Zero no Tsukaima:Volume12 Story2 Chapter2

Chapter 6

The next day...

In the hangout of The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit, the conversation flitted. The content of the conversation ran as this....

“Oi, Guiche! What a wonderful bouquet!”

The one who shouted that was the big Gimli from The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit. Rather than a mage he looked more like a warrior and whenever he laughed ‘Ghahahaha’ the muscles on his shoulders bulged.

“Noo, that’s not it! It’s because I’m so popular!”

Saying so Guiche laughed, sinking within the presents from the girls. Being an attractive commander of imperial guards, Guiche was quite popular. And since Guiche was a handsome boy to begin with, his popularity was given. Oh dear, there was a good reason for Montmorency’s tears after all.

However, it wasn’t just Guiche who was popular.

When you look around – there isn’t a single boy without a present. Not only that, the popularity of The Knight Corps of the Water Spirit rose significantly after the last fight against the dragon knights.

No, there was sole boy without a present.

In the corner of the room, with his lips placed on an empty wine bottle neck, Saito played a sad tune.

When he got into the fight with Louise, Saito flew out of the room burning with anger… but as time passed, anger was replaced by tiredness and sadness.

Why was she so angry over a silly misunderstanding?

Except for kissing, all other things should not be a reason for such anger.

No, more than that, what does Louise see in me?

When you think about it… sometimes Louise acts like she loves me, but she never puts that into words. Even when her behavior tells, she refuses to mouth it. Surely, there has to be some reason why Louise cannot take another step.

Saito did not know what.

Maybe because familiar relationship is lower than the one between lovers, she refuses to make me her lover…

In other words – I am not Louise’s lover yet.

The more his lips repeated the more believable it seemed.

Maybe it’s because I am seventeen thus one year older than her… No, since one year passed, I am eighteen now, right? Well, it doesn’t matter.

Anyway, because Saito convinced himself that Louise doesn’t like him, he became depressed.

The thought that ‘Louise loves me’ was just being caught up in the moment, felt like it pushed him into the bottomless pit. Saito felt like he was sinking in a swamp, in total darkness.

Aah, I’m so jealous of everyone here. Everyone has a sweetheart… except me. I have a selfish mistress… Saito sighed - it felt like there was an empty hole in his chest. Malicorne dressed in a blatant color shirt talked to him.

“Yo Saito. How is this? Does it suit me?”

Saito glanced at Malicorne. It didn’t suit by any means. He saw comedians do something like this in a punishment game on some old television show. Even his plump belly was sticking out through the gap of the shirt.

Still Saito gave a lukewarm smile. He was tired.

“Looks good. Suits you well.”

Malicorne’s nostrils widened and he tapped Saito’s shoulder.

“If you say so, then I will absolutely wear it! Noo, it’s so hard to be popular!”

Haha – Saito laughed dryly. Probably because some students already know that Saito had yet another quarrel with Louise and left the room, they tried to avoid him more, differently from Malicorne just now.

“Good for you, Malicorne! Now, go over there!”

“No, I want Saito to hear it. Listen, Saito. It is unbelievable - I am to escort TWO girls to the current ball! Even this belly is fine. No, in fact it was the girls who said that! The women really think I’m special. No, really, the word ‘special’ is not good enough to describe me. But I have to express somehow! Unbelievable, right? Now, Saito, tell me – which of the girls you find to be better? The neat brunette or the passionate girl with re-hair?”

Saito’s eyes became distant… and he started humming. Giving warning signs, Guiche approached Malicorne and tried to push him away.

“Hey, Malicorne. Saito now…”

Guiche whispered something into Malicorne’s ear. Then Malicorne started laughing loudly.

“What Saito?! You had another fight with Louise again? It can’t be helped, since you are so thick! Maybe I should teach you how to handle a girl? Naha, naha!”

Malicorne slapped Saito on the back while laughing. Guiche’s face turned blue, but Saito just gave abject smile said thanks and looked unaffected.

Not able to stand Saito being like this, Reynald looked at Guiche.

“Hey, Guiche. Say what you want, but Saito is in a bad shape.”

“N? Yeah, right…”

Guiche, who was high, had to consider the not so merry condition of his friend. Not having to bear the unhappiness of Knight Corps of the Water Spirit alone, he sympathized with Saito.

“Somehow, I'd like to make him to feel better.”

“There is not much we can do alone. Because this guy’s curse is love.”

Guiche nodded quickly. Meanwhile… the always lively Gimli, whispered to Guiche.

“Commander-dono. I have a good idea.”

“What is it?”

Wondering Guiche looked at Gimli’s face.

Normally, anything but ‘good idea’ comes to this fellows mind. Could it be that during the fight with dragon knights, the spell hit him straight into the head?

“Who can help a man who has troubles with a woman?”

Guiche answered in an instant.“A woman.”

“Exactly. A woman can comfort a man wounded by another woman… we, men, are sad creatures.”

“What are you suggesting?”

Urged by Guiche, Gimli narrowed his lids. This made him look unusually fiendish.

“You know that large indoors bath? Currently boys and girls sections are separated.”

“Right. Back in our grandparents days there was no separation between women and men bathing.”

Back in those days, bathing together was a symbol of equality. But you had to wear swimsuits like in Saito’s world.

However, since Romalia’s orders became severe, that custom was forbidden for a religious reason. Since Guiche was born that custom was gone already, and he carried a deep grudge for that. It was changed so that after the bath one had to give bedtime prayers.

The bath in the present Tristain Academy of Magic, was a tower built under the ground, with a huge pool made from white marble. It had two similar passages – one for women and another for men.

“And what does it have to do with the bath?”

“How about using women bath as a theater? More so, nothing else would inspire man more. Right?”

Guiche’s eyes opened wide.

“Peeping into girls bath?!”

Gimli pressed his palm against Guiche’s mouth.

Following the insolent remark, boys from the Knight Corps started to gather around.

“Puaah!” When Guiche’s mouth is free he exhales loudly, his face - crimson red.

“D-d-d-don’t you think it’s shameful for an noble?! To peep at girls bathing! Was there anything more shameful than this before? No, there was not!”

“But as a member you cannot overlook the falling of your troop’s morale. Moreover honestly, wouldn’t you like to have a peek? Nono! This is serious! ‘Frigg’s dance ball’ will take a place soon. Which girl will you escort? There is nothing more important for a noble than this! And with them wearing clothes you will not be able to tell which girl is most excellent in dancing. You should properly examine all possibilities to decide with which girl you want to dance with. No, its judging weather you should dance. One could say it is a noble’s obligation!”

Though the reasoning behind it was confusing, Guiche could slowly see a point in it. Well, it was a tempting proposal to begin with. Guiche started trembling.

“Can’t go! We can’t go! Girls bath is severely protected by spells!”

“Heeeh, is that so?”

Gimli gave a composed answer. Guiche looked like he was about to cry.

“It pains me to say, but the first time I entered the academy I investigated this. The girl’s bath takes pride in being defended like a fortress! Though one can do nothing but approach land route to peep into the structure of a half underground… firstly, you are denied to come closer by a Golem. And even if you bypass that, there are still difficulties remaining! There are magical glass windows! You can’t touch them! And you cannot peep from there as you cannot get a full view! To make the matters worse, because it has a strong ‘immobilization’ spell it makes alchemy helpless! Moreover, because it is equipped with magic detection devices, one cannot use spells!”

Seems like ideas like ‘Nobles pride’ was completely blown out of the minds, and nobody worried about it now. Everyone were occupied with one problem.

“Is it possible to peep?”

“It’s a dead end. For a mage it is useless!”

Guiche muttered in a tearful voice and cross-legged plumped down on the floor.

Between members regretful “Damn!” “What to do!” “It’s too much of a risk!” spread.

Gimli tapped his commander’s shoulder.

“Now, if the plans of the bath are same as old plans of the tower, then nobles are blessed with honorable sight.”

Guiche’s eyes sparkled.

“C-can’t be…”

“Lucky nobles.”

Everyone let out a loud ‘Uwoooo” so that windows almost cracked.

“The other day, when I went to the library… I examined the history of the school. The Tristain Academy of Magic takes pride in a long history. In other words, the shelf of the academy’s record books is very long too. What if during the centuries, there is a part that no one touched. When searching there… I found such copy. This paper.”

All members, holding their breaths stared at the paper pulled out by Gimli. On that parchment old plans of the tower were shown. The number of comments were written in faded black ink.

“How is this? The part of "Immobilization" placed on this tower is thoroughly recorded. Perhaps, the engineer who undertook the design or someone who saw it, copied it for keeping. However, it is enough for our plans.”

Gimli showed a fearless smile.

Guiche trembled.

“Once I become a general… I will give you a reward.”

Other members too, one after another, were trembling from excitement – one tearfully looked up into the sky, another grasped the fists and nodded many times..

Meanwhile, one boy, blushing furiously, said.

“Everyone! Aren’t you nobles everyone! Don’t you feel shame?!”

It was Reynald. As he always was a serious boy, he could not permit such plan. Everybody looked embarrassed at each other. However, Malicorne said looking seriously at Reynald.

“We are nobles. Not to mention Imperial Guards. We are always ready to throw our lives away for the motherland and the Queen. Death is always next to us. Death is our friend, our second half.”

“That’s right! And for such nobles like us… to do peeping…”

“Well now, how can we die without knowing if Tiffania’s things are real or not?”

Facing Reynald, Malicorne continued in a serious tone.

“I can not.”

Reynald seemed to be fighting with himself for a while. But… not able to endure it anymore, kneeled down on one knee. Reynald squeezed the words out of his throat.

“I-I want to check it…”

Malicorne smiled like a saint, and stretched out his hand for kneeling Reynald.

“Let’s go. To our battlefield.”

Everyone crawled through the hole that Guiche‘s Belldandy dag. Following right behind the mole – commander Guiche himself. Gimli followed behind him. Then Malicorne. Saito at the end of the line. Since he was depressed, he considered it to be someone else‘s affair, not understanding where he is going and what for.

One said “I’ll show you something good” and Saito came along.

“The stone walls underneath do not have the ‘Immobilization’ spell placed under them. As far as the plan goes. You are sure right?.”

In an anxious voice Guiche asked Gimli, crawling behind him. Within the darkness, Gimli nodded.

“Yeah. In that plan, design chief of the time, marked the area permitted for the Earl of Elmon. Seems to be genuine. If you think about it, the underground was a blind spot! Indeed, the bath is a half-way underground structure. They only paid attention to the window and not wall buried under the ground. They protected the head but not the buttocks, just like every living thing.

The digging of Belldandy stopped and it turned around.

(Mumble)

Guiche’s face grew tensed. They seemed to have hit the wall. Then…

“Gentlemen, we reached our destination.”

Everyone let out the sigh of admiration.

“Seems like the earth Golem can sense underground. So keep quite.”

Guiche lightly waved a wand and a magic light appeared on the very tip. The hazy light enlightened the hole that Belldandy dug.

There were Balldandy’s nose pointed, they could see the grey stone of the wall.

“Belldandy, please make a hole through this wall, so that every member could fit.”

In the blink of an eye, Belldandy satisfied Guiche’s demand.

Meanwhile, the lovely voices of unsuspecting young maidens could be heard behind the wall.

The bathtub was roughly 25 mails in width and around 15 mails in length. So that all schoolgirls of the academy could fit in together. Like in noble’s bathhouse, the hot water was mixed with perfume.

Louise placing her back against an arc wall, was soaking in the tub. She was casually swaying her slender arms and legs under water, watching the shivering surface of the water.

Tensed, she looked around. After seeing a familiar face she relaxed again. Kirche, as always showing off her body, sat crossing her legs on the bench, right under the stream coming from the wall.

Next to her, Tabitha who was reading book and brought a cane despite the baths. One could wonder why she always brings cane with her, but considering her upbringings its not that surprising. The way her life was, one could never know when and where she could be attacked by an enemy. Though she could be more relax now, but she was still brining the cane out of habit.

In front of the mirror, Montmorency was shamefully lifting her chest. Removing the ribbon, she let her hair fall freely across her back, making her look younger. Looking at her chest, she pouted unimpressed. Nothing wrong with that. I am better anyway.

Now, when she watched that view before her, her thoughts subconsciously brought her back to Saito again.

When she woke this morning, Saito was not besides her.

Just this thing alone was enough to depress Louise a lot. After their heated quarrel he left and did not return this morning. Though she could understand why, her feelings still sank nevertheless. Certainly she was too angry, she thought.

For three days, making him write remorse sentence in only underwear and having him read it repeatedly – she honestly went overboard this time.

But… she just could not simply forgive.

She was prepared, going for a stroll every night… thus she could not forgive Saito, who did not notice it at all.

And when she goes to infirmary worried, she finds Saito groping Tiffania’s breasts – she could not forgive that.

Excited cheers from the entrance of the bath echoed, Louise lifted her face. There, stood blond, long-eared elf with massive breasts, shyly hiding her body behind the cloth.

However, the chest was just too large.

The size that peeked through the towel, jumped into Louise’s eyes. The size of the chest was unbelievable.

Worried Tiffania looked around, before seeing Louise staring at her and then smiled. A friend whom she could rely on could make her more at ease.

But now, she could not tell such thing to Tiffania. When she looked at that fairy like figure… she herself felt awfully tiny and inferior being.

Sulkily she submerged her half of her face into the water, blowing small bubbles through her mouth, while Tiffania timidly approached Louise.

“Umm, can I sit beside you?”

“Hot water everywhere anyway, your choice.”

Inadvertently, speaking harshly, Louise was embarrassed. Louise again buried her face under the water, blowing bubbles.

Tiffania scooped the hot water with her palm and looked at it weirdly. Then hesitantly opened her mouth to speak.

“Such a wide bath. I am surprised. The bath that we were using was greatly different.”

“What kind of bath did you use?”

“A steam bath… the bricks were laid out together, like the kitchen range, then sprinkled some water on the heated stone and bathed in the steam. I was bathing in the nearby fountain during summer.”

That’s why Tiffania smiled seeing such great bath for the first time.

“I really want to thank you.”

Tiffania said abruptly.

“Eh?”

“To Saito and Louise… everyone who came to meet me. Her Majesty Henrietta and people of Tristain… I am grateful to everyone.”

“Why?”

“Because if it were not for everyone I would have never seen such great things. The outside world is wonderful. Like I could not even imagine for such a bath to exist.”

Tiffania lifted her both arms and looked around.

“…Even though bad things happen to you?”

Louise asked recalling the incident with Beatrice.

“It can’t be helped. I have such ears.”

Tiffania laughed touching her ears.

“And thus I could not take bath with everyone. Secretly at night, when no one was around I used the opportunity. But now I am not scared anymore. I can show them proudly. Due to that accident.”

Louise looked at Tiffania giving a dazzling smile and with a slight sadness in her voice said.

“You are dangerous not only because Elf blood. You are a “User”. At any moment, one cannot know how this power will be used.

“You see Louise, there is no need to worry. You use your power by your will, so I will do with mine.”　

Louise was touched by Tiffania’s carefree attitude.

And I feel like I am getting smaller and smaller, not only the chest, but my whole existence is small, I always felt tiny. Tiffania was allowed to grow up without interference.

On the other hand, as I grew up I was always bound by many things.

Tradition.

Pride.

Honor.

Those things that determine my behavior before myself. Because of that my and Saito’s opinions cross so much.

Some students, saw Tiffania soaking in hot water and sighed. Tiffania was almost as beautiful as a fairy. She looked like a beautiful fairy from long ago, I read fairy tales come to a child, and looks like a beautiful fairy.

She was like fairy from children books long time ago. While her chest, visible under the hot water… seeing her child-like body, the volume of difference was making Louise sad.

It’s only natural that Saito wanted to touch her.

It wasn’t just the body

Though having a noble’s blood, Tiffania grew up as a commoner, thus she and Saito from another world could understand each other better…

There is nothing I could win against Tiffania. Such inferiority complex wrapped Louise.

“Hey, Tiffania.”

“Call me Tifa.”

“Tifa, Umm, forgive Saito.”

“Eh?”

“He, umm, is a helpless pervert, but he is not a bad person. You probably were surprised from having your chest groped all of a sudden… but he really didn’t mean any harm. I think his hand went out of control. I apologize for him as his mistress.”

Tiffania gave Louise, who suddenly started apologizing, confused look. Then suddenly her face dyed red.

“I-it’s different. I asked him myself.”

Louise’s eyes opened wide.

“I… thought that not only my ears… but also my chest is weird. Because it is too big, no matter how you look at it.”

When other people could use the sentence as an ironic one, Tiffania was honestly wondering about it.

“Therefore I asked Saito to make sure.”

“Oh, didn’t you find it strange asking such thing from a guy?”

With a dumbfounded look on her face, Louise asked. Then Tiffania blushed.

“T-true. I was thinking so myself.”

Louise was shocked. Tiffania’s naiveté was beyond Louise’s imagination. Maybe not as badly as a child’s, but the gap was rather significant still.

“Because Saito was a first friend of the same age group… he did not feel as much as a boy. But if for example you were to become his girlfriend, you cannot allow that…”

Dejected Tiffania hugged her knees. Her breasts rose from the water just like two islands.

“It’s no good once you are touched. Such kind of thing.”

Louise coldly stared at Tiffania’s chest. Because her heart was wounded, she could not stop staring.

“Sorry, Louise…You are Saito’s lover.”

When Tiffania said that, Louise jumped up with a gush.

“I’m not his l-l-l-lover!”

Blushing violently, Louise trembled. Seeing Louise like this, Tiffania too dyed in red.

“L-Louise… umm…what are you doing? You are in a plain view….”

Louise face crimsoned even more. Indeed when she stood up her bath towel fell off and now she was standing completely naked before Tiffania. Louise sank herself in the hot water again.

While being embarrassed, thoughts about Saito crossed her mind again.

What Saito said was true.

Yet I… with my head filled with inferiority complex towards Tiffania, could not believe his words…

To that degree, Saito was fighting for himself…

Louise became very depressed. What to do if Saito won’t return.

Even so, if it happens, it’s only natural. She did not believe his words and just treated him cruelly.

Louise started shaking.

“What’s wrong? Are you cold?”

Worried Tiffania asked.

“I am not.”

Answered Louise. Tiffania leaned closer and her unbelievable chest and waist filled her eyes again. If there were ten boys… between me and Tiffania, all ten of them would likely still choose Tiffania.

Though we are both Void users… I wonder why we are so different.