Pointing a spear at his face, the man said in a cruel voice,
“Naa, youngster.”
“Ku…”
“When you’re reborn in your next life, consider your words before boasting.”
The moment when Saito was giving up, he shut his eyes…
Naudiz Isaz Ehwaz...
Voice came from the back. Gradually, it turned into song. A spell was being cast behind him.
Hagalaz Yr Beorc...
…It was similar to Louise.
Nyd Is Algiz…
When turning around, he saw Tiffania grasping the small wand that she took out some time ago. It was a small and a thin wand, like a pencil.
“What? Nee-chan is a noble? Naah, it must be another bluff…”
Berkanan Man Laguz...
The moment when a single man closed in...
In a confident attitude, like a conductor lowering a rejected baton, Tiffania lowered her wand.
The air stirred like mayflies.
The air, surrounding men, distorted.
“Fue…?”
Like a fog clearing up, the distorted air returned back to normal… Men looked at the air dumbfoundedly.
“That? What just happened here?”
“This? Why we are in this place?”
Tiffania informed the men in a perfectly composed voice.
“You got lost in the forest.”
“R-really?”
“The army is that way. Go forth to the highway after leaving the forest and then head straight to the north.”
“T-thank you…”
Step by step, the men left without reliance.
In a blank surprise, Saito watched their backs.
After the last one disappeared in the forest, Tiffania relaxed.
Then Tiffania said in an embarrassed tone.
“…I have erased their memory. Their memory stops at ‘entering the forest’. When they reach the highway, they will forget about us completely.”
“It’s magic?”
Tiffania nodded. Then Saito realized something.
“Then, the dragon knights that were helped, have lost their memory as well…”
“So. You know those people.”
Saito nodded.
Magic that erases one’s memory…
Wind, Water, Fire, Earth…
Whichever element he thought of, none could do that.
Unless…
But isn’t it a legendary element?!
While trembling, Saito asked.
“…just now, what magic was it?”
Instead of Tiffania, Derflinger answered.
“Void. It was Void.”
“Void?”
Confused, Tiffania looked at Derflinger.
“… what, this is its true identity.”
Saito, with a widely opened mouth, stared at Tiffania. This girl who had an impossible chest… secretly had an impossible power as well.
“Anyway… Why are you able to use that power? Please, tell me.”
That night, to hear Tiffania's childhood story, Saito came to the living room.
In Tiffania's house, there were three rooms. The room where Saito was resting, her bedroom, and this living room. The children lived in groups of three, but though they lived separately, they ate in Tiffania's house. After finishing the dinner and seeing off children to their houses, Tiffania took some wine out of the barn and placed it with glasses on the table.
Firewood was burning in the fireplace. In addition, some bird’s meat was being roasted on it.
“I'm sorry for waiting. Until night, I feel too uneasy to talk.“
“It’s all right,” Saito said.
Tiffania, while watching the roasting poultry on the fireplace, began to talk slowly.
“My mother was the mistress of Albion's King’s younger brother… the Grand Duke who was ruling over this whole land of Saxe-Gotha. My father was a Grand Duke of the royal family treasury, responsible for the management of the treasury. My mother used to call it 'financial supervisors’ attention'.”
“Mistress?”
Saito asked.
“Yes, mistress – a woman other than a wife.”
“Indeed.”
“Why would an elf be a Grand Duke’s mistress?”
“I do not know that. The reason why my mother, being an elf, came to the White Country to become father’s, is unknown to me. Mother never spoke about it… Nonetheless, in Halkeginia, no one thinks of elves pleasantly, it must have been some really complex circumstance.”
“Because they say they are trying to get back the sacred ground from elves.”
“Aye. In that sort of division, my mother was a truly obscure person. She never talked in public and rarely went out. In the residence, she waited for my father's return for a long, long time, continuing that sort of life. I still recall it. The back of a mother who absent-mindedly watches the door… Since I had the ears of my mother, I was not allowed to go out as well then.”
Saito was quiet and drank one glass of wine. So that’s why Tiffania was not used talking to teenage boys. Not just boys, there must have not been any girl friends either.
“However, that sort of life with mother was not too difficult. Father, who came by occasionally, was gentle and mother told me various stories too. Mother taught me how to play musical instruments and read books.”
“I see.”
“The day when that sort of life ended came. Four years ago. Father, with a changed look, came to us. He said, 'It is too dangerous here' and took us to the house of one of father's vassals.”
“Why?”
“Mother's existence was the royal family’s secret. If it were to be found out some day that a royal family treasury manager, father, had an elf as a mistress, it would cause a huge scandal, if not more. Still, father refused to banish mother and me. The vicious king imprisoned father and did all sorts of tricks to search for our whereabouts. And, at last, we were found.”
Saito held his breath.
“I still remember it well. The day when the Advent Festival started. Many knights and soldiers came to the house in which we hid ourselves. The noble who was father's vassal, however, desperately resisted... but was no match to the king‘s military forces. Once the knights‘ footsteps echoed in the corridor, my mother hid me in the closet and locked it. I was holding the wand given to me by father, and trembled for a long time. When soldiers entered the room, mother said.”
Saito shut his eyes.
“'I will not resist. We elves do not want to fight.’ Yet, magic was the response. I heard a frightening sound when one spell after another hit my mother. Then the chasers tried to open the closet where I hid myself…”
Tiffania drank a glass of wine, with a painful expression on her face.
“And, were you caught?”
She shook her head.
“No…”
“Then, did someone help?”
“No. The spell, that I used today, saved me.”
“Then how did that magic awake?”
Not able to contain the overflowing curiosity, Saito asked it. With her eyes closed, Tiffania began to speak.
“In my house, there were a lot of valuable items as my father was a royal treasury manager. When I was small, I often played with them. There was an old music box among them.”
“Music box?”
“Yes. Treasure given to the royal family… However, it could not be opened without the ring. Yet, one day I noticed. That there was one ring similar to the lock in the treasury, and when I inserted it and opened the box, I heard a tune. It was a beautiful, somewhat nostalgic tune. Mysteriously, no one else but me could hear that tune… Even if the ring still fit.“
Saito held his breath. She looked like she was remembering something.
“Once I heard the tune, in my head… runes started to emerge. However, I did not say that to anyone, because I did not want them to find out I was playing with the treasure.”
“The runes that you used a while ago?”