“You’ll get used to the smell soon. A woman however wouldn’t, which is the reason why I’m single.”
Colbert sat down while muttering answers to questions he wasn’t being asked. He sniffed the gasoline he had gotten from the bottom of the zero fighter's fuel tank. Since a permanence spell was placed on the Zero fighter, the gasoline had not undergone any change in chemical composition.
“Hm… It’s a smell I’ve never smelt before. Giving off such a smell without even being heated… This must be quite easy to burn. If this were to be used as an explosive, it would be of alarming strength.”
He reached for a piece of parchment near him and started jotting down notes.
“If I duplicate this oil, that ‘airplane’ will fly?”
“Probably… If it hasn’t broken already.”
“Interesting! Concocting substances is tough work but I’ll try it!”
Muttering to himself, he took out all sorts of substances and lit his alcohol lamp.
“You’re called Saito, right?”
Saito nodded.
“You said in your home town, these could be seen flying everywhere? The technology of the lands the elves govern in the east seem to far outclass any technology in Halkeginia.”
Saito felt somewhat bad for lying to Colbert, who had been more than willing to help him in concocting gasoline and had also paid for the transportation fees.
“Mr Colbert, actually, I’m… not from this world. This airplane, and also the ‘Staff of Destruction’ which destroyed Fouquet’s golem and I, are from another world.”
Colbert’s hand suddenly stopped.
“What did you say?”
“I come from another world.”
Colbert gazed steadily at Saito and then proceeded to nod his head, as though he were impressed.
“I see.” he whispered.
“Aren’t you surprised?”
“Well, of course I am. But you definitely seem like it. The way you speak and your behavior has a different feel. Hm, this is becoming more and more interesting.”
“You’re a strange person aren’t you, Mr Colbert?”
“I get called strange by many people. I haven’t even found someone willing to marry me yet. But I have a belief.”
“A belief?”
“Yes. The nobles of Halkeginia treat magic as a mere tool… Like a broom, they only see it as a handy tool. I don’t think magic is something like that. Magic could be used for so much more. Instead of simply sticking to the traditional uses of the different branches of magic, we should be experimenting to find different ways to utilize it.”
Nodding, Colbert continued.
“After seeing you, my belief has grown stronger. Who would have thought there was another world! This shows that the rules of Halkeginia are not absolute! Interesting! Such an interesting topic! I want to see this world. There are probably lots of new things to be discovered! It’ll probably add a new page to my research! If you have any questions at all, just come and talk with me. Colbert the Flame Serpent will always help you.”
In the Austri courtyard, Saito was sitting in the cockpit of the Zero fighter and inspecting its parts. When he grasped the control stick, or even if he merely touched a switch, the runes on his left hand shone. Information would then flow to his brain, and tell him the condition of the part. When he moved the control stick, the ailerons of the wings and the elevator on the tail moved with a clank. The tail rudder moved when he stepped on the rudder bar and a cross shaped pointer appeared on the glass pane when he pushed the sight device switch on the instrument board. The engines on either side of the body of the plane were still alive. The shining Gandálfr runes told its user quite a bit. A smile appeared on Saito’s face.
“Partner, can this fly?”
“Yes.”
“Something like this flying… Your world is a strange one.”
Numerous students were watching Saito in the Zero fighter, but they quickly lost interest and left. There are only a few nobles who would be interested in this, like Colbert, Saito thought. Suddenly a girl appeared, proudly brushing her pinkish blond hair with her hand.
Louise stared at Saito and the thing he was in. As if she were angry, she pointed her finger at it and said, “What’s that?”
Saito raised his head from the cockpit and simply replied, “An airplane”. As they still weren’t on good terms, he said it while facing away.
“Come down from that airplane thing, then.” Ordered Louise, pouting her lips while placing her hands on her hips. He ignored her and continued inspecting the parts of the Zero fighter. Louise grasped the end of a wing and started to make the Zero fighter wobble.
“I said come down, didn’t I?”
“Fine”, whispered Saito as he got off and headed to Louise.
“Where did you go?”
“Treasure hunting.”
“What were you thinking, going without telling your master?”
Louise crossed her arms and stared at Saito. Saito noticed that her eyes were puffy.
“Didn’t you fire me?”
Louise cast her eyes downwards and spoke with a voice as if she were about to cry.
“I suppose you deserve a chance to explain yourself. If you have anything you want to say, then say it now.”
“What is there to explain? I didn’t do anything. This is about Siesta right? Siesta was just about to fall down so I tried to catch her. I then fell down as well, making it look as if I had pushed her down onto the bed.”
The real reason was because Siesta had suddenly started to take off her clothes, but for Siesta’s sake he didn’t say that.
“Then, nothing really happened?”
“Nothing. Why were you so angry? That was the first time she came to the room. As if something like that would happen. Why were you angry, anyway? What me and Siesta do is none of your business, right?” Said Saito.
Louise only thinks of me as a familiar. The only reason she treats me better is because of her newfound compassion for animals.
“It’s none of my business, but in some ways it is.”
“Which one is it?”
Louise glared at Saito and groaned.
Louise tugged at his sleeve. She was whispering things like “Hey, apologize” and “Why are you being so uptight, you made me so worried”, but Saito wasn’t looking at Louise anymore. He was looking at the Zero fighter in a daze.
Louise had jumped to her own conclusions. She was ashamed that she had shut herself in her room and sulked. She drew out the deadly technique she had been saving. It was a girl’s secret technique, which would sweep away any suspicion, anger, contradiction, and even the fact that Louise drove Saito out. She burst into tears.
Buckets of tears came streaming down from her eyes.
“Where did you go all this time! Idiot! I hate you!”
Sniffling, she wiped the streaming tears with the back of her hand.
“H-Hey, don’t cry.”
Panicking, Saito placed his hands on Louise’s shoulder. Louise cried even harder.
“I hate you! I hate you!”
Kirche approached them, holding a mop and a dust cloth in her hands. Because they had skipped lessons, their punishment was to wipe the academy’s windows clean. As Saito was neither a noble nor a student at the academy, he didn’t have to do anything.
Guiche looked at Saito, who was comforting Louise, and grinned.
“You can’t just make your master cry like that.”
Kirche said dully, “Made up already? That’s no fun…”
Tabitha simply pointed at the two and said, “After the rain comes fair weather.”