Looks who's back. Back again. This crap intro is! Ripoff earlier introductions! I MUST!
Anyway, welcome back everyone! I know it's been a day or two, so it might be weird, I know. It won't be day after day updates at the moment though. I want to thank our new friends and whatnot, so thank them and we'll answer the reviews!
OechsnerC: Thank you! I know it was pretty uneventful though, so this should be better!
Chapter 50: Tiffania The Void User
"Hey Tiff, I'm back." Yuudai says carrying some firewood.
Tiffania had Yuudai go get firewood as a task. Mostly since she can't figure out anything else for him to do. He has done such a great job at everything that there isn't much left for him to do. She can't figure out if that's good or not.
Tiffania smiles despite that fact. "Thank you again, Yuudai." She thanks taking the wood and setting it all down.
"So how are you doing?" Yuudai asks while his hands stay in his pockets.
Tiffania puts a hand to her chin in thought. "I guess it's going fairly well. Nothing out of the usual, at least." She replies. Yuudai deadpans at her. In response to this, she sweat drops. "What?"
"You jinxed us." Yuudai states. He quickly looks around. "It's only a matter of time before something unusual happens."
Tiffania laughs at his overactive reaction. She is usually shy, but as the days go by, she keeps feeling calmer and calmer around him. The teen girl actually felt calm around him at first, but even more so now. It's an odd feeling.
Suddenly, arrows fly at them from above. Yuudai grabs Tiffania and quickly maneuvers around all of the arrows. Yuudai lets her go letting her stand on her own. From the trees, many mercenary looking men walk out with weapons.
"Hey you! Where is the village chief? Call him here!" The leader of the group orders.
"What for?" Tiffania asks not feeling afraid. Once again she doesn't know why she feels so calm.
The leader of the group eyes her growing a big smirk. "My, what a beauty. Here, in the middle of the forest, isolated from the world." The man is kind of short with a cut on his head.
"And who are you? Mercenaries?" The teenage girl asks trying to figure out the reason for them being here.
"Ex-mercenaries. Since the war ended, we returned to our original profession." The leader tells her. "Which is robbery."
Yuudai sighs. "Is that guy from earlier part of them?" He wonders looking over the group.
"Really, the easy wartime was over once we suddenly surrendered to Gallia. You see, we need compensation. So we're going back to basic business, to earn food." The short leader explains.
"Leave then." Tiffania orders them firmly. "There is nothing for you here."
All the men laugh at her. The short leader then eyes her again lustfully. "There is something here though." He lets out a short chuckle. "Even if the village looks poor, there are still some valuable things, I think. For me, a great treat would be a beautiful woman like you."
One of the others step forward. "I believe she would be worth at least two thousand gold."
The same one tries walking to her, but Yuudai pulls out his sword pointing the tip at the man. Yuudai is fed up with waiting now. "One more step and you'll lose your leg." Yuudai threatens.
The man snickers before him and his group starts laughing loudly. "What? Do you not value your life or something?" The man asks grinning.
"I'm going to repeat. One more step and you lose a leg." Yuudai repeats deathly serious. Tiffania stares at him in awe. She hasn't seen this side of him before.
"You remind me of someone, kid." The leader says as the one in front of Yuudai's sword lowers a spear. "You remind me of the one boy that stood between the Albion army and the forces of Tristain and Germania."
Yuudai uses his ring's power streaking his hair with blue again. "Then why aren't you running?" He asks.
All the men go pale immediately. "T-that b-blue hair!" The leader stutters.
"I-it's the Blue Devil!" The men yell quickly starting to run away. The only one left is the leader gritting his teeth.
"This is my chance to earn money on the-" The short leader is cut off from coughing up blood. His eyes refocus to find Yuudai with his fist placed against his gut. The leader stumbles back holding the area with his hand.
"Leave before I run you through with my sword." Yuudai orders without emotion in his voice.
"Not before you die." The leader growls steeling himself. Before Yuudai could move, a bright light flashes. The ex-mercenary looks around in confusion after it disappears.
"Your men are waiting for you over by Saxe-Gotha. Go to them." Tiffania advises the man.
"R-right. Thank you." He thanks running off.
Yuudai places the sword back in his sheath turning to his friend. "So Tiff, when were you able to access void magic?" He asks knowing it wasn't any other elemental magic. None that could seemingly erase memories.
"Void magic?" She asks curiously tilting her head
Later
After sending all the children off, the two decided to sit in her living room. To discuss her childhood. No doubt there is clues in her past as to why she's able to use void magic. She has bird meat cooking over a fire and wine in front of them.
"Sorry for the wait. I felt uneasy until now to talk about everything." Tiffania apologizes.
Yuudai gives her a small smile. "It's alright." He replies calmly.
Tiffania breathes in and out preparing herself. "My mother was the mistress of Albion's King's younger brother…the Grand Duke who was ruling over this whole land of Saxe-Gotha. My father was a Grand Duke of the royal family treasury, responsible for the management of the treasury. My mother used to call it 'financial supervisors' attention'." She starts explaining.
"So an elf was part of the royal monarchy?" Yuudai asks slightly impressed. "Didn't think people of this land were so accepting."
"I don't even know the reason why my mother, being an elf, came to the White Country to become father's. Mother never spoke about it…nonetheless, in Halkeginia, no one thinks of elves pleasantly, it must have been some really complex circumstance." She tells him lengthly.
"Probably has to do with getting more land." Yuudai suggests. He then sighs. "Each monarchy is the same in the idea of wanting more land.'
She nods taking it as a possibility. "My mother was a truly obscure person. She never talked in public and rarely went out. In the residence, she waited for my father's return for a long, long time, continuing that sort of life. I still recall it. The back of a mother who absentmindedly watched the door…since I had the ears of my mother, I was not allowed to go out as well." She continues to explain. "It's why I don't understand why I'm calm around you."
"It's actually common." Yuudai says rubbing the back of his head. "It's very weird."
Tiffania then looks down to the ground. "That sort of life with mother was not too difficult. Father, who came by occasionally, was gentle and mother told me various stories too. Mother taught me how to play musical instruments and read books." She tells him.
"The trumpet is best." Yuudai mutters under his breath.
Seeing as she couldn't hear him, she continues. "The day when that sort of life ended came four years ago. Father, with a changed look, came to us. He said, 'It is too dangerous here' and took us to the house of one of father's vassals."
"You escaped, right?" Yuudai asks feeling like he heard the story before.
She smiles sadly shaking her head. "Only I did. We were found the day when the Advent Festival started. Many knights and soldiers came to the house in which we hid ourselves. The noble who was father's vassal, however, desperately resisted...but was no match to the king's military forces. Once the knights' footsteps echoed in the corridor, my mother hid me in the closet and locked it. I was holding the wand given to me by father, and trembled for a long time. When soldiers entered the room, mother said…" She takes a deep breath. "'I will not resist. We elves do not want to fight.' Yet, magic was the response. I heard a frightening sound when one spell after another hit my mother. Then the chasers tried to open the closet where I hid myself…"
Yuudai's eyes become full of sadness. "So that magic earlier today...you used it. That still leaves the question, how did you first awaken the power?" He questions.
"In my house, there were a lot of valuable items as my father was a royal treasury manager. When I was small, I often played with them. There was an old music box among them." She tells him taking a sip from the wine bottle. Yuudai simply raises an eyebrow. "Treasure given to the royal family…however, it could not be opened without the ring. Yet, one day I noticed. That there was one ring similar to the lock in the treasury, and when I inserted it and opened the box, I heard a tune. It was a beautiful, somewhat nostalgic tune. Mysteriously, no one else but me could hear that tune…even if the ring still fit. Once I heard the tune, in my head…runes started to emerge. However, I did not say that to anyone, because I did not want them to find out I was playing with the treasure."
"I see. So the music box pretty much told you how to use the spell." Yuudai sums up. He then sets a stern gaze on her. "Don't tell another living soul about you void power."
Tiffania looks at him curiously. "Why not?"
"It's not safe. There are people willing to do everything in their power to use you for your powers. After all, your power is legendary in this land's eyes." Yuudai states remembering how Louise was almost killed because the replacement general decided to use her.
Tiffania can't help but laugh at his statement. "Me? Such a failure, is a legend? That's too weird!" She replies.
Yuudai doesn't let off his stern gaze. "Whether or not you believe me, you are." Yuudai tells her.
Seeing as he is dead serious, she gets serious too. "If you truly insist, I won't tell anyone. Or I could tell and just remove their memories." She suggests.
Yuudai deadpans at her. "I'd like to inform you about how bad of an idea that is, but I'm sure you know." Yuudai says laying back on the couch he is sitting on.
"You know...I'd like to have you hear the song I heard from that music box." Tiffania says to Yuudai.
He sits back up on the couch. "Then please, do play."
She smiles happily. The elf picks up a harp from beside her seat. "The left hand of God is Gandálfr, the ferocious shield of the lord. His left hand wields a large sword and his right hand wields a long spear, protecting me with endless vigilance. The right hand of God is Vindálfr, the kind-hearted flute of the lord. He dominates all beasts of life, leading me through earth, sky, and water. The mind of God is Myoznitnirn, the book that carries the crystallization of thought. It carries all knowledge and provides advice whenever I am in need. There is one more person, but remembering its name gives me trouble...taking the four disciples, I came to this land…" She sings in a beautiful voice.
Instead of awe, which he was in, the showing feature is surprise. Surprise that his former title was part of her song. So is Julio's title. The title of myoznitnirn though...he has never heard of such. The last one is a mystery too.
"So that means the other two are out there with their own masters…" Yuudai mutters evaluating the information. "Though someone likely replaced my role as gandalfr by now."
"You like to be brutally honest with yourself sometimes, don't you, partner?" Derflinger asks quietly while Tiffania plays the song again without words. "If that's the case, what do you plan on doing now?"
Yuudai gives his sword a disappointed look. "It's pretty obvious. I'll go out to find Blanc someday and then...protect her I guess." He answers.
"You still want to protect her despite no longer being tied down to her?" Derflinger asks surprised.
"I swore upon that lake I'd protect all my friends." Yuudai tells his sword. "Right now, I believe Tiff needs help. After all, Louise can protect the others until I get back."
"You put too much faith in that girl." Derflinger says jokingly.
"Sorry Blanc, I won't be seeing you anytime soon." He says to the girl he is so far away from.
With Louise
She has tears still running down her face. The poor pink haired girl is in her room at Tristain academy now that the war is over. Louise has been crying ever since she realized Yuudai had stayed to fight. Her faith in him can only stretch so far before she believes him dead.
It only got worse when she tried to summon a new familiar. Seeing as the ritual will fail if he is still alive, or at the least the magical contract, she tried it. The worst thing that could've happened did. It opened the gate.
She quickly closed it and began crying again. It hurt her in the worst way imaginable. Her friend that did so much for her is dead. "You said you'd come back...why aren't you back?! Idiot!" Louise screams out with sadness etched deep into her soul.
"Sorry Blanc, I won't be seeing you anytime soon." The voice of Yuudai echos in her head.
She cries even harder. She even has started hearing and seeing him when he isn't there. Louise curls in a ball on her bed, crying herself to sleep again.
End
There we go! Oddly enough, that was easy to do. I wanted to add the last part as an insight to Louise's sadness. I felt it would be disappointing to ignore her feelings again.
By the way, sorry for the super long paragraphs this chapter. It was one of those explanation chapters. I couldn't really escape the long paragraphs without seeming too forced.
I feel like I should say more...how about this, for those that read The Fear Of The Kingdom, the next update will be after this. I won't update this or The Fear Of Devils until that is updated. After all, I'm halfway through the chapter.
If I don't update anything for a week or two then it's because I have lots of things going on. The stuff that gives massive headaches. You know the feeling, I'm sure.
Before we end everything, let's hear cheers for chapter fifty! I wonder if anyone thought I wouldn't make it this far...I am one of those who didn't at first. So yay! We did it!
Without much else to say, thanks for reading, favoriting, following, reviewing and have a great day/night/morning!