Zero no Tsukaima

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Chapter 4 - Mother and Cousin[]

This is the capital of the Kingdom of Gallia, Lutece. At a corner of the Palace of Versellaies, a new palace was being constructed near the crumbled moss covered walls.

Marble from the veins in the mountains were ferried towards the temporarily built harbour, then carted all the way to the centre of this new palace and piled there.

Numerous masons were gathered all over the Kingdom of Gallia to cut, shave, and improve the quality of the marbles. These stonemasons have a mage’s background. They can control the Earth-class magic. 3 days work of stonemasons only by labour can be done in mere hours by them.

According to tradition, although construction work has nothing to do with nobility, this tradition does not hold when constructing palaces.

In order to please the newly crowned Queen, all the laborers and nobles were working hard and bathed in sweat.

"Hey! Over there! Don’t stop!"Yelled the supervisor aggressively. On closer look, turns out a bunch of stonemasons were resting under the shades of a tree. With summer approaching, working under such burning sunlight is most certainly hard to bear with.

"If you want to complain, complain to the sun. Summer’s here."A worker said while wiping off his dripping sweat. Other masons also nodded smiling.

"We can’t use magic, cutting stones is all done manually, there’s going to be no work done if our bodies don’t work. I’m sure you understand even our bodies have its limit."

The supervisor sat down near them and surveyed every one of them.

True, all of them looked exhausted already. It can’t be deemed that they were lazing off. If one had keep pushing them to work, fainting or getting a heatstroke is certainly a possibility.

"I understand. But if so, today’s salaries will be reduced half."

"How could you, that’s outrageous!"

"I don’t have much choice here, you’ve only finished half of the work, if you want to blame, blame the sun."

The workers all stood up, their eyes blazing with fury."Please sir, that won’t do!"

"What do you want to do? Rebel? A bunch of scums!"

The moment this came out, other angry stonemasons also glared at him. These are all highly skilled stonemasons with a high self-esteem.

Not only do they have great handicraft skills, a lot of them despise nobles. Under circumstances like these, arguments like these often happen.

Carrying the chisels and tools, the stonemasons began to gather around them.

The supervisor held his wand nervously. Even if magic was used to disperse the crowd, this amount of people would seem too much. And so, an uneasy tension began to hang in the air.

All of a sudden, a cool breeze brushed passed them.

"What’s going on?"

The icy wind carrying a small hint of snow drove away the heat on the bodies of these people from the cruel unforgiving sun.

"This feels so good, only if this could last longer."

Not only did it cool down their bodies, it also cooled their hotheadedness. The dangerous looks on the workers began to disappear as well.

"If you sir could also do that for us too then nothing like this would have ever happened."

The supervisor turned around, then couldn’t help but gasp as soon as he saw the person behind him."Your majesty...."

What surprised him was the young Queen Tabitha who had just been crowned not long ago. Under the blue hair, her clear eyes gave off a chilling stare. A cape signifying royalty enwrapped her small fragile body, who was followed by a few royal subjects behind her.

The stonemasons were also shocked frozen and the uneasiness began to hang in the air yet again. Everyone lowered their head. Without expressions, Tabitha pointed the large staff which had just casted the icy wind just now towards the supervisor.

Expecting to be questioned, the supervisor lowered his head apologetically in respect"M-my sincere apologies, I will definitely punish them....."

But, Tabitha’s answer was by far different from his expectations.

"Use your wand to create ’wind’ to cool down the stonemasons like what I did just now."

Hearing the Queen’s words, the workers all cheered. The supervisor on the other hand widened his eyes. Making winds will not speed up the processing of the stones, besides, isn’t his job supposed to overlook these stonemasons, not to serve them. There’s only one supervisor here.

"A-aristocrats ’cooling down’ these workers, is that your excellency’s meaning?"

Tabitha nodded.

"But, how could we use the sacred power from god to do these kind of stuff?!"

Tabitha replied coldly with no emotion in her voice"This is more efficient."

In a short period of time, a bunch of good-for-nothings aristocrats were gathered, then distributed to different places and began making wind.

With a new method to cool down, the stonemasons naturally went back to their tasks gleefully. There could be nothing better than having these arrogant nobles making wind for them.

"This Queen, compared to the last one, is very different."

"Although young, she really knows how to manage her country."

Different sorts of praises came from the stonemasons. Although Tabitha heard their discussion, like always she winced her eyes and went back to the courtyard, as if sleepy.

Next to Tabitha, a man in priest clothes muttered to himself meaningfully."Her highness seems more and more like a worthy King."

"I am only doing what needs to be done to make sure everything goes smoothly."

Hearing Tabitha say so, this man is priest clothes...... this red clothed deacon dispatched from Romalia, Bishop Barry Bernoulli (?????) shook his head.

He is the assistant Chancellor in addition to being the main diplomat between Gallia and Romalia ever since Tabitha was coronated. After this coup d’etat, Gallia has changed to a new system imitating that of Tristain’s, Bishop being the Prime Minister...... in short, all personnel chosen were people close to the Pope.

Since coronation, there has been so far no interference from Romalia. If the four void mages are incomplete, the revival of the void would have no where to begin. It is also probably the reason why they haven’t intereferred with Gallia.

Tabitha, on the other hand, did not hold such optimistic views.They must have some sort of intention

"From the looks of the progress, we should be in time for the celebration."

Tabitha nodded. Everyone was awaiting the completion of the new Palace and the grand celebratory part at the Palace of Versallies.

Numerous people of high status will be attending this party. It will be grabbing world-wide attention, the first official banquet since she is made Queen. Of course, the Pope of Romalia and Queen Henrietta will be attending as well.

Tabitha headed towards Petite Troyes.

Some time ago when they entered Lutece, the owner of the place, Princess Isabella, was nowhere to be found. All the nobles assumed to be supportive of the previous regime would either be thrown into jail, declared exile into some villages, or in the best possible case, be granted a title without any actual power.

Despite the throughout displacement of these nobles, Princess Isabella has yet to be found.

At the gate of Petite Troys, Tabitha ordered everyone to take leave.

Therefore, the loyal subjects who had been following Tabitha all left, the most annoying person Barry Bernoulli not excluded.

Towards the young Queen who had led them back to freedom again, the Orleans supporting nobles took a deep bow towards Tabitha before leaving.

Returning a bow to these loyal subjects, Tabitha opened the gate towards Petite Troyes. Having visited this place countless times as a Knight of the Nothern Parterre, she headed directly towards the bedroom.

Not long ago Isabella was still using this room. Tabitha recalled the number of times she had received Isabella’s commands in the same room. Now, Tabitha casually inspect items to her will.

At the time when she was still receiving orders as a knight, never had she thought about one day become the owner of this place. That time, except for revenge, she had considered nothing else.

The linens, the quilt, even the bed was the same.

Some of her retainers suggested tearing this place down and decorating it all over, but Tabitha refused. Furniture is furniture, regardless of who uses it it will never loses its original function.

Tabitha casually took off her dresses as a Queen and her crown, changing into normal clothes, then sat on the bed.

She eyed the crown sitting on the desk. She was given this just to save the soldiers and knights deployed at the Lelion river.

Only because the Saito imitation said that this would be a better choice did she choose to this......

But now the objective has changed.

’To interrupt the Crusade begun by Romalia’

To be able to achieve that, she’d have to first become Queen. As long as it can be stopped, she would gladly give the throne away to any suitable noble.

No..... there’s no need for a king or a queen, it can also be achieved by gathering wise and powerful subjects and letting them manage. Why is it necessary for the King to manage politics personally?

It’s exactly because of this unnecessary crown did her father and his brother began this ridiculous fight....

Regardless, whether it’s ceding the throne or simply taking off the crown, these are all future events. After all, since that, there has not been a demand from Romalia so far. Just this fact is enough to render Tabitha feeling helpless.

Most likely, one day Romalia will ask Gallia for assistance in the Crusade. Although they have still yet to gather all four void mages, those people at Romalia will never give up. As long as they are not able to attain the legendary power, they will always trigger a crusade with all the power they can achieve in real life.

And right this moment, there could not be a better power in real life than the humongous ground forces of Gallia.

Contemplating this, suddenly a noise sounded in the room. It was Sylphid in human form. Dressed in a priestess’ clothes, she showed off the dishes she’d carried in her hands and place them in front of Tabitha.

"Haa, considering so much even although you are Queen already. Look, I even brought you food. How are you supposed to think without energy!"As the familiar of Tabitha, Sylphid has recently put more effort into assisting Tabitha once she had become Queen. Still, no matter what, there’s no way for Sylphid to like the clothes she’s wearing right now, and will be constantly complaining.

"These sort of dresses are always in the way, why must I be dressed like the other female officers."

Unlike the times when Tabitha was still a student, as a Queen, her every movement will be the attention of the general public. As a dragon, there would be lots of restrictions in many fields, which is why Sylphid can only stay in human form. In short, in front of other people, a dragon must never say a word.

"....."Tabitha took a spoon while considering all sorts of things. Sylphid kept urging Tabitha to eat more, at the same time stuffing food into her mouth with bare hands."C’mon, eat, this is good."

In no time, the dishes were quickly emptied. Sylphid shook her head, a face full of anxiety"See, because Nee-sama didn’t eat any, everything has been eaten already!"Seeing how Tabitha still has no intention to open her mouth, Sylphid continued"Speaking of which, I really don’t have a lot of good memories in this place. It’s all because of that horrible cousin. I wonder where did she hide, if I ever find her I’ll definitely chew her to pieces."

Just as Sylphid was saying so, a knight’s voice came from outside."Captain of the Knights of the Eastern Parterre Bartolomeo is here to see your majesty."

Tabitha dressed back into her royal robes.

Suddenly came Bartolomeo, an extremely loyal person towards Tabitha and has once again been knighted as a parterre knight. A few missing members were also replaced by young ambitious nobles, the numbers reaching around 30. Leaving all sorts of unimportant tasks to the co-captain to manage, the captain only accepts direct orders from Tabitha herself.

Although his title is still the same, compared to the royal guards, his team is more like Tabitha’s personal bodyguards. On the other hand, Bartolomeo personally considers himself to be Tabitha’s most loyal family.

Seeing Tabitha dressed all up like a Queen, Bartolomeo couldn’t help but cry emotionally. Everytime encountering Tabitha since she had been coronated, he would get teary eyed.

"Your deceased father Orleans will most certainly be happy for you in the otherworld too."

Because there’s no time to get all emotional over these things, Tabitha hurried Bartolomeo to cut to the chase.

His face quickly changed to a cheerful one, and then clapped his hands once. Subsequently, a knight waiting outside the gate brought in a woman with both her hands tied together. Sylphid cried out in surprise,"Oh, it’s the arrogant princess."

"Yes, she was hiding in the restricted grounds of a monastery, but was eventually discovered."

Being tied both hands to the back, Isabella’s expressions were one of being greatly insulted and angered. A few months ago, she had never thought of a day like this happening to her. More ironically, the place she is taken to right now is the place she had been issuing orders all along.

It’s all Tabitha’s fault, completely switching the status upside down., Isabella glared at Tabitha.

"Then, she is all yours, your highness."Saying so, Bartolomeo took his leave, leaving only the once-princess and crowned once-knight of the Northern Parterre.

Excluding Sylphid, there is basically only two people left. Isabella seemed spiritless, but not only did she not beg for mercy, she cursed"Come~ Kill me, kill! Like what you did to father, use your magic to send me to my grave."

Isabella’s voice was full of hatred, even shocking Sylphid. Tabitha was on the other hand completely unharmed, only staring at Isabella without twitching as much as a muscle.

"What wrong, why aren’t you doing it. Use the same pair of hands which took father’s crown to do the same thing to his daughter."

"Who took the crown in the first place?!"

In chorus to the cries of Sylphid, Tabitha raised her staff. Fear could be seen in Isabella’s eyes, fear towards the magic about to strike her.

Is it blades of the winds or ice arrows? Chopping her head off, stabbing through her chest? Isabella was waiting for her execution.

Tabitha chanted a short, simple magic.

".....!"

Isabella suddenly felt a softness. Her tightly shut eyes were irresistibly opened. What shocked her was the rope that originally tied both her hands was cut.

In a flash, the Isabella who’d regained freedom grabbed the paper knife on the table and charged towards Tabitha.

"I’ll avenge my father!"

However, the paper knife did not go into Tabitha’s chest. As if losing its target, the knife stopped wobbly in front of Tabitha’s chest.

Not because Tabitha used magic, nor because Sylphid stopped her, but because Isabella paused herself.

"Why didn’t you kill me? Because you pity me?"

Tabitha shook her head helplessly.

"I don’t hate you."

Hearing this sentence, the knife in Isabella’s hands clattered to the floor.

"You say you don’t hate me? I insulted you so much before! Why, are you dumb?! Or are you pretending to be all great and mighty? What meaning could there be!"

Tabitha stared at Isabella and answered tiredly"....I need companions."

"Your meaning is that you want me to become your companion? That is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard. You killed my father, took my throne, and now you want to be friends? Don’t kid with me."Isabella laughed as if she had gone insane.

Gradually, her laughter became more and more quiet..... slowly turning into silent weeping.

"I knew a long time ago,"forced Isabella between her tears"about making the frightening fireball with elves which burnt the dual-use fleet to ashes...... about how he chose to suicide with the same magic..... and also about killing your father, not caring about me at all, not even as much as feelings towards me as a normal person....."

Isabella stuttered,"But, he is still my father."

The moonlight shown into Petite Troyes. While Isabella was weeping, the quiet Sylphid brought over a bottle of grape wine. With a swift swoop, a wineglass appeared in both person’s hands. Isabella stared into the glass of wine in her hands, then as if giving up struggling, gulped down the whole glass.

Afterwards, no one spoke a word.

"I will follow you."

"I, had always been ashamed of myself in front of you. Just like how my father was towards yours...... Duke of Orléans. Your skills in magic is incredible, you are loved by everyone. I on the other hand, am neither of those. Therefore..... that crown suits you more."

Tabitha emptied her glass silently, then reached out to the cousin who was once her hatred enemy. Isabella took her hand and softly kissed her fingernails, then the two embraced. Still..... the embrace was rather rigid. Yes, not all grudges between them have been eliminated yet.

Tabitha waited for Isabella to rise, then told her quietly,"follow me."

"To where?"

"There’s a person I want you to meet."

Tabitha brought a slightly stunned Isabella into a deep part of Petite Troyes, facing an eerily quiet room.

At the door of that room, a soldier was standing guard. Seeing Tabitha, he first bowed, then pressed a doorbell. From inside the room, an old butler greeted them.

"I see your majesty has arrived. Madam is awaiting for you upstairs for dinner."

"Bernard (????), we have an extra guest"

This old butler named Bernard widened his eyes as soon as he noticed the guest behind Tabitha.

"She is.....!"

Isabella has no recollection towards this old butler.

"What a surprise!.... It actually is her! Unbelievable!"

Bernard’s expressions changed yet again, now looking at Tabitha with an expression asking "is this really alright".

Tabitha nodded.

Being guided to the centre of the room, Isabella’s heart thumped as if a church bell telling the time. She faintly knows who to expect inside the room.

Behind the corridor was the dining room. There came soft candlelights, as well as the mouthwatering aroma of spices.

Isabella could not gather her courage to walk into the room no matter what, only capable of standing still in the corridor. Tabitha held Isabella’s hand.

"Wai....."

Tabitha shook her head, as if telling her not to hesitate. With a newly found determination, Isabella walked into the dining room.

The person sitting at the dining table opened asked"Oh, do we have a guest here?"

Hearing this voice, Isabella’s whole body shuddered, draining all her power. That person...... was none other than Tabitha’s mother who had been forced to drink poison..... the wife of Orleans.

However, this person seems different from the past duchess of Orleans. What originally looked like a skeleton wrapped in skin, is now more ample to a certain degree. Most importantly, one can see life in her eyes. Her every actions are now more elegant. Isabella simply cannot believes her eyes, and stared at the duchess.

After returning victorious to Lutece, Tabitha ordered the still imprisoned Bidashal to brew an antidote, which successfully helped her mother regained consciousness.

After producing the antidote, Bidashal left and returned to his home in the desert. The reunited mother and daughter did not have many conversations much less deep ones. Tabitha fulfilled her lifetime wish, to help her mother regain consciousness, and her mother managed to find her daughter, not a doll anymore.

The Orleans Duchess sees Isabella, but the expressions on her face did not change. Not only so, she stood up and pulled a chair for her niece to sit down.

"Long time no see, Isabella."

"Au-aunty...?"Feeling the condemn of her conscience, Isabella stood dumbfounded.

"That’s right, I am your aunty. Why are you still standing here? Come and have a seat. The food is almost cold already."

Hearing her words, both Tabitha and Sylphid grabbed a seat. This faithful familiar of Tabitha’s, although is not a noble but only a dragon, she is a valued partner of Tabitha.

Stiff having rigid expressions, Isabella sat down. Finally thinking of something, Isabella said,"You..... you don’t blame me?"

"Blame? Why would I say that! Why must I blame my own niece?"

"I am the one, the daughter of the one who murdered your husband, who made you lose consciousness."

"But I have already regained consciousness."

"But Duke of Orléans will never come back."

Sighing deeply, the duchess said,"It’s almost like a dream, except that I remember everything. All of the things did happen in real life.... yes. Even if I wanted to, I could never forget."

"Then, why?"Isabella cried out.

The duchess gazed towards Tabitha. Tabitha nodded.

"Your father isn’t here anymore, taking countless knights and soldiers to the otherworld with him..... to me, everything is enough. I don’t want to see anymore blood flowing. Much less, my own niece’s blood."

"Aunt...."

"Let me tell you both a story from a long time ago. My husband..... Duke of Orléans, once said to me, ’I must make Gallia an even more powerful country’. Yes, Gallia is a large country, but we have not been able to congregate and merge into one united system. The nobles in the country have all forgotten their previous pride, all of the people only cares about the profit in front of them. My husband saw through this all, which is why he said such words. Also.... Isabella, your father, must have once hoped to make this country a better place, only somehow forgetting himself while doing so. Although I have a slight idea why...... it is already pointless to raise the question again anymore. All I can hope for now is to fulfil my husband’s wishes."

Isabella nodded her head. Duchess Orleans raised her wineglass and indicated her daughter and niece to do the same.

Raising her glass, Isabella noticed that other than the dining utensils placed for them, there is one extra set. With a quick guess, Isabella assumes this is probably here for Duke of Orléans.

"....this set is for uncle’s I guess? Then, let me offer my respects."

But Duchess Orleans shook her head.

"This set is for the war just now..... for all the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives. They, are only dead because of our own conflicts. I can only wish for their peace in heavens, and hope never to make the same mistake."

Hearing her words, Isabella lowered her head deeply.

"Anyhow, there’s only the three of us left in our family...... I hope the both of you will work hard together, be together with each other peacefully."When she has reached the words "three of us", Duchess Orleans’ voice began to tremble. However..... neither the emotional Isabella nor Tabitha noticed this point.

Isabella started at Tabitha and her aunt. Yes, they are her own family left. Thinking back, their family...... really have spent a lot of time hating each other. Brothers, sisters......

"How foolish is this."

How much has been sacrificed because of this hatred? Countless lives. The collapse of Grand Troyes...... as the survivors of these foolish actions, she will most definitely spend the rest of her life to cleanse these sins.

Isabella shook her head. She feels the hatred in her heart gradually changing into love and acceptance. Only now did she realize how similar these feelings actually were.

Moved by her aunt’s words, Isabella stood up. Tabitha followed suit. The two of them walked close and embraced again.

This time, it’s a real embrace from the bottom of their hearts.

After dinner, on the path of Petite Troyes...... Isabella told Tabitha,"Hey, little Helene."

A long time ago.... while they were still young, while they were still playing like real sisters, Isabella once called Tabitha with her surname. Aunt’s teachings just now, has made Isabella recalled this title again, and therefore decided to try it.

"What’s the matter,"asked Tabitha with a calm voice.

"Although just now I said that I’d follow you..... I want to take leave, is that alright?"

"Why?"

"I want to become a nun. I want to repay my father’s sins. I want to pray each day, for father, for uncle, for all the people who’ve died..... this is what I think I should do."

But, Tabitha shook her head.

"Helene?"

"I require your company of knights."

"Knights of the Northern Parterre?"

"Yes."Tabitha nodded lightly. This was the department she once belonged to herself, a secretive knight corps dealing with all sorts of dirty work..... For the sake of going against Romalia, their power is required no matter what.

"Is that so, well then I guess I have little choice. Affirmative," so Isabella said.

None of the members of Knights of the Northern Parterre know each other, and the only one wielding all their information is their leader, Isabella here.

"But, do not expect them to be as fully capable as they used to be,"Isabella sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"I.... while I was in hiding, tried making contact with the most talented knights...... but couldn’t no matter what. After they heard news of father’s death, they seem to be in hiding. Relationships built with money aren’t solid after all."

"The most talented knights, ’them’?"

"Yes. Although Knights of the Northern Parterre usually execute missions in solo, there is one group of knights which is different. They are four siblings working together. In detail, they were comparable to who you used to be..... perhaps even better. Of course, that’s only from the perspective of handling dirty work. After all, never once have they failed."

"But now, they’re gone. Maybe that’s for the better."

"Why?"

"Because they were well known for their cruelty and cunning tricks. For money they would gladly do anything. Most likely, they have sought a new sponsor."

"What are their names?"Feeling a sense of uneasiness, Tabitha asked.

"The Elemental Siblings."

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