Zero no Tsukaima Volume 14 Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Capital of Water[]

As the day of the third annual coronation ceremony began, Guiche and the Ondine Water Spirit Knights were ordered to maintain order at the gates around the city. Aquileia's narrow alleys were mapped with complicated waterway patterns. All Romalia Pilgrims would be congregating in this tiny place. The Knights being ordered to prevent chaos deemed this as an inevitable part of their jobs.

Packed like sardines in an alley less than 2 mails wide, the flow of traffic became dead slow. Louise and the others, who has to dress up as nuns and start praying from 5 a.m. in the morning in front of St. Lucia Aquileia's Cathedral, were literally in the middle of a battlefield everyday.

Guiche and the boys were armed with (?????????????`??? Unknown clothing here) and bore the responsibility of keeping visitor flow in order. In reality, it felt more like going to war. Romalian Pilgrims pushed and shoved each other aggressively to "line up" at the gates of St Lucia Aquileia Cathedral. With the crowd's erratic motion, most of the pilgrims ended up outside the Cathedral despite their efforts in "lining up".

And so, Guiche and the Ondine Knights were stuck in this position, where they would have to fight with the desperate pilgrims on the verge of a brawl.

"C-Curse you! You shall not pa.s.s this line! Stop pushing!"

"Oi, oi, we came here all the way from Romalia! Making an exception here won't kill you!"

"If this calf does not receive the blessings of the Pope, I'm not going back home!"

"Let us catch a glimpse of his Holiness!"

The Ondine Water Spirit Knights took out their wands; using only their bodies to control the ma.s.ses did not make things any easier.

"Hey! Scutter off! If you don't want to get hurt then stand back!"

"That's a no-no! You better queue up honestly! Don't you understand speech?"

The peasants unable to follow orders started to turn their fury at the patrolling knights instead.

"Kill them!"

"Y-You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Because of the surrounding magic detectors, Guiche, already sweating like a waterfall, issued a ban on using magic to his teammates.

"Everyone! Put down your wands! We can handle them! Don't use magic!"

Except that using the wands to beat the furious peasants only further enraged them.

Soon, Malicorne's wand was stolen in a tug-of-war, and he himself was engulfed by the furious peasants around.

"Waah! Waaaah! Stop that! You plebeians! How dare you!"

"Arrogant aristobrat! Go to h.e.l.l!"

Guiche and the team were trying to reach Malicorne to help, but were easily swept away by the rioting crowds to be taken aside and beaten in one corner.

"These people! They just won't listen!"

Gimili blinded by anger, activated killing spree mode. It wasn't very long before he started chanting the spells. Guiche, who had his head lifted by someone and was made a punching bag, was in a state of high tension.

"No, stop! I tell you, do not use magic!"

Just at this moment, a group of people wrapped in white cloth burst out from the Cathedral.

"Crusaders!"

No one knows of the legends of how aggressive these Crusaders, claiming the t.i.tle as Guardians of the Ancestors, could get if you were in their way. Waving the staffs carved with of holy crosses, the Crusaders gathered together and rammed into the crowd.

"An enemy of ours is the enemy of G.o.d!"

Hearing this, in addition to the instinctive fear just by seeing these knights of pure white garments, the rioters all fell back and retreated. One of the Crusaders took off his helmet and smiled at the boys.

"Your Majesty Carlo!"

Saving Guiche and the others is none other than the Carolo Mariano De l'Thrombosine? who went into a conflict with the Ondine Water Spirit Knights at a tavern in Romalia previously, leader of the Aliesta monastery's Crusaders.

"Whoa, whoa, aren't all of you student knights? Didn't your academy teach you about suppressing rioters?"

All the Crusaders laughed in unison, making Guiche and their ashamed to death.

"Where's your vice-captain? The one with a weird name, what, Hiragana Cratos I recall?"

"It's Hiraga Saito!"

"Ohh, yes, that name. And, where did he go? I don't seem to see him here..."

All of the Ondine Knights darkened their faces. Malicorne replied with a small voice

"R-re-returned to home."

"What did you say? Abandoning his duties to flee cowardly? As expected from a plebeian born!"

Carlo laughed with a big mouth. The rest of the Crusaders imitated their leader and laughed as well.

"Don't make things up! Our enemy is a large country!"

"That's must be one brave, brave vice-captain."

As soon as his words ended, Gimili stood forward. In case Gimili did something rash, Guiche and Reinard held him back. Guiche said with a low voice

"Carlo, your highness. Have you ever tried facing an army of 10,000 alone?"

"10,000? Don't joke with me. No matter how much more powerful I am, what I can do is limited."

"Our vice-captain did. Not only against 10,000, but against 70,000. At least stop an army of 10,000 before you question his bravery."

Carlo started laughing again. But as soon as he sees Gimili's serious att.i.tude, his laughter soon turned into a bored snicker.

"Huh, just hurry up leave this place. We're in charge now."

Carlo, seeing the exhausted boys leave without another word, added

"Oh, and from tomorrow onwards, you are in charge of patrolling the streets. Remember to report any suspicious people."

The boys felt their blood boiling, but were incapable of complaining. Patrolling was their job now. To them, the harsh words sounded like

"you're supposed to 'patrol', but eventually you'll end up interfering with our jobs. Why don't you go over there and play by yourselves?"

After all, the streets are jammed with people here and there. There was absolutely no s.p.a.ce for patrol.

Guiche and the team came to a corner on the center beside the Cathedral, staring blankly at the excited crowds. A few vendors grouped together to sell alcohol and snacks.

"Turns out, we can't do anything without Saito..."

Listening to the shouts of the hawkers, Malicorne sighed. It chimed in resonance with what the other boys had in mind. If they had to rely on Saito no matter wherever they are, the emptiness created by his sudden disappearance just can't be filled by anything else.

"d.a.m.n Louise, always so full of herself!"

Gimili made a fist and vented his depression on the ground.

"...But, her feelings I can also understand. Although I am not clear, but that guy probably came from somewhere far away? I remember he came from the east? I'm sure he'd wanted to see his family as much as we did. Besides, Louise, eventually, is a girl. One day she'd be tired of his fighting, I guess."

Reinard stood up and laid out his hands.

"Oi, Oi, how long are we planning to get depressed here? Even if Saito isn't here, shouldn't we devise some plan to make ourselves useful? We should make some achievements to prove that we deserve the t.i.tle 'Heroes of Albion'!"

A few of the boys nodded in agreement.

"But they won't let us maintain order anymore. We have no more chance to stand out."

Silence fell around them yet again.

Out of the Ondine Knights, Guiche was the only still cheerfully whistling, as if a plan has been devised. On closer look, right next to him is a winegla.s.s bought from some unknown place.

"Why the h.e.l.l are you drinking, Guiche"

"Eh? Because if this turns for the worse, we'll probably end up in a war. Here, take a cup and drink to your spirit. Here, you try it as well. this is called Helptakis c.o.c.ktail. It's made from mixing ginger and sugar into red wine... and the taste is very concentrated, tastes very good!"

Reinard let his jaw hit the ground.

"How would there be a war! Even Gallia knows the consequences of having a war in this city filled with Romalia Pilgrims. They could become the world's public enemy!"

Guiche slightly frowned

"Ah, yes, that is, what a King with common sense would think.... However, the King of Gallia isn't just anyone. At least that's what I, who have sneaked inside the borders of Gallia, believe. He would never use just any plain, normal tactics.... Arg! I ruined her face!"

"Guiche..., what were you doing all along?"

"Hmm?"

Guiche raised his head, and Malicorne was able to catch a glimpse of what he held in his hands. It was an irrelevant white seash.e.l.l with the face of a girl carved on it.

"I'm making a necklace. In Romalia, it is very popular to gift females with this time of seash.e.l.l carving. Since Montmorency is still angry with me, I have to cheer her up no matter what! Bwa-ha-ha!"

Even Malicorne, frowned this time.

"Seriously, even right now, you still have the time to carve seash.e.l.ls? I thought a war is coming? Or do you plan to rely on this and make our companion Saito come back? No?"

"This isn't as worse as how you described it. Although at first notice, all of us were stunned in shock. Even if you keep on emphasizing it right now, it won't help the fact that Saito won't come back. You know, the meaning of being alive, is to enjoy ourselves!"

Guiche responded like he didn't care.

"I really admire you. Such bravery."

Malicorne said sarcastically.

"No... how should I put it?"

"Mhm?"

"To look for answers, yes, exactly."

"Answers?"

"Uh-huh. If I had to face that kind of nightmare like guy, to be honest even thinking of it makes me shudder. That's why I have to do this, to list down all the reasons why I must live on. I must hand this to Montmorency myself. Therefore I mustn't die, ahh-- that emotion exactly!"

Smiling, Guiche poured the rest of the wine in his gla.s.s down his throat in one gulp. Malicorne shook his head as if he couldn't stand it anymore.

Watching those two, a sense of uneasiness arose.

"The enemies inside Gallia...I'm not sure myself, but is there such a horrendous guy?"

Reinard involuntarily gulped. Asked, Guiche nodded his head in a exaggerating way.

"Very fearsome."

"Powerful?"

Guiche crossed his arms as he thinks in pain, then nodded his head in the same way.

Little by little, the boys were all around Guiche now, eyes fixed on his face.

"How powerful?"

Guiche and Malicorne exchanged expressions, then Malicorne put up a stand, hinting Guiche should start replying honestly, and kept nudging Guiche.

"Make it clear! Spit it out!"

At last, Guiche answered objectively.

"They have elves."

Elves... to the n.o.bles of Halkeginia, elves are undoubtedly a signature of inducing immense fear.

The faces on the boys changed drastically. Looked at each other, then used feeble laughs to break the awkward silence. Gimili tapped Malicorne's shoulders and ask with doubting eyes.

"That, is it true?"

"You're annoying, that, uh, is really real. We were really defeated by him." Thinking of the battle they had to go through when saving Tabitha, cold sweats burst out from his forehead.

The boys around them stood up in unison, and ran away at great speeds, that only trails of dust clouds could be seen. Guiche was the only one left running behind them yelling

"Waaait! Everyone! Calm down!"

Hearing Guiche's call, some of the boys turned their heads back.

"I'll be here with you all!"

Pointing at his own chest, a cheerful Guiche without a hint of fear puffed out his chest. The rest of the Ondine Knights rolled their eyes in desperation, and started fleeing again.

"Wait up! How do you call yourselves aristocrats!"

Because of this sentence, the runaways finally came back, knelt down and looked up in the sky.

"Forget it..., my last words..."

"So what, it's not like losing is our only choice. Besides..."

"We should stop praying for Saito to come back. For some reason I just know that in the near future he will appear before us again. Right, just when we're desperately fighting. If we gave up right here right now, won't we become a joke? Anyhow I'm not fleeing from this."

Once Guiche puts it this way, the boys started to hesitate. After all, they are a bunch of young ignorant teenagers.

"Which is why, we should be happier right now. You only get one chance at living!"

As the reasoning goes on, the boys eventually gave in one by one and started drinking, completely blissful from their supposed patrol work.

Gimili's eyes landed on the a small window on the Cathedral across the center. There sat a small Louise in nun clothes. Saddened by the sight, he sighed

"That girl Louise... Even when our morale is at its lowest, she still have the feelings to keep praying.... At least be aware of what we would experience when we'll be fighting with that elf."

"Hey~ Hey~, compared to us, Louise must be more troubled.

"Making the decision to send Saito back isn't something she can do without great courage."

Hearing this, the boys quieted down. Just this moment, a band wearing silly clothes pa.s.sed by, starting to play beautiful music. Devoted Romalia Pilgrims roared immediately, complaining "too loud, too loud".

Suddenly, Guiche stood up.

"Ahh~ Guiche, where do you want to go?"

"Oh, doesn't really matter. See it's about resting time after prayers? I just thought that we should go and comfort Louise."

At noon exactly, Pope Vittorio who has been kneeling on the altar of St Lucia Cathedral stood up, and bowed towards the crowd outside. Roars of cheers exploded everywhere.

"This ceremony is so great! I am so proud of myself. Even now, I still can't believe that I was able to become one of the Pope's nun and pray."

Louise claimed happily to the Tiffania beside here.

"It's only because that we are void users chosen by G.o.d, isn't it. Even now, I don't feel that I live up to my name... ahh, I must put some effort in it."

Looking into Louise's pair of bright sharp eyes, Tiffania started to question her actions of brain-washing Louise.

Only under her desperate pleads, Tiffania removed her memories of Saito... but afterwards, Louise was like having a fever, suddenly talking about Halkeginia's ideals, droning on and on about her importance.

"Those Gallain conspiracies against us..., we must stop them no matter what!"

"Lo-Looks like it's kind of scary."

Tiffania honestly voiced her thoughts, Louise's eyes immediately shone brightly

"What is there to be afraid of! Although it's not like I don't understand your feelings, you should never bow down to fear! That would be a real insult to G.o.d and our Ancestors."

"Mmm, yea..."

Louise looked like a different person. Even if her normal self is so willful... she doesn't have to go to the extremes. Is that why Saito's existence was so important?

As Tiffania was still hesitating, the side door went wide open with a bang and a team of well dressed guys poured inwards.

"Oh! h.e.l.lo, my ladies!"

"...Who is it?"

In that moment, Tiffania could not identify who the people barging in were at all. They were all wearing weird clothing and had white makeup all over their face.

"Guiche?"

"Ohmyohmyohmy, isn't it lunch time already? Are you ladies interested in a peaceful, quite ride on Aquileia's specialty, the Phoenix tailed ship?"

"Phoenix tailed ship? That sounds fantastic..., however..., if we left the Cathedral..."

"How bad could it be? If you didn't take a break, you would be out of breath from all the work, wouldn't you? Besides, there is no chance of a conspiracy. Look, even in the streets they set all kinds of traps. I Am a earth-base mage and do notice these things. "

Looks like Guiche wanted more than leaving work behind.

"I reckon if they wanted to do anything, they would've marched their army in already. Anyhow, we're here to -slaps back- relax, -slaps back- enjoy ourselves for good"

Unforgivingly, Louise shook her head.

"What are you talking about! Being the sacred nuns, it's exactly now that we should help his holiness. Besides, as soon as we get careless, the enemy will strike. You people should re...Mmm!"

Guiche didn't wait for Louise to finish and already picked her up, chuckling to himself as he walks out.

"Waaaiit! You guys! Put! Me! Down!"

The Louise being compelled to get on a phoenix tailed ship floating in the waterway started to quarrel with the leader of Ondine Water Spirit Knights.

The narrow phoenix tailed ship was filled entirely by the teens, when ash.o.r.e could their laughter be heard.

"Okay already! All of you, you are taking this too lightly!"

Malicorne, raising his winegla.s.s to Guiche and the others, said

"Keep it up... poor thing. You must be really depressed..."

"What are you talking about? Depressed? Who?"

Louise stared blankly at Guiche. Guiche's shocked face matched his ridiculous clothes perfectly.

"Louise... don't you feel misery?"

"Me? Why would I be? Anyhow, stop this madness already!"

Seeing Louise enraged, Gimili exclaimed

"Are you kidding me! It was because that you insisted, you made Saito..."

"Ahh, my bad my bad my bad my bad."

Louise, after hearing all of this, was still as muddled as ever.

"...Saito, who's that?"

The whole phoenix tailed ship froze in in time.

"Louise! Louise! Looks like it messed up her brain!"

"You people are really helpless..., just now you mentioned..., yes, this Saito..."

Guiche and the rest was on the verge of not being able to hold their breath. This sudden reaction from Louise made the whole boat sway sideways. Finally, Louise couldn't stand it any longer and yelled at Guiche, obviously in fury

"My brain messed up? I'd say Your brains are messed up! The weird ones here are you people. Saito this, Saito that..., what the h.e.l.l is Saito?"

"N-name, duh"

"Name? That sure is one weird name."

"The male with that weird name Is your familiar, you know."

"Fam-liar? Ma-le? Don't even kid with me! I never had a familiar!"

Louise having said that, crossed her arms in amus.e.m.e.nt and flung her head to one side with a "huh!". Guiche looked sideways at Tiffania, twisting around uncomfortably.

Speaking of which..., she once removed Saito's fake memories in Albion..."

Was it that magic?

Guiche knows that Tiffania wields a fascinating magic, which is also the reason why she is not taken lightly by Henrietta and be a.s.signed as a nun of the Pope.

What the magic exactly is, Guiche isn't very clear himself.

Personal experiences tell Guiche that to be involved in these top secrets is never a good idea. They also tell him not to think of even anything correlated. Actually, not to display expressions of thinking them. These things can ruin careers, if worse, you won't be even able to keep your head.

However, in this case, that is completely unnecessary. Staring at Tiffania's face without moving a muscle, is considered a rare way when treating females. All of the boys bulged their eyes.

"Miss Westwood. I have a question."

"Ah, yes"

"...You, don't tell me you used that spell on Louise?"

Tiffania turned her back on him and started to shiver mildly. Guiche snapped his fingers and ordered

"Tie Miss Westwood up."

Excitedly, the boys leaped towards Tiffania and tied her up in a flash. Louise tried to say something, but was tied up as well.

The tied up Tiffania fell down on a side in the phoenix tailed boat, trembling while blushing red.

"Wait! What are you thinking of! Aren't you the personal guards of Queen Henrietta-! What are you trying to do by tying me up? If this continues, I'd get angry! I'll report it to the Queen who'll punish you."

Ignoring Louise's words, Guiche slowly approached Tiffania.

"You did use magic on Louise, didn't you?"

"Did-did not"

Guiche sighed and snapped his fingers again. Malicorne, wearing a gusset clowns use, started to flick a feather over the body of Tiffania's.

"Would you please tell us the truth, m'lady?"

"Ump! Ummg! Stop tickling! Stop tickling me!"

Tiffania is really sensitive to her body, therefore this torture is the deadliest. Guiche edged his face closer to Tiffania's, who have fell down exhausted.

"Personally, I dislike hurting women. Unfortunately, this all depends on the time and place as well. Malicorne, about whether Tiffania's b.r.e.a.s.t.s are real, go and investigate."

"Good suggestion, Captain, what a good suggestion"

Malicorne came closer with his hands reached out

"S-Sorry! I'm sorry!"

At this moment, Tiffania suddenly apologized.

"So that's what happened."

"Because, it's for her own good!"

"Hey, you people, what did you do to Tiffania!"

Facing the agitated and steaming Louise, Guiche gently said

"My dear Louise, would you care to listen to me?"

"Really, what do you have to say! Hurry up and untie me!"

"You have a familiar. He was a person as young as we are. He saved you many times. Also, he really likes you. Did you really forget all of this?"

Hearing Guiche being so direct, Louise is still in the clouds.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I Don't have a familiar!"

"It was on that summoning ceremony in spring. During the summoning, you failed so many times, then you eventually called him out."

"Ohh. Back then, nothing came out in the end. I was really depressed at that time.... But this can be explained. It has something to do with my magic cla.s.s, although I can't tell you.... Just watch, after this, I will summon the most ultimate familiar in the world!"

All of a sudden, Guiche felt very helpless. Angrily, he glared at Tiffania. He then lowered his body and hissed in her ear

"...Since Louise says this kind of things, perhaps she would be better off this way. ... That must have been what you thought, since she did look very painful

"But because I am a man, I don't think so at all. To a man, memories are the most important things in the world. Since Louise chose it this way, who am I to comment at all."

Following, Guiche took a deep breath

"Still, I cannot accept this."

Hurried by his teammates, the ropes on Louise and Tiffania were finally let loose. As soon as the phoenix tailed boat stopped at the dock, Guiche and the rest jumped off.

Louise, who was left behind, angrily glared at their backs.

"Really, what were they thinking!"

Watching Louise like this, Tiffania fell into deep thoughts as well.

Were my actions right?

Is there no other way than this?

She didn't have the answers to these questions, but she also felt the sadness. Tears dripped from her eyes. Noticed that, Louise started to comfort Tiffania.

"How are you? Are you alright? Really, those guys are too rough! We should let the Queen punish them, don't you think? Tiffania?"

Middle of the night... the glow from the twin moons illuminated the dark night sky.

A few days ago, the warship for the sole use of the Pope, "St. Maricore", was parked at the harbors of Aquileia. A gigantic vessel slowly sailed near. This mysterious vessel retracted its humongous wings. When landing, it did not kept its balance and swayed ma.s.sively, the giant wings slapping the surface of the sea.

This vessel's remaining momentum was a telltale sign that it is going to smash into the harbor. At this moment, a few folds of wind magic were casted. Large amounts of air blew straight into the ship from the walls, acting as a barrier, such that the harbor wouldn't turn into smithereens.

This enormous vessel porting is none other than the "Orient". The n.o.bles standing guard on the deck casted another volley of wind magics, finally stabilizing this monstrous ship. In the end, few figures of pitch blackness sprung out from the warehouse of the docks, grabbing the harness and tied it around the mast.

Creaking at a sharp tone, the front hull of the ship slowly opened like a crow's beak. This door is made to carry the large loads, designed by Professor Colbert.

The walls of the harbor, procuring out like a tongue which scratched the bird's beak, had an array cylindrical logs laid down side by side. The twenty something n.o.bles stood across those trees, including the ones who were casting wind spells on the deck.

Written on the n.o.bles faces, were all weariness and anxiousness. They really can't be blamed, having to transport and guard such a heavy item all the journey.

A weird, half-cranking, half-creaking sound came out from the bird's beak. A certain object was being transported through magic. The height of this thing was even higher than two buildings..., is the same Panzer Saito saw at the grave underground of Romalia kings.

Right underneath the Panzer, were those logs... the same species of wood of which logs are made from as the ones they would use to transport giant stone blocks a castle is under construction. Only those logs will stand the pressure of the Panzer and roll simultaneously.

"Everyone please take care! Any plain log, even with the 'harden spell' casted on them will not sustain the weight of this steel lump. It weights as much as 120,000 livres!"

So that was the reason, how it's able to withstand the great weight. "Harden" logs over the limit of sustainable weight will snap and be crushed into pieces.

The Panzer slowly slid towards the right. If this continues, the Panzer would fall into grasps of the sea.

"Right side! It's the right side! Hurry up and use 'Levitation'!"

Mages standing left and right started chanting "levitation" to lift the Panzer's right side up. Even with this number of mages, they are unable to buckle it at all. At least the good thing is that it is now stuck in the bird's beak. Professor Colbert held his breath, and carefully instructed mages left and right, eventually successfully landing the tank on the stony ground of the center.

An energy depleted Colbert rested on top of the tank. There was no more to worry, whether the Orient will plummet or will the tank sink into the depths of the ocean. As soon as he is relieved from this burden, tiredness started to reveal in every part of his body.

"It's alright now, Miss Zerbst, Miss Tabitha."

The hatch on the tank sudden sprang open. Kirche's head popped out, wearing a black officer's hat found within. Following, Tabitha's small head partially stuck out of the gunner's window. The two were inside stabilizing the whole tank.

A teen wearing white clothes sharply stood out from the rest of the crowd, wearing pitch black clothing. He gave Colbert a salute. Other than his unmatching attire, this salute was one of a fully professional soldier's.

It's Julio.

"It must have been tough for you, Mister Colbert. If you weren't here for us, it would have been impossible to transport this 'work of art' here."

Colbert jumped off the tank in one leap, and saluted back to Julio.

"Although the Orient was antic.i.p.ated to carry loads... the loading of this item was a bit more than expected. Having as much as 20 people casting 'Levitation' in turns, it eventually left the bottom of the ship. Otherwise? I don't this ship would have even floated. To me, I hope this is the last time."

Hearing Colbert put it this way, Julio smiled.

"Of course. We don't make unnecessary requests."

Promising that, Julio's eyes darted towards the large oil tank strapped behind the Panzer. It's the same oil tanks that were used to store gasoline for the fighter plane Zero.

"So? Will this thing move?"

"In somewhat way, yeah. It wasn't easy, using 'gasoline' to pilot this 'work of art' and the 'Dragon's Raiment'. Mm, although fundamentally, there are a few big differences. Anyhow, mastering its structure requires time. It's not something that can be done overnight."

"That's more than enough."

Julio bowed.

"And? Using this to partic.i.p.ate in the ceremony's guarding work..., isn't that a bit too exaggerated?"

Colbert looked at this lump of metal... and thought to himself

First time seeing this "work of art", it was really shocking. Although the first time seeing machine fly was just as shocking, but the degree of how stunning this was only goes up, not down.

Using such a large amount of metal... steel, made part by part without disturbing the overall organization. Behind, inside the tank was an "engine" even more advanced than the one of "Dragon's Raiment".

Even the extruding cannon, it's just a perfect work of art. How lethal would a sh.e.l.l fired from here be? How devastating could this get?

The tiny pieces of curiosity gradually swells up, as if hoping to experience this as soon as possible.

However..., with only the power of Colbert, perhaps he might make it move, but for it to go into combat, is definitely out of reach. This needs exactly Saito's power. If Saito isn't here, this is nothing but a giant steel box.

"Speaking of which, where would Saito be? I remember parting with him in Romalia. Has he arrived in this Aquileia yet? I haven't seen him yet"

Julio shook his head.

"Right now, he's on a 'voyage'. He won't be coming back for a short period of time."

"Voyage?"

"Unh." Julio grunted, then smiled.

Traveling at this time of the year? Saito Is a part of the Queen's personal guards. Perhaps he is on a secret mission again.

Colbert made up a story for himself, and did not pursue.

The black clothed males somehow started to transport the tank into the warehouse, hooking the front with a rope to pull with.

The moves started pulling, while the aristocrats applied "levitation" to help out. On the "hardened" logs, this Panzer started to roll again.

Sticking her head out of the Panzer's cabin, Kirche winced her eyes at Julio and Colbert in the midst of some sort of a conversation.

"This really stinks.... Although it doesn't need to be as clean as the streets, it's really dirty and sticky inside..."

Kirche chuckled to herself. Tabitha nodded her head in agreement from the gunner's window.

"Your white knight, where would he be sent this time?"

Kirche pulled of her cap and put it on Tabitha instead.