It was the white-masked man on Fouquet’s golem.
Saito pulled out his sword and cried, “LOUISE!”
Louise turned around. The man picked her up the next instant.
“Ahhhh-----!” Louise screamed. Saito raised his sword. But if I just slash it like that, I’ll hit Louise. The man carried Louise and jumped much like a acrobat would, his body moving wherever he wished.
Saito stood still. Beside him, Wardes waved his staff. The masked man, like Saito a while ago, was blown away, hit by Wardes’ air hammer, and let Louise go. He held on to a support, but Louise fell towards the ground.
In an instant, Wardes jumped off from the platform, and dove towards Louise like a grebe[9]. He caught up with her and floated in the air while carrying her.
The masked man bent around, jumped on the platform, and faced Saito. His build was not too different from Wardes’. He pulled out a staff from his waist. It was a black staff.
After making sure Louise was safe, Saito went on guard, remembering his battle against Wardes. Swinging the sword around is outright dangerous, but he couldn’t foresee what magic his opponent would use against him.
The man waved his staff. The air above him began to cool. Freezing air irritated Saito’s skin. What is he doing?
He continued to chant a spell. Saito raised his sword, but Derflinger yelled, “Get on guard, partner!”
As Saito got on guard, the air shook. There was a crack. Lightning emanated from the man and hit Saito directly.
“‘Lightning Cloud’!” Derflinger cried, recognising the spell. A strong current went through Saito’s body and he fell from the platform.
“Gaaaahhh---!” Saito cried in pain. His left wrist felt like it was scorched and burned as if he had touched a red-hot branding iron. The current left a trail, burning his clothes. He fainted from the pain and fright.
Wardes, holding Louise, chanted the “Fly” spell, safely landing Saito on the ground.
“SAITO!” Louise cried, watching her familiar fall. Wardes bit his lip, turned to the masked man, and waved his staff. It was the air hammer. The air around him solidified into invisible blocks, striking the masked man. He fell off the platform and towards the ground.
Louise struggled out of Wardes' grip and ran to Saito. A gash from the current continued to burn Saito’s left hand, where he held his sword, from the sleeve straight up to his elbow. She frantically put her ear at his chest. His heart was beating, and she breathed a sigh of relief. He took a very heavy current, but seems to have survived, moaning in pain.
Saito opened his eyes, and painfully stood up. “W-what... that guy... but, it hurts... gah!”
Derflinger spoke in concern, “That was ‘Lightning Cloud’. Very strong wind magic. That guy looks like an expert to me.”
“Ah! Ugh!” Saito’s face twisted in pain.
Wardes looked to Saito’s condition. “But he was lucky to survive with just his wrist injured. This spell usually kills. Hmm... looks like your sword neutralized some of the current, but I’m not sure why. Isn’t the sword made of metal?”
“No idea. I forgot.” Derflinger replied.
“An intelligent sword, huh. Rare stuff.”
Saito bit his lip hard. His injured wrist hurt, but the fact that he could do nothing to save Louise hurt more. Plus, he let Wardes steal the whole show. He couldn’t let Louise look at him like this anymore. He barely stood up, and sheathed Derflinger.
“Let's go. I-it doesn’t matter now.”
Behind the last flight of stairs was a branch. On that branch, a ship... just docked there. It was shaped more like a yacht, perhaps to let it fly. There were wings on the sides. From the ship dangled who-knows-how-many ropes, all tied onto the branches. The branch they were standing on extended all the way to the ship’s deck.
They stepped on board, and a sailor sleeping on the deck climbed up. “Hey you! What are you doing?!”
“Where’s the captain?”
“He’s sleeping. Come back in the morning.” The man replied frostily and drunkenly, and drank from his rum bottle.
Wardes did not answer, and pulled his staff out. “You want a noble to repeat what he just said? I said get the captain!”
“A n-noble!!” The sailor stood up immediately and ran for the captain’s quarters.
After a while, he brought back a sleepy, fifty-something old man with a hat on. He seemed to be the captain. “What do you want?” He looked at Wardes suspiciously.
“Leader of Her Majesty’s Mage Guard, Captain Wardes.”
The captain’s eyes bulged, and he switched to more formal words after learning Wardes' identity as a noble of high caliber. “Oh, uh... then, what services may this ship perform for you...”
“Take us to Albion. Depart now.”
“Madness!”
“This is upon Her Majesty’s orders. Are you going against the Royal Court?”
“I don’t know what you’re going to Albion for, but we can’t depart until morning!”
“Why?”
“Albion’s the closest to Tristainia in the morning! We don’t have enough wind stones to get there from here right now.”
“Wind stones?” asked Saito.
The captain gave him a 'you-don’t-know-what-a-wind-stone-is?' look and answered, “Stones that store wind magic. This ship can’t fly without them.” He then turned to Wardes. “Your Excellency, this ship only has enough wind stones in store to travel the shortest distance to Albion. If we had more, we could have gone earlier. But for now, we cannot depart. We’ll drop out of the sky while halfway there.”
“I’ll make up for however much you lack in wind stones. I’m a square wind mage.”
The captain and his sailors looked at each other. The captain then turned to Wardes and nodded. “Then that’s fine. You will have to pay, though.”
“What’s the cargo?”
“Sulfur. Right now, it’s worth its weight in gold. The nobles have increased the price in desperation for security. To have that, gunpowder and fire elements are a must.”
“Sell all of that to me at that price.”
The captain nodded, perhaps with a devious smile. With the deal done, the captain made one order after another. “Leave port! Untie anchors! Set sail!”
The sailors followed orders, all the while complaining under their breath. They expertly removed the ropes from the branches, climbed to the securing ropes on both sides, and released the sails.
Without the ties, the ship suddenly sank, and then floated again with the power of the wind stones.
“When can we reach Albion?” Wardes asked.
“We’ll arrive at Scarborough Port tomorrow at noon.” The captain replied.
Saito looked at the ground from the port side. The “harbor” could be seen between the huge tree’s branches. La Rochelle’s lights soon faded into darkness. They seemed to be traveling rather fast.
Louise approached Saito, and put a hand on his shoulder. “Saito, are you okay?” She worriedly looked at him.
“Don’t touch me.” He pushed her hand away. Louise’s face reddened.
“What?! And I was worried about you!” Louise went mad, seeing as Saito wouldn’t even look at her. “And I got all worried about you... what’s with that attitude?” She thought.
Saito was depressed. He couldn’t do a thing when Louise was about to be taken away by that white-masked man. He couldn’t face her. He remembered what Wardes told him a few days ago, “In other words, you are unable to protect Louise.”
Is that so? He sank.
Wardes approached them. “From what I heard from the captain, the Albion Royal Army near Newcastle was completely surrounded and is fighting an uphill battle.”
9
A grebe is a species of freshwater diving bird. They dive their beaks into the water to snatch fish as prey.