mipha said as she smiled brightly. Though, something was telling Mipha that her plan would eventually not come into a bit of fruition.
Louise
The pinkette sighed as she cradled the bunny in her arms, and looked at the equally innocent and cuddly princess on her bed. After they had agreed with the idea to find a normal animal and cast some magic around it to make it look some sort of magical spirit, they had immediately went out to look for an animal that they could easily tame. The pinkette was thankful that there had been a bunny nearby, and catching it was easy thanks to Tabitha. Unfortunately, it hadn't been very peaceful. The bunny, being the timid creature it was, mistook them for predators and was constantly trying to run away from them. It even nipped at Kirche's hand when she stretched a hand out to soothe the little creature. They almost decided to release the creature, until Mipha had stepped in with a suggestion. Obviously, the pinkette and the group were very doubtful of her plan. The princess wanted to give her and the bunny a few hours together on their own. Still, they had nothing to lose, so while the princess went to calm the bunny, they went to look for more animals.
It was an unfortunate cause. The bunny seemed to be the only woodland creature in the area, and there was not even a sight of a deer or any of the like. There were no signs of the children the bunny potentially had either, no matter how hard they looked around. Though, the group could say that was a good thing. They wouldn't want to have the idea of stealing a mother rabbit from her children plaguing their conscience. They came back to the spot where they found the rabbit, and waited there until Mipha returned. There was only simple idle conversation, mostly how Louise was adjusting with her recent fame of graduating from "Zero". After a few hours, the princess came back with a big smile on her face, and the bunny seemingly comfortable in her arms. Louise didn't know how she did it, but she was thankful that the princess had managed to calm the bunny down. What she wasn't thankful for was the panic that came to her when the red head princess suddenly collapsed after she had returned. She could remember the flushed expression on the princess' face, and asking what was happening and if she was going to be okay. Tabitha immediately managed to zero in on the cause of Mipha's sudden collapse to something akin of overspending her Willpower for the last few days.
Honestly, Louise felt guilty about that. She knew that it had been her fault that Mipha had potentially overspent herself due to the fact she had requested for their daily training to increase in intensity. Unfortunately, that only meant more work for Mipha as Louise could only use selected few spells to test against her. Also, there was the fact that her spells were surprisingly more destructive than the princess', so Mipha was hard pressed to defend herself from the damage Louise's spells could cause. Of course, the princess didn't voice any complaint about it- in fact, she was in complete awe of Louise's abilities. While it had always been embarrassing for the pinkette to be praised so much, she was also very happy; though, she couldn't shake off the feeling that the reason why Mipha was praising her so much was due to the fact that Mipha seemed like she was compensating for something.
Despite all the probes Louise had done, the princess simply wouldn't budge about telling her the "recent" stories about her past. Surely, she had already spoken to Louise about her times in the Zora Domain, her little brother Sidon, and her father Dorephan, who was the king of the Zora, but that was all there was in Mipha's tale. Louise knew that there was something more, and that something more always seemed to place a bittersweet expression on the princess' face. It was an expression that she had never seen anyone do before in her life, and it hurt her. The pinkette already considered Mipha as part of her family; an elder-sister-figure in place of the lack of her beloved elder sister Cattleya's presence in the academy. To see Mipha doing the expression, it made her wish that she knew more about the princess than the latter let on. Though, she wouldn't pry any further… or maybe she should? The pinkette let out a frustrated sigh, as she slumped on her chair. The bunny on her arms started to protest it seemed, and she quickly let go of the bunny before it got too rampant on her arms. She watched the bunny as it hopped on the floor, kicking its hind legs at her. Louise blinked. Did- did the bunny just flip me off?
It seemed like the pinkette had three problems now. She sighed loudly and ruffled her head from the stress and frustration.
"Hm, Louise?"
The pinkette was startled from the princess suddenly calling out her name. She quickly turned her head back to the princess, whose eyes were currently blearily opened. "Ah, sorry, did I wake you up? You should go back to sleep," Louise said quickly. She took the wet towel from Mipha's forehead, and changed it with a fresh new one.
"Hmm, okay, just making sure," Mipha said reluctantly, before her eyes slowly opened. Louise sighed softly when Mipha looked like she was about to drift off to sleep. She stood up from her chair to go look for wherever the bunny went away to. Honestly, how could such a little white creature slip out of her vision in a dark room? As she was about to go and walk around, but she heard Mipha's speak. There was gravity in it, a deepness that caused Louise to stop her tracks and turn to the recovering princess. The words rang in her head, they echoed and proved her initial thought right. "You remind me of him for so much". Louise immediately sat back down on her chair, and went as far as dragging it closer to the bed. Her heart pounded as she tried to formulate the question in her mind. Who was this person that she reminded Mipha of? Was he an important person in her life? She gulped down the saliva that gathered in her mouth. She had so many things she wished to say, but she could only choose one. She didn't wish to burden an already sick and tired Mipha with a heavy question, so, she decided to stay silent. However, aFter several seconds had passed, it didn't seem like the princess would fall asleep. It felt as if the princess was waiting for her to question her- to question what she meant. This only sent a new wave of anxieties for the pinkette. Should she ask the princess, or she should she stall her mouth? If she chose to ask the princess, she might receive the princess' ire for taking advantage of her current state. However, if she chose not to, then she would potentially not be able to learn more than what the princess provided her.
The decision tore her heart. She didn't want to take advantage of her benefactor, but, maybe, the princess would forgive her. Just this once. The pinkette gathered her courage, and voiced her question: "who… is this person that I remind you of?"
There was a silence that followed after the question. Despite the state of the princess, Louise felt a tension in the air that it choked her. She couldn't quite understand why either; no maybe she could, but she simply refused to admit it. The room's temperature had increased, frighteningly so. It was almost as if the question she asked was a forbidden topic, and it was one that had possibly gained the princess' ire. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out from fright of escalating the situation. Her skin turned pale, and she found herself stuck in her chair. She could only hope that Mipha would answer the question, or just fall asleep without remembering any of this. Though, reality was certainly harsher than ideal.
"A person that I care for from the very bottom of my heart," the princess leaked out easily, her words clear and cut like crystal waters, but the emotion behind the voice rivalled the depth of the ocean. Her eyes were closed, but there was no mistaking the sole tear that ran down her eye. "A person, afflicted by the war brought upon us, and changed from it. I couldn't save him."
A heavy feeling spread through Louise's chest. Was this the reason why Mipha never once spoke about her recent life? If so, then Louise could somehow understand. Her own feelings of inferiority from the past several years had all been bottled up, in fear of what other people thought of her if she leaked out her weakness. She was the daughter of Karin the Heavy Wind. There was nothing less than perfection that people expected from her. To Mipha, who was a princess, the burden of hiding emotions was magnitude greater to what Louise had experienced. However, there was something else she felt behind the princess' words. "Mipha…" Louise called out as a small sigh had escaped her lips as she did. The princess looked truly uncomfortable, but it seemed like she had passed out. It was as if those words took all of her strength to speak, and the temperature in the room had returned to its normal temperature. The change of heat hadn't been enough to create a mist, but it had been enough for Louise to let things sink in.
Mipha had a lover.
While the princess hadn't explicitly spoken about it, Louise could infer that much from the very detail that Mipha had partaken her with. The sheer emotion she could feel from behind her confession had been undeniable, and it struck a chord in Louise. She immediately felt guilty and worried for the princess. It was certainly no wonder that Mipha seemed so at lost at times, and her expression would be so full of yearning in the very rare nights she had caught her awake. She had quite literally stolen her from her lover, the very lover who was being ravaged by the beasts of presumably what were the nightmares from this "war" she spoke of. Of course, she hadn't told the princess about spying on her, she was too much of a coward to admit such. Also, there was still her pride to think about.
Though, quite honestly, that was simply the farthest Louise could empathize with Mipha. Unlike the princess, the most Louise felt close to love was admiration for her betrothed. In fact, she was no longer sure if she still had feelings for Viscount Wardes. It simply had been too long since she had last seen him, and that was when she was a mere child who was growing into her adolescence. She had once long resigned herself as well to her fate of being married to him, but now she obviously had a bigger path ahead of her. She didn't wish to end her achievements half-heartedly, and half-finished. To do so would be a stain to her honour, and throwing mud all over the efforts Mipha and Siesta had given her. She wished to put the engagement aside, despite her fear of how much her mother would blow up. Then, there was the other problem that she had been avoiding for the past weeks ever since news arrived at the Vallière Mansion that Louise can use magic. Her mother was immediately asking for her to show the results, and deem it if she were to continue in the academy. Though, she knew that was simply her mother's way of congratulating her, it was still intimidating to know that her mother could still literally plug her out from the academy with just one decision.
However, she felt no fear. She was certainly powerful, growing ever so powerful to the point that she had estimated herself to have a 5% chance in winning against Tabitha. If she could somehow manage to bait the bluenette into casting her strongest spell on her, and use her "Wind Barrier" in time, then she would be able to claim victory with her "Fireball". That was, of course, if she could last longer than a minute against the bluenette. However, Louise wasn't one to have false hopes, not anymore after the light Mipha had shown her. It was then when Louise felt enlightened. A small smile entered her lips, and she instantly knew that her worries for Mipha's ire were baseless. After all, Mipha was a kind princess, but it wasn't only that. She had grown closer to the princess, and maybe, the princess has grown closer to her. Even during the times when she was sick and taken care of by the maids, she had never once let a single weakness escape her lips when they asked "why she was still pursuing magic despite the faulty results". She still had control of her mental faculties then, and she knew for a fact that Mipha had control over her's when she revealed that small fact about to her. The princess trusted her, as much as the pinkette trusted her as a family.
That made it all the more reason to defy the fate that was placed before her. Her future was looking bright for her, and everything was peaceful. She will continue in this academy, even if it meant fighting her own mother.
…
On second thought, that was an awful idea. Louise sighed and slumped deeper into her seat. Maybe, she should take small steps at a time; like getting started to make the bunny like her of course. She got off her seat, her previous worry about the princess having faded after her resolution had found her. "Now, where's that bunny?" she asked herself as she looked around the room on all fours.
Maybe, just maybe, Louise should've felt something more during Mipha's confession. If she had, then she would've been able to prevent what was to come.
"In time of peace, prepare for war."
-Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus
