Translator: Hasr11
Editor: Kai
First published on Ainushi
Chapter 33: Ancient Magic
There"s an appearance by that person around chapter 20. [Hasr: it"s chapter 12 part 3]
There"s more Author"s Notes. She"s talking about the edits and stuff.
I swung about my sword recklessly, and cut the treads of the marionettes one after another.
70, 71, 72ーー.
I"ve still got ways to go, this isn"t enough.
A mountain of felled marionettes gathered around me.
It might"ve been a vague estimate, but the number of bodies had definitely crossed 200.
You needed a considerable number to match it.
83, 84, 85ーー.
Bit by bit, my vision blurred. I"d begun entering the danger zone.
I wanted to cross the 100 mark, but now was a good time to stop.
I didn"t want it the end with me overdoing it and fainting. Because it was nothing but the beginning of the counterattack.
ーー90.
Cancelling the magic, I returned from the supersonic world.
All my muscles must have torn due to the intense movements. I couldn"t even stand. If I didn"t block the pain, I might have fainted.
I fell down.
What caught me wasn"t the earth heated up by the summers blaze.
It was someone"s cold arm.
「Please forgive the late I, milady.」
A little hard to hear, and a peculiar way of speaking with archaic words mixed in.
It wasn"t a bit different from what I"d heard 2 years ago.
"He" sets out a black overcoat that was tailored from the old Viole Dynasty under the tree shade, and he lays my body down gently.
「…Why are you here?」
Didn"t he decide not to meet till he was conferred the t.i.tle of a knight?
「As Solut-dono requested of me.
Stating that 『It is extremely unnatural for her to be detained for so long in the empire. I entrust you with my daughter.』」
Cristoff Deugene. Better known as the Wandering Earl.
The paleness of his face was unchanged.
(……Alty, ya" made a good-for-nothing fella yer" subordinate, didn"t ya?)
"Rattle rattle", Weiss trembled in my hand.
(You know the Earl?)
(It ain"t such a shallow a.s.sociation.
This fella, ya see, is a great thief who outsmarted the great I an" s.n.a.t.c.hed away my "arm")
I see.
The Earl could use freeze magic that was unusual for an Earl, but it seems that it was originally something from Weiss
「Hmm. "Tis quite a nostalgic presence from that sword.
Nonetheless let us leave the reminiscing for later.
If our opponent is the Philosopher"s" Stone, my aged magic shall be of use.
ーーNow then, be my witness.」
And thus, the Earl began an aria.
Unchanging from two years ago, it was a sonorous and beautiful voice.
It was to the extent that it gave me an illusion as if I were witnessing an opera.
(Tch, if I hadn"t been tricked by this magic, I would"ve won)
It must have stirred up a bitter memory.
Weiss turned over in an angry manner.
I wondered which side was the back of the sword. Well, nevermind.
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……The ancient magic woke me up, and my world was repainted.
The blues skies and the garden filled with greenery disappeared, and a desert of thirst enveloped in darkness merged.
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I thought it was only a magic to show beautiful scenery, but for it to be useful in such a manner.
(I"m thankful, Earl. With this we can battle to our hearts content.)
Strong winds erupted with Kajero at its centre.
It was for the sake of destroying the shackles made by the Philosopher"s Stone.
(Well done, Evil Earl.)
Till just a while back Walf"s swod had become thin like a Rapier, but now its flames were leaping about like a soaring sea eagle [1].
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It was overwhelming. it was an easier task than even pulling out weeds for the spirits who had regained their original strength. The battle ended in less than ten seconds.
The Earl"s magic was undone, and we returned to the summer day that we"d come to the extent of getting tired of.
(A total 272 bodies……the fruits of the battle were excellent, all that"s left is to pack them.)
Kajero spoke while patting the dust off his clothes.
(The birds have already gathered the location of the doll maker.
It"s not a small number going about in defence, but if we can disable the Philosophers Stone, it"s not a big deal.
Since there"s only the 4 of us, raiding might be the best option.)
I nodded at Kajero"s plan.
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……As per the records in the future, there were no casualties in Garret Castle due to the attack, and even the injured could be easily counted.
This was by no means an exaggeration.
All the people at the palace left behind such a testimony.
「Since even the cats and mice were running in the same direction, we decided to follow them.
Thanks to that that we were saved.」
……Actually, Kajero instructed the animals to evacuate.
Thanks to appearance of the Earl, the situation had been settled to a great extent.
From the start till the doll maker surrendered, barely half an hour had pa.s.sed.
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I, who overdid it with a body that hadn"t even been properly trained was unable to even roll over.
「I-I"m extremely sorry. As a result of me strolling in the garden alone……」
The one crying her eyes out red while applying recovery magic, was the n.o.blewoman we had just rescued from the dolls.
She gave off an air of resemblance to King Lereol I felt, no wonder that she was his sister three years elder. Her position was the third princess.
「I shall definitely repay this favour of having saved my life.
That"s why please don"t die by any means.」
I wondered if it"s a reaction of my ultra high speed battle, but my limbs were in an awful state due to internal bleeding or something.
……Actually, if I"d gulped down the miracle drug, I"d be able to manage one way or another, but the atmosphere was bad for speaking out.
「Ahh, I"m sorry, I"m sorry—」
The animals had brought over the medicine, but sensing the unapproachable atmosphere, they huddled together far away.
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Before long, Kajero and the others caught the doll maker and returned.
He was grabbing Weiss in his hand, or rather forced to grab him. His body"s control had been robbed of him, and it was much more effective than poorly made handcuffs.
The doll maker gave an impression of being a scrawny ascetic monk at first sight.
He had receding hair and on top of it had an awful scowl on his face. He had rags over his tanned skin.
「Don"t think you"ve won with this, young girl!」
Upon seeing me, the doll maker shouted with a face that seemed as if it"d bite me any time.
「You"ve grown self-conceited being called the Doll Princess and whatnot, but aren"t you just someone who found an ally in a powerful spirit by chance!
As a genuine puppeteer, my way is much superior, can you move more than 1000 dolls at once? It"s impossible, right!」
With his gaze, Kajero asked 「Should we shut him up?」.
I shook my head
The battle ended without me even using ordinary doll magic. Due to that I was feeling somewhat dissatisfied.
Let"s try it since he"s especially asked.
I lightly took a breath.
I imagined countless threads shooting out from the top of my head.
The 1243 marionettes that had lost the connection to the doll maker joined me.
ーーEvery single one rushed to this place and gathered. In neat ranks.
Within 5 minutes that order was put into action.
「Hmph, if it"s to that extent, even someone at a novice level can do it!」
The doll maker once again shouted out something.
「If that"s so, rather than this, I"ll steal the dolls and if I protect them till the end, won"t I be recognised as a full fledged doll maker?
However, I can"t use magic as I am now. Set me free!」
……What is this guy rambling on about.
Why do we need to take the trouble to set free an enemy we captured, I wondered.
He"ll escape and counterattack, it"s an option filled with only big risks.
「Well, I wonder if it"s fine to denounce me as a pseudo-doll maker in this way.」
Somehow, even keeping him company seemed like a pain in the neck.
(Kajero, I"ll leave the rest to you.)
(Understood. Weiss has already read all the information.
There isn"t any use of it, let"s hand him over to this country"s judiciary.)
The dolls promptly took him along.
He spewed a lot of abusive curses, but none entered my ears.
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Here my memories break off for a while.
There was the fact that I"d been relieved after overcoming a desperate crisis, and due to having made myself the target of the doll magic both my mind and body were tired. Before I knew it, a deep slumber embraced me.
Within the awfully vivid dreams I fulfilled the unexpected encounter, and by the time my eyes reopened, a few days had pa.s.sed.
Thankfully, there wasn"t a third sudden attack.
But it wasn"t as if it pa.s.sed by uneventfully. A surprising incident occurred.
The enemy used the summoning magic a second time.
Kajero responded to that on purpose. It was to expose the true nature of the opponent.
Later on, all that was left was his sh.e.l.l, or so as to say, the Italian Mafia soft toy.
A/N:
Next chapter will be from a different person"s POV.
T/N:
1. To be exact, the bird they"re talking about is the Steller"s sea eagle. More info on it here
Random fact: the Bald eagle is also a sea eagle. ↩
Hasr: Haha, got a bit delayed this time welp. Onward to exams!!