Wardes gave a whistle, and a griffin appeared out from the morning clouds. It was a mythical beast with the head of a eagle and a body of a lion. And on its back were wings that were made up of beautiful white feathers.
Wardes had climbed to the back of the griffin with grace, and then extended a hand to Louise.
“Come over, my Louise.”
Louise lowered her head in hesitation and bashfulness, just like a girl who is in love. This made Saito even more jealous.
What does he think he's doing? “Come over, my Louise?” Your Louise!? Your Louise!? What an obnoxious freak!
Saito being a male, had to keep those thoughts to himself and went up to the horse in silence in the end.
Louise, who was still hesitating, was suddenly carried up the griffin by Wardes.
With one hand on the reins and his wand in the other, Wardes shouted, “Well everybody, onwards!”
The griffin moved forward. Following behind it were Guiche, looking full of admiration for Wardes; and Saito, feeling very down and dejected.
Saito thought to himself while staring at the blank sky.
How far would it be to Albion?
From the headmaster's office window, Henrietta was watching Saito and group departing for Albion. Closing her eyes, she starting praying...
“Founder Brimir, please grant them protection throughout their journey...”
Next to her was Headmaster Osman trimming his nasal hair.
“You aren't going to see them off, headmaster Osman?”
“No, as you can see, I'm busy trimming my nasal hair, your highness.”
Henrietta shook her head in disapproval.
Just then, someone knocked at the door.
“Enter,” said the headmaster.
Mr. Colbert entered room with an anxious look on his face.
“Bad news! Headmaster!”
“You say that quite often. What seems to be the problem now?”
“From the news that I've heard from the castle guards, Fouquet has escaped!”
“Hmm...” said Osman while stroking his beard.
“According to the guard who was on duty that time, some noble knocked him out using wind magic. The person used the opportunity that most of the manpower was diverted to protect the princess to help Fouquet escape! This means that someone inside is a spy! Isn't that bad news?”
Henrietta's face turned pale upon hearing the news.
Headmaster Osman made a gesture to Mr. Colbert asking him to leave.
“Okay. Okay. We'll hear further details from you later.”
After Mr. Colbert left, Henrietta placed her hands on the table and sighed deeply.
“We have a spy in our midst. This must be the doings of the Albion nobility!”
“Maybe it is... OUCH!” said the headmaster while trimming his nasal hair. Henrietta looked at him helplessly.
“How can you still be so relaxed? The future of Tristain is at stake!”
“The opponent has already made his move. All we can do now is to wait, isn't it?”
“Even so...”
“It's all right. If it's him, he'll be able to cope with any problems they'll face during their journey.”
“The person you're speaking of is Guiche? Or Viscount Wardes?”
The headmaster shook his head.
“Don't tell me that person is Louise's familiar. How could that be possible?! Isn't he just a commoner?”
“Your highness, have you heard of the story of Founder Brimir before?”
“I have read most of the story...”
The headmaster smiled and replied, “Then, do you know about Gandálfr?”
“Isn't that Founder Brimir's strongest familiar? Don't tell me...”
At this point of time, Headmaster Osman felt that he had already divulged too much. Regarding the secret of “Gandálfr” he always wanted to keep that to himself. Although he trusted Henrietta, he did not want the Royal family to know about it yet.
“Yes, he's as strong and capable as Gandálfr and furthermore, he comes from another world different from ours.”
“Another world?”
“That's right. He comes from a world different from Halkeginia. Or I should say, from a place not on Halkeginia. I have always believed that this youth from another world will succeed. That's also the reason that I'm so carefree even during these perilous times.”
“Another world different from Halkeginia really exists...”
Henrietta gazed far away. The sensation of the youth's lip still lingered on Henrietta's lips. Touching her lips with her fingertips, she closed her eyes, smiled and said,
“Let me pray then, for the breeze that comes from another world.”
It would take two days to reach Port City La Rochelle by horse from Tristain. The port city was situated on a deep and narrow gorge and because of this, it had a small population of three hundred. As La Rochelle was the gateway to Albion, the number of travelers was ten times more than the local population.
Boulders could be seen on both sides of the narrow mountain pathway. People had carved holes in the boulders, turning them into taverns and shops. Although the buildings look ordinary, upon closer inspection one can realize that all of them are carved out of a single rock, a feat done by Square ranked earth mages.
On the narrow street, it appeared to be dark even though it was afternoon due to the gorges blocking the sunlight. If one made a turn on the street, they could see an even narrower street leading to a bar.
On the signboard resembling a keg of wine, the shop's name was written – “Golden Wine Barrel Bar”. However, nothing in the shop resembled its name; the shop was dilapidated like an abandoned house. Piles of ruined chairs could be seen piling next to the door.
Most of the patrons were gangsters and mercenaries. When drunk, they would often fight over the smallest of things like staring incidents or minor squabbles.
Whenever they'd fight, they would fight with their weapons. Therefore, it was common to see people dead or seriously injured inside the bar. The shopkeeper, not wanting to see any more injuries and deaths, put up a notice inside the shop.
“Please use the chairs when you fight in here.”
From the notice, the customers could feel the shopkeeper's helplessness. So they started to use the chairs instead of their weapons when fighting each other. Even though there were still injuries, no one was killed anymore. From then on, chairs that were destroyed during fights got piled next to the door.
Today, the “Golden Wine Barrel Bar” was filled with patrons as usual. Almost all the patrons were mercenaries returning from Albion which was in an internal strife.
“The king of Albion is finished!”
“Don't that means that they're going to start a republic soon?”
“If so, let us offer a toast to the republic!”
The people offering toasts to themselves were formerly mercenaries hired by the royalist to fight along side with them. However, faced with the imminent defeat of their clients, they all decided to retreat back here. This was not considered to be a dishonorable act. As mercenaries, they valued their lives more than their beliefs, and so they felt that they were not obliged to fight to their death for their clients.
As they were drinking, the bar's door opened and a rather tall lady entered the bar. The hood the lady wore covered most of her face except for the lower part. However, from just the lower part of her face one could already be sure about her beauty. As it was rare for such an attractive lady to come to such a place alone, all eyes on the bar were already on her.
The lady, unfazed by all the eyes staring at her, ordered some wine and food and sat on a table in a corner of the bar. After the food was served, she promptly paid up.
“That... That's a lot of money. Is it really all right?”