The hooded man did not answer, instead standing up as if he heard nothing, and talking to Fouquet, “Alright, I’m going after the Vallière girl.”
“Then what am I going to do?” Fouquet answered in shock.
“Whatever you like. Burn or cook the rest, whatever. We’ll meet up at the usual restaurant.” He casually jumped off the golem’s shoulder, disappearing into the darkness like the midnight wind, soft and chilling.
“Geez...what a laidback guy. Can’t tell me anything he’s thinking about.” Fouquet spoke silently in disgust.
Moans came from the men below. Strong winds came from inside the temple, spreading and strengthening the violent flames. Even the archers hiding in the darkness felt the burn.
Fouquet yelled below her, “Dammit, that’s enough! You’re all useless! Get out of my way!”
The golem rose with a thundering noise, and moved towards the entrance, raising its fists over its head as it advanced.
Kirche and Tabitha controlled the flames in the hall, forcefully tormenting the mercenaries outside. The group of archers outside also fled from the fire spread by Tabitha’s wind, leaving their bows behind.
“Ohhhhohohohoho! Oho! Ohohoho!” Kirche laughed victoriously. “You see it? You get it now? The power of my flames! If you don’t want to get burned, you better run home now! Ahahaha!”
“Alright, my turn!” after making an untimely appearance, just as Guiche aimed at the retreating enemies in between the gaps of the flames for his “Valkyrie” spell...
With a loud, thunderous noise, the entrance and beyond disappeared.
“Eh?”
A huge golem emerged from the flying dust, and easily kicked away Guiche’s statues.
“Oh, I forgot. That tough missy’s still here.” Kirche said silently, sticking out her tongue.
“Don’t be too arrogant, kids! I’ll finish you off!” Fouquet yelled in anger, standing on her golem’s shoulder.
“What do we do now?” Kirche turned to Tabitha’s direction. Her friend laid out both hands and shook her head.
Guiche took one look at the enormous golem, and sank into a fervent panic, yelling, “Everyone! Attack! I say, ATTACK! Now is the time for them to see the spirit of all Tristainian nobility! Watch me, father! Guiche will become a man!”
Tabitha tripped him with her staff, sending him crashing on the ground.
“What are you doing?! Let me be a man! In the name of Her Royal Highness, let my rose wither here!”
“Alright, we got to go.”
“No! I will not run!”
“...you know, you’re exactly the type that would die in any battle first.”
Tabitha looked at the approaching golem, and suddenly seemed to reach an idea. She then pulled on Guiche’s sleeve.
“What?”
“Rose.” Tabitha pointed at Guiche’s fake rose, making a waving motion in the process. “A lot. Of petals.”
“What do you want with those petals?!” Guiche yelled, only to have his ear pulled by Kirche.
“Just do what Tabitha says!”
Guiche waved his rose wand in annoyance, sending large amounts of petals flying in the air. Tabitha sang a spell. Under her wind’s direction, the petals stuck onto the golem.
“And what does sticking petals all over the golem do?! Sure it’s pretty!” Guiche yelled back.
Tabitha concisely ordered Guiche. “Alchemy.”
On the golem’s shoulder, Fouquet, seeing her creation stuck all over with petals, annoyingly complained, “What’s this? A present? I’m not letting up even if you decorate my golem with petals!”
The golem raised a fist, and smashed the table that shielded Kirche, Tabitha, and Guiche in one blow.
At that moment, the tangled petals all turned into liquid. The smell of oil crept up to her. As a master of the “earth” element, Fouquet instantly realized the reason. A spell known as “Alchemy.”
They just used “Alchemy” to turn the petals on the golem into oil.
She was too late to realize that something was wrong. Kirche’s fireball was already flying towards her golem.
In an instant, the huge golem was covered in fire. Unable to withstand the heat and flames, the golem fell on its knees.
Seeing their employer in a losing position, the mercenaries fled like spiders. Kirche, Tabitha, and Guiche held their hands in joy.
“We did it! We won!”
“I... I won with alchemy! Father! Your Majesty! Guiche has triumphed!”
“That’s all because of Tabitha’s plan!” Kirche poked on Guiche’s head.
A hideous Fouquet stood up in front of her burned golem. “H... how dare you... beat me, Fouquet, twice, with earth magic...” She looked pitiful. With her long, beautiful hair burned away, her robes singed with holes everywhere, and her face charred a dark black, the beauty had left her.
“Aha, that’s some nice make up you have on. You know, lady, this heavy make up kinda suits you! I mean... you’re pretty old already!” As Kirche finished, she waved her wand at Fouquet. However, she seemed to have depleted her energy with all the spells she used in battle. Suddenly, a small, weak flame flew out, and disappeared in an instant.
“Eh? That’s it?” Kirche scratched her head.
Tabitha and Guiche seemed to have the same effect. But not Fouquet. She didn’t try any spells, and simply moved straight at them.
“Call me old?! Girl, I’m only 23!” Fouquet tightened her fists, and punched at Kirche, who retaliated much the same way without hesitation. And so the two fought completely unlike themselves.
Tabitha sat down, and, with absolutely no interest in the fight in front of her, started reading.
Guiche watched the two beautiful women fighting, a mild blush on his face. He seemed indifferent to his clothes being a total mess.
Watching from far away, the mercenaries began betting on the match.
As Kirche and Fouquet beat up each other, Saito and company ran towards the harbor, their road illuminated by the bright moon. Wardes ran towards a certain building’s long stairs, and began walking up them.
“Aren’t we heading towards some ‘harbor’? Why are we climbing a hill?” Asked Saito. Wardes did not answer.
After climbing a long flight of stairs, they arrived on top of a small hill. Seeing everything in front of him, Saito gasped.
It was a huge tree, branching out in every direction. It had the size of a mountain. How tall was it? The night covered its top, but it had considerable height. Saito looked at the tree as if it were Tokyo Tower.
And then... taking a closer look between the branches, the tree seemed to be holding something even larger. A huge fruit? He was wrong. It was a ship. It looked like a zeppelin, stuck between the trees.
“This is the ‘harbor’? And... that’s the ‘ship’?” Saito asked in shock.
Louise replied in surprise. “Yeah... isn’t your world like that?”
“Harbors and ships all stay on water in my world.”
“If there are ships that sail on water, there are ships that sail in the air.” Louise said matter-of-factly.
Wardes ran to the tree’s roots, which were as big and spacious as a skyscraper’s lobby. They probably dug the middle out of a dead tree to make this.
It was night, so they couldn’t see anyone. Between each flight of stairs were metal panels, with writing of some sort on them. Maybe station signs or something, Saito thought.
Wardes began climbing the stairs in front of him.
One flight of wooden stairs was connected to another. There were scaffolding and supports on them, but they still looked worryingly dangerous. One could see La Rochelle’s lights in the spaces between each flight of stairs.
In a rest stop midway, Saito heard footsteps behind them. He turned around, and a shadow jumped, flying over him and landed behind Louise.