Each of the Wardes’ canes were aimed at Saito, but he brandished Derflinger like a pinwheel.
Derflinger shouted.
‘That’s the way to fight, Gandálfr! Swing me in the rhythm of your heart!’
The next moment, all three Wardes were torn up in the blink of an eye.
Saito landed.
With ‘'Uneven Distribution’ defeated, the remaining real Wardes' body fell down on the floor. <-The spell name changed...which to use? This one makes more sense. ~Dan->
His left arm, which had been cut off, landed there after a few seconds.
Saito also landed on the ground, but he stumbled and had to support himself with his knee. His tiredness had reached a critical limit.
Wardes stood up staggering and stared at Saito.
‘Damn… This ‘Flash’ really defeated me…’
Saito tried to stand up and run up to him, but his body stopped obeying him.
‘Ku…’
‘Aah, partner. Don’t act foolishly now – Gandálfr cannot move after wasting his energy. That’s because this familiar was created to defend his master while the master chants the spell.’
Derflinger explained.
Wardes gripped his cane with his remaining right hand and floated upwards.
‘Oh dear, it seems that I managed to accomplish only one of the goals. Anyways, now you are mine ‘Gandálfr’ – a large army will soon burst in. Hey! Can you hear the sound of horses' hooves and dragons' wings!?’
Indeed, one could hear the noise of cannons and sounds of fire magic explosions outside, as well as the roaring voices of nobles and soldiers mixed up in a battle.
‘You and your foolish master will be turned to ashes! Gandálfr!’
Throwing these last parting words, Wardes disappeared through the hole in the wall.
Saito, who used Derflinger as a crutch for support, stumblingly walked up to Louise.
‘Louise!’
Saito shook Louise trying to wake her up to no avail. Saito put his ear to Louise’s chest in panic.
Thump, thump, thump…
Hearing the faint heartbeat, he breathed out a sigh of relief. Louise was worn-out. Her mantle was torn, and her knees and cheek bruised.
And there must be more bruises under the clothes, too.
Louise’s hand was grasping her chest. Her breast pocket button came off, and one could see Henreitta’s letter peeping out from the inside. It seemed that, even unconscious, Louise was still protecting the letter.
Really, I am so glad you are alive. I came just in time. Saito thought.
‘But partner… What do we do now? The Eagle already left the port…’
That’s right. To save Louise, Saito jumped down from the departing Eagle's deck.
‘Eh?’
‘Eh? Really. Can you hear the shouts outside? What do you think Wales' men would think seeing his body lying on the floor? They would think we are traitors for sure.’
Indeed, explosions and battle roars were getting closer and closer to the walls. It was only a matter of time before they would come bursting in here.
Saito quietly laid Louise on the chair.
And then stood up before her, standing guard.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Defending Louise.’
When Saito said this, Derflinger trembled while twitching.
‘Ha. Other than that. I understand. Partner Gandálfr, it was nice to know you and this noble girl, your master, partner.’
‘Stop joking around.’
‘Hm?’
‘Louise and I, we will both survive.’
‘Were you listening to the king’s speech? There are 50,000 enemies.’
‘Doesn’t matter.’
Saito, with his last remaining strength, grasped the sword. Even 50,000, even 100,000 he felt like he could win. Today he could defeat any mage, even if he was extremely tired.
Derflinger’s shaking became louder and louder.
“That’s right! That’s the way I like it. Who cares about 50,000. Let them come to us!”
And Saito, holding Derflinger, stared at the entrance of the chapel.
They waited, for sooner or later an enemy to come…
But then…
The ground, near the place where Louise was laid, rose up.
“What?”
Saito watched the ground.
“Is it an enemy? Digging under?”
He lowered the sword towards the hole, out of which a brown animal soon popped it’s head.
“Aaaaaaaan?”
And then that brown animal started groping Louise’s body that was lying near sides.
“You… you are the huge mole Verdandi! Guiche’s familiar!”
Saito shouted, and soon enough from the same hole that Verdandi came out, Guiche's face appeared.
“Hey! Verdandi! You can dig a hole anywhere! Good boy! Gu….”
Guiche turned his soil smeared face from Saito and noticed Louise lying nearby, then said pretending not to know.
“Ha! You! You are here!”
“W-what are you doing here!?”
Saito shouted.
“Not that. After winning the battle against Fouquet the Crumbling Earth, and after a short break, we decided to follow you. It is our duty as princess Henrietta’s honor depends on it, right?”
“But this place is in the sky! How did you get here!?”
Then, near Guiche, Kirche’s face popped out.
“Tabitha's Sylphid.”
“Kirche!”
“We reached Albion successfully, but since it's a foreign country we didn’t know where to go. But then, Verdandi started digging a hole all of sudden, so we followed him.”
Meanwhile the huge mole was pressing his nose to the ‘Ruby of Water’ that was shining on Louise’s finger. Guiche nodded.
“Indeed. He followed the smell of the ruby, and started digging a tunnel to here. My cute Verdandi, because of his love for jewels he was able to follow from La Rochelle and dug a hole to get here.”
Saito opened his mouth in amazement. He surely, never planned to be saved by a mole.
“Are you alright? I almost captured Fouquet again, but she made a narrow escape. That woman, though being a mage, surely does run away a lot. By the way, darling, what are you doing here?” Kirche asked while wiping off the dirt from her face with a handkerchief.
Saito laughed nerviously.
“Ha, ha, haha…”
“Dear? Is something wrong dear?”
“We’ll talk about it later! The enemy will burst in soon! Let’s run away!”
“Running away, and the mission? What about Viscount Wardes?”
“We have the letter! Wardes was a traitor! Return back now!”
“What? Well I do not understand it, but it seems everything ended already.” Kirche said in nonchalant voice.
With Louise in his arms, Saito slowly made his way through the hole. But then he remembered something. He left Louise in Guiche’s care and hurried back to Wales in the chapel.
However, Wales had already died.
Saito shut his eyes and silently said his prayers.
“Hey! What are you doing there! Come back quickly!” Guiche called Saito back.
Saito looked at Wales' body. He looked for some keepsake to give to Henrietta. He noticed a big ruby on his finger.
The ruby belonged to Albion’s royal family.
Saito removed it from the finger and put it in his pocket.
“Brave prince… You won’t be forgotten.” Saito muttered.
“I swear to you that I will also defend the things I believe in.”
Saito said bowing down, and ran back to the hole.
The same moment Saito dove in the hole, the noble soldiers and mages broke through the door and jumped into the chapel.
The tunnel Verdandi dug ran right under the Albion’s continent. So the moment Saito got out of the hole, there was nothing but clouds beneath, yet Sylphid successfully caught all four falling people and a mole.
The mole that the wind dragon caught with its mouth, let out a protesting cry.