“D-don’t be stupid! It will be all right! No one can ask more for an apology!”
“Hmmm.”
Derflinger became silent. Because he wasn’t saying anything for a while, Louise grew impatient.
Eventually Louise became restless. She took up a piece of firewood which was placed near the fireplace and “Piiiiin” started to peel it off.
“Gloomy way of killing time.”
“Shut up! Well, then, tell me! Teach me what do I have to do!”
“Love.”
“Haaa?”
“Say, 'I am in love with Saito'!”
“I can’t say such thing!”
“Do you hate him?”
“I-it’s not that…”
Louise hesitated.
“Well, then, aren’t you in love?”
“I-it’s not that! Anyway, I am saying that I want to say, that I am not saying that I am saying, that I am not in love! Uuuuh! Idiot! Worn-out sword!”
“Haah, if you are like that, then pushing him down is out of the question, right?”
“That’s a splendid idea.”
“Really?”
“Splendid. Stop joking! What kind of idea is that, for a master to push down! Seriously…”
“You won’t push him down?”
“It’s out of the question! Stupid!”
“Aah, but being pushed down by a loving partner, and then embraced tightly, was pleasant, wasn’t it?”
With a scarlet blush on her cheeks, Louise cast her eyes down, and said in a tiny voice.
“…that, c-could you talk about something else?” she asked.
“Then push him down.”
“I-I don’t want to do that! Seriously! I’ll only embarrass myself. Besides it would be hard to push Gandálfr down. Hey.”
“So you say.”
“Anyway, I am La Vallière’s third daughter. I can’t say I love you to such a foolish familiar. Thus, not love. Really. He is the one who loves me, well, I admit, it feels nice. It feels great when he worships me. But it’s not enough! Do you understand?!”
“I understand… you are troubled by obstacles…”
“Anyway, faster, teach me of another way to mend his mood.”
“Make love.”
Louise slowly stood up, and started to cast a spell.
“I won’t blow you up. I’ll melt you. Answer now, without joking. Do you have anything else to offer?”
Derflinger trembled.
“I’m over.”
He muttered.
“What?”
“It’s very hard for me to think. I’m just a sword. Legendary.”
“Because you are legendary, you should be more attentive to remarks.”
“No words are good enough, if you hide your feelings, behind unbreakable pride.”
Louise stepped back, thought for a while, and nodded.
“…What you said, is probably true. Though you are a sword you can understand a human's inner thoughts.”
“It’s because I lived so many years among them. And worked with them. It comes naturally. Now then, speaking of your situation…”
Louise and Derflinger discussed for a while… deciding a strategy.
Saito sat down on a bench in a central plaza of Saxe-Gotha, watching people passing the road. Soldiers of Tristain and Germania, and citizens of Saxe-Gotha all passed with lamplights. The allied forces that occupied the streets walked proudly thrusting out their chests. As it was a truce period, they got drunk, cut loose, and ran after young girls, and ended up being shouted at by noble officers.
However, faces of either citizens of Saxe-Gotha, unlike people of defeated countries, did not seem very sad. Sure, they were not pleased by the fact that their town was flooded by additional people. Yet, the aristocratic faction Reconquista, the present political power in Albion, was not in a great favor here.
Besides, because they delivered food, the allied forces seemed to be accepted as a liberation army.
Though the rampart was partially destroyed, damage to the urban area was avoided as much as possible, so there were hardly any loses for the town and citizens. Considering the war's end and the start of the anticipated Advent Festival, citizens were smiling broadly.
“Haah,” Saito let out a sigh.
Within this happy town, the only dark face is mine.
Then he stared at the rune on his left hand.
Haa, the power passed on a big load to me, he thought. When this war ends, I will surely go to the eastern lands. Louise will not need me anymore…
Thinking this way, he grew even more lonely. And nostalgia hit him again. Saito recalled his hometown in the different world. In the alien world… in the foreign town of the foreign country that he did not get used to, nostalgia filled his chest suddenly.
Being wrapped up in such painful feelings… Saito was called from the back.
“Saito!”
Saito, for a moment could not recognize whose voice it was. That voice shouldn’t be here on this street.
The next moment, arms wrapped up tightly around Saito from the back, and he was pushed to the ground.
“Yaaan, being able to meet so soon! Feels great! I'm so happy!”
Barely thinking, he turned around, just to see a shining Siesta’s face, with a broad smile.
“S-Siesta? Why?”
Saito panicked. Why is Siesta here? This is Albion, a continent on a cloud. It’s not the place for the Academy of Magic’s maid Siesta to be in.
“Hmmm? Who did Siesta meet here?”
A deep voice came from the back. It sounded sweetened.
“Manager Scarron?”
Manager Scarron was an effeminate man, dressed up in tight leather clothes. He managed the “Charming Faries” inn where Saito and Louise worked one summer. And next to him was Scarron’s daughter Jessica. Saito stared at them all with widely opened eyes.
“Consolation Corps?”
In a café facing the plaza, Saito asked loudly. Slurping the beer, a smiling Scarron responded, while puckering up his brows,
“That's riiight! The reason for that is that additional food needed to be sent, thus the Consolation Corps was organized! To go to Albion…”
Scarron looked at the piling up dishes and shook his head.
“The dishes are horrible! Only beer to drink! Women too thin! What a notorious place!”
Indeed, if you looked around the plaza, shops serving wine could not be found, only tea and beer. The Albion people did not drink wine, Scarron explained, plainly puckering up his brows.
“Really! Such an unpalatable beer is the same as drinking phlegm; Tristainian people with taste would never drink this! Therefore, Tristanian inns can earn much from such business trips. I want to open White Arrow’s Inn here. This way 'Charming Fairies' inn would establish next to royal families! Aaah, the honor!”
Scarron wiggled his body. Girls, brought from the inn, seconded him in joyful chorus.
“Honor! Mi mademoiselle!”
Scarron rose up above the table. Saito almost burst into tears.
“Is Saito a soldier? Why did you come to Albion?”
“No, I’m not a soldier…”
“Let it out. Mi mademoiselle is a man, he’ll understand.”
Mi mademoiselle being a man still needs to be confirmed, Saito thought while nodding vaguely.
Then he remembered Siesta, sitting next to him and smiling broadly.
“But, why did Siesta come along?” He asked.
“She’s a relative.”
Frightened to death, Saito stared at Scarron. Could someone as sweet as Siesta be Scarron’s relative?
“M-manager’s..?”
“Yes. From the mother's side…”
Siesta muttered shamefully.
“Could it be that the tavern where Saito worked during this year's summer…”
“He worked in it. That’s how we got acquainted.”
Jessica explained. Then Jessica looked at Saito across the table.