Zero no Tsukaima:Volume12 Story1 Chapter2
In the morning, female students were seen traveling from dormitories in a separate section of the Academy of Magic to the main section where the dining hall was. Since the male dormitories were located in the main section, the guys gazed out at the arriving girls from the second floor balcony, while chattering about the breakfast menu.
Saito had his elbows propped up against the balcony. He, along with Guiche and Malicorne, were lazily gazing out at the girls as well. Saito spotted Tiffania amongst the girls and waved out at her. Noticing his wave, she waved back.
Guiche asked Saito.
“Even with those magical weapons there, you certainly are good at keeping a straight face.”
“You’re the strange ones. Boobs, boobs, boobs…you’re turning into boob fiends.”
“Well, one look at those things would certainly turn anyone into one as well.”
Guiche looked at Saito with a worried face.
“What now?”
“You…Don’t tell me that Louise’s magic is having an effect on you? Perhaps, you can’t see anyone but Louise because you are her familiar. Is something like that the case?
Malicorne also gave off a look of concern.
“Yeah. I don’t know about Louise’s magic, but it’s strange. This time, Saito, you didn’t join us. And it was a really good chance to check whether they were real or not…”
Guiche and Malicorne looked at each other, nodding in agreement at the thought.
“Don’t say stupid things. Look, I’ll teach you guys one thing.”
Saito crossed his arms with a look of pride.
“Please do.”
“Umm, for instance, pretend that we were dogs.”
“I don’t want to be a dog.”
“I agree”
“This is only an example. Look, if we were dogs, we would have a bone in our mouth. That bone in your mouth took a look of effort to get. But then, you see a brand new bone. What would you do?”
Guiche immediately answered.
“I’d pick it up”
“Idiot. What would you do with the bone you had been using up to this point? Throw it away?”
Guiche’s face lit up in realization.
“Basically, you want to say this? The bone I have used up until now is Montmorency. The new bone laying around is that strangely, large-chested Tiffania, Her Majesty the Queen, and Marianne from the first year Seger class, and another from that class with flowing locks of dazzling, marigold…”
“I don’t know how you have time to keep tabs on such things. Anyways, that’s what I mean. It’s impossible to keep both of the bones.”
Saito nodded his head in confirmation.
“Basically, you already have a bone in your mouth, is the idea?”
“Yep. The bone that I have now will get mad. That kind of attitude is what’s important now.”
“In other words, you…”
Guiche had a grin on his face as he poke Saito in the side.
“So you have properly caught that Louise in your mouth? You should tell us all the details of it.”
Saito shook his head “no,” but somehow he was still full of confidence.
“Not yet. But soon…it should only be a matter of time.”
“You’re really trying to tame that shrew of a girl, huh!”
“I’m seeing if acting a little cold at her will do anything…”
Saito stretched a hand up and looked up at the sky. He carried on.
“I-I, I’ve been unwillingly wagging my tail. Damn it, even now I keep going at it… Look..., I’m going to return all the humiliation I’ve tasted until now and then some…”
Saito looked up at the sky trembling with resolution as he clenched his fist.
There’s the reliable Saito that Guiche is used to.
“That’s the assistant commander for you. That’s right, we can’t let the girls make fools of us. It offends my pride.”
“Pride aside, I think that this level of punishment is not enough. I probably need to reexamine her attitude.”
“Hey, you.”
Guiche narrowed his eyes as he turned to Saito.
“Hmm?”
“I’ve been wondering about this for a while…”
“About what?”
Amidst all of this mindless chatter, a strangely serious tone appeared.
“What if you stayed here for the rest of your life?”
“Eh?”
Guiche hung his head down, looking a little embarrassed.
“How should I put it…, I really don’t know much about this country. There’s some cute girls here…, but I don’t know if I can get used to being a noble. If Louise were to throw me aside, I’d get some land for myself. With only one person, I should be able to fend for myself.
Being asked that all of a sudden, Saito became a little timid. Because of this, Saito turned his head away.
“What kind of atmosphere is this, asking me such a thing?”
“Sh-Shut up! It’s fine, right!”
Guiche also turned away.
Saito looked up at the sky.
Living his life on this world, huh…
Maybe due to Louise’s magic, the ‘I want to do what I can for this world’ spell holding him had lifted and a pang of homesickness was felt. After all, it’s still hard to cut ties with his family.
But hearing Guiche’s remark just now, what was this feeling budding in his heart?
It was a different feeling than just a longing for Louise.
He wasn’t just feeling timid about it. The feeling was strange, but somewhat good.
Looking at Saito, Malicorne softly mumbled.
“Hey, Assistant Commander.”
“Huh? What is it?”
Returning to normal, Saito looked towards Malicorne.
“What about the ones that don’t have a bone? What do they do?”
Malicorne calmly asked. Saito and Guiche exchanged looks. Then, the both of them gave off comforting smiles.
“Wh-What should be done indeed.”
“Tell me please.”
Malicorne asked with a smile that beamed with grace, like that of a clergyman. Guiche pretending to know, dodged his plea.
“Well, gentlemen! It’s about time for the ladies to take their seats, as breakfast should be brought out shortly! Let’s head back to the dining hall!”
“Indeed!”
Saito also dodged his plea.
“Oh Sun, tell me please.”
Ignoring the two that left for the dining hall, Malicorne had turned towards the sun and cried out.
After breakfast at the Academy of Magic, there was a thirty minute break before classes began.
During that break, among the first year Suen class, a golden haired fairy was leaning on her elbows, giving off a listless sigh.
It was Tiffania.
While she thought it would be good to see the outside world, it was somewhat exhausting.
These words were silently muttered.
Today was not the only day that she was this worn out.
With Saito and everyone else’s guidance, she had arrived at Tristania. The various things that needed to be done started off small, but quickly grew to take up days. Since the first day of this, Tiffania has been death tired.
Arriving into Tristania, she was greeted by Cardinal Mazarin and former queen Marianne, but she was unable to meet her cousin, Her Majesty Queen Henrietta. Henrietta’s absence was due to a goodwill visit to Romalia.
The toughest thing to cope with was parting with the orphans that she had taken care of. A Tristanian monastery had decided to take them in, but both Tiffania and the children had cried when it came time to part. Thinking back to when Tiffania asked if they should return to the village, the children shook their head ‘no.’
“We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us.”
Said Jim, the oldest of them, as he rubbed his eyes and smiled.
However, there was little time to feel sad at the parting, since Tiffania had to arrive in Tristania within that day. With Agnes, the Commander of the Musketeer Corps, escorting her, Tiffania had to go to the Academy of Magic.
The situation was explained to Old Osman, who arranged a room for Tiffania. After a day of rest, Tiffania was introduced to her classmates.
About ten days have passed since then.
Since everything Tiffania saw and heard were new to her, everyday was like a year’s worth of experiences. The environment of Tristain’s Academy of Magic was vastly different than Westwood village. Instead of only children and little forest creatures in Westwood village, there were hundreds of nobles around her age here. This was enough to make Tiffania’s eyes spin.
Her troubles didn’t stop there.
Due to her passive nature, she was hoping for a peaceful school life. However, her appearance wouldn’t allow for such a thing whereever she went.
But the worst part was that she was not aware of the cause of her mental exhaustion, which was actually due to the effect that her appearance had on others. This unintentionally caused a lot of jealousy and grudges.
