Zero no Tsukaima

Volume 16 7

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Chapter 7 - Eléonore’s Academy[]

In the western suburbs of Tristainia, there was a tower collectively called the Insitution of Magic. Just as the name literally means, there were various kinds of magic research conducted in that place.

However, compared to practical research, the effects of pure magic were explored a little more.

For example, what kind of flame shapes were similar to what Founder Brimir used, how much wind should be used to blow out the decorative candle flames after festivals, conducting research on earthen materials for the purpose of making sacred grails and so on. Using fire magic to illuminate the streets; using wind magic to transport large quantities of goods; such research to use magic in normal daily life was considered quite vulgar and too lowly.

For the most part, in order to gain more understanding of God, they tried to figure out how to defend their ideals, and would not step out of the theology norm. If someone’s research slightly deviated from the boundary, they would immediately be fastened to a “heretic” label, and in turn be banished or have their research suspended.

There were thirty members in the institution’s magical research team, Eleonore being one of the primary researchers. She specialized in the earth element, her research devoted on how to create beautiful religious statues.

In the evening, after just returning from Des Ornières, Eleonore entered her laboratory located at the fourth floor of the tower, and rested her chin on a table letting out a sigh.

More or less her younger sister’s room too, this place felt it lacked livelihood. The shelves leaning against the wall with clothes spread out on it had all kinds of pots made from clay agents, between the shelves were portraits of deceased ancestors----these were the only decent decorations.

A knock on the door was heard, Eleonore lifted her head, “Please come in.”

The door opened, a young lady came in with her fine black hair coiled into a loose bun and wearing glasses, her hands holding a parchment. It was a colleague, Bailey (???).

Current age twenty six, she was a primary researcher like Eleonore, using the water element to research magical substances.

Bailey saw Eleonore in this manner.

“Huh, you must be in a sour mood.”

“Little sister . . . ugh, complaining to you is also pointless.”

“Your little sister? Aren’t there rumors that she became an officer of Her Majesty? Being part of the parterre knights should make you very excited. That . . . what else was it that happened? The chevalier who was born a commoner and is always guarding her, they’re living together now, right?”

“That’s right, she wants to live with that peasant animal. I must persuade her to come back home now.”

“Ah! Do you want to get married?”

Upon hearing “married," Eleonore reacted in a flash, scurried like sparks from a flint, and clutched Bailey’s throat.

“Don’t casually say in front of me something that makes me grieve!”

“S--sorry . . . I messed up . . . spare me . . .”

“Say, ‘Marriage is the tomb of life.’”

“Ma--marriage is the tomb of life . . .”

“Very good.”

Eleonore released Bailey at last, and still having the sour expression from before, she sat on a chair. Bailey was gasping, taking big gulps of air, and afterwards resuming her spirit, said,

“Well, well . . . living with this kind of woman who is not in harmony with her research and life, nothing can be done about her staying away from marriage.”

“It’s not my fault my marriage was cut short. What are you trying to get from me?”

Hearing what she asked, Bailey lowered her voice a bit and said:

“Actually, there is something I want to discuss with you.”

“Discuss?”

“Yeah. This is my latest research I’ve carried out according to the orders of the council . . .”

This was the scheme that the council, called “Academy”, had resolved to do. Among the researchers, the best members were selected to take care of the “Academy’s” operation.

Eleonore skimmed the parchment once all the way through, then puckered her brows.

“What do you figure this as?”

“It is very strange. They go as far as to request me to compromise and alter my body with the drug that can increase the strength of magic . . .”

“Is this not heresy? Magic is God’s great undertaking; relying on drugs to strengthen magic and such . . . doesn’t this bother God?”

Eleonore, knitting the brows of her face, said. Bailey nodded in agreement.

“I thought this as well, so I went to ask the council. But they simply said invariably, ‘The purpose of this study is to come closer to God.’”

“Did you do it?”

Elenore watched Bailey attentively.

Although she would like to believe that a substance to strengthen magic power would never exist . . . but Bailey could use square level water magic, in this aspect almost no one in the whole country could be up to par to her.

Well acquainted with secret medicines, proficient with healing----Eleonore couldn’t say for sure that it’s not impossible.

Bailey nodded.

“In fact . . . a short time ago someone already tried once. He was described as young and frivolous.”

“So! You were saying . . .”

“Um. At first I made something. However, when I was told that what I did was heresy, I promptly stopped the research. Also, the drug does not perform well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even though it can indeed increase magic power . . . you know, isn’t magic controlled by emotions?”

Eleonore nodded her head.

“It is intensified by emotions. Anger, joy, sadness . . . these feelings can strengthen magic to a point where normal spiritual ability can not reach to that extent.”

“Almost gone mad,” Bailey muttered in a low voice, mocking herself.

It seemed as if she experimented on her own body before.

“Due to various reasons the drug was shelved. Recently, however, I received the letter with orders to take part in compromising and to start again . . . what ultimately caused the interest in this kind of experiment?”

“Possibly the council changed their operation policy. But granted that’s the case, it’s also unlikely it was changed much because there’s no hint of any rumors . . .”

There was no news of a council member changing it. Until now, what was the reason for the project that was viewed as blasphemy to restart?

“Don’t you also think this is weird?”

“Yes.”

“If you can remember anything, you must let me know.”

“I understand. In brief, if you will still pay close attention for such, be careful of everything . . .”

Bailey looked like she relaxed a bit, and after saying thanks, she left the laboratory.

Why did the research start again if it is regarded as heresy?

The lone Eleonore thought as she was caught up in gazing out the window. From here she could somewhat see the distant streets of Tristainia . . . and also the even farther palace. Obviously the landscape didn’t change much, but now it gave a different feeling to her. Was it related to having heard those words?

Well, perhaps it was nothing to be concerned about.

The research policy of the Academy was within theological contexts . . . occasionally there were curious and sudden events that take the upper hand, which the majority of them must not have benevolent results----Eleonore remembered back to some of those kinds of research. (!)

If it is possible that this next one is different from those sudden events, then there was no need to be anxious . . . (!)

However, her restless mind was difficult to calm down.

She had a premonition that something bad was going to happen, and her body was shuddering slightly.

A seat with a special view called the “box” was located at the innermost second story of the Royal Tanaijiiru theater. Somewhat longer horizontally, up to ten seats were spread out side by side. Only a few important nobles loyal to the country could sit in the box.

Along with the start of the play, the nobles entered one by one wearing masks, greeted each other without mixing each other up, and settled onto their respective seats. The play that already began, the same one having been shown some time ago, was called "Albion’s Swordsman."

Watching on stage the swordsman cutting down noble generals one by one, the noble sitting farthest to the right spoke his thoughts in a whisper,

“The opera yesterday also bored me to bits.”

The enchanted mask passed his words to the ears of the other noblemen. Having heard this, a noble “comrade” sitting on the far left stated,

“This absurd military drama goes so far as to being played in the time-honored Tanaijiiru . . . it can truly be said that this never gets old for people.”

The noble on the right started to talk again,

“Not only is the opera absurd. The decisions of the Majesty lately . . . not only did she promote a lowly parvenu guard that’s always around her, I heard she even bestowed him with territory.”

“I really cherish the time of the former kings, the age where nobles acted like nobles . . . When everyone knew their place, and importance was attached to etiquette . . . Such good times! But commoners these days are beginning to get arrogant.”

“So true, it seems like if we don’t do everything to support this country, I fear its foundations will waver.”

The ten, whose status is no way beneath nobility, continued to blame the ones who held power in the government.

“For this reason, I only invited high ranking officials to discuss together.”

Behind the seated nobles came the voice of a senior man.

The nobles simultaneously turned their heads around. A tall nobleman walked out from a gap in the curtains, and wearing a pitch black cloak, had a naturally elegant demeanor.

Next to him was a beautiful woman dressed in fine clothes. Both of them wore similar masks.

Someone almost breathed out his name, the tall nobleman put his finger on his lips to signal ‘stop.’

“Like the letter said, here, you need to use that name to address me, I will not say Edmont’s (??) real name either . . .”

“Sorry, Gray-sama (???).”

Satisfied, the noble called Gray-sama shook his head.

“Eh. I’ve invited everyone to gather here because everyone here has a high reputation, important people of the grand Halkeginian kingdom from the times of old, guardians of the traditional wisdom. In order to speak to you all, I was to be so bold as to write down the letter.”

A noble waved his hand to indicate Gray to skip the introduction.

“Nowadays . . . the condition of our ancestral land is simply unbearable to look at. During this time of the young Majesty, she has an urge to destroy everything, and has the intention to undermine the traditions that have so far been around this country for years, furthermore this system has honor.”

The aristocrats all nodded their heads at the same time.

“Like that high ranking official that the Majesty depends on for advice.”

Seeing Gray-sama shaking his head, everyone immediately became tense.

----Could it be that we can rebel? Before, Gallia’s coup d’état changed the owner of the throne . . . What if Gray-sama received inspiration from that, and wants to exterminate Henrietta?

A noble said in a serious voice:

“Gray-sama, your speech is as vague and ambiguous as your name. Don’t tell me that you want to use us to start an armed rebellion? Your felony would be difficult to escape from!”

Gray-sama shook his head again.

“Then I ask you all, who can we trust to safeguard our honor as nobles?”

Such an obvious problem caused the nobles to look at each other in dismay.

Gray-sama did not wait for an answer, and continued:

“It’s the Majesty. The ruler of this country ensures our honor, without the Majesty we don’t exist, there’s no need to doubt this fact.”

Everyone relaxed, their bodies that were stretched taut loosened.

“Therefore, the honor of the Majesty is most important. We all shine under her glory . . . so in other words, the Majesty’s honor cannot tolerate a trace of filth, because that filth covers our brilliance with a dark cloud.”

The nobles present here were finally aware of what he wanted to speak about.

“Gray-sama. What you’re saying . . .”

“That’s right, on the behalf of the Majesty we must eliminate the filthy! For the purpose of keeping this country’s traditions, this is the time we, as older nobles, display our utmost loyalty.”

“The so called uncleanliness is . . .?”

“Does everyone understand? Those lowly peasants,”

Gray-sama said, while watching the performance. He simply didn’t have any other opinion. The captain of the Firearm Guards, Agnes, was born as an ordinary citizen . . . although the young woman was capable, among the city residents, she had no popularity. Although, her patrolling with cold and solemn expressions and having the appearance of working with all her efforts have been widely known among people in Tristainia.

She had less reputation compared to Saito, whose popularity could be said to have skyrocketed to the extent that the drama playing out in front of them was made. For the nobles of Tristain, their interpretation no doubt is like having a fish bone wedged in their throat. Although it’s not so bad as to be life threatening, but it is an incredible insult, and from time to time stabs at a noble’s ego. Making him disappear would only be the best.

All the persons present thought like this.

“So . . . who can get rid of that dragon man? At Albion, he hindered an army of seventy thousand, defeated ten of the noble Flowerbed Knight Guards at the sandbank, and rumor has it that his skill is supernatural. A careless hit-man will be stopped by him.”

“I already know, so I hired top-class cleaning experts.”

“Cleaning experts?”

“Yes, some guys specialized in ‘eating this kind of food.’ They’re professional level, thus their asking price is quite high. Basically, I would like to ask everyone to help with funds.”

“If you’re employing assassins, then we shall have to see how good of their skills!”

“Yes, that’s right,” the other nobles parroted. If strangers were hired and caused their plan to fail, the money would be squandered. Not only that, but their employers could be exposed, and then all chaos would be set loose.

“Since you say so, I will personally look them over,”

Gray-sama said, full of confidence.

“In here?”

“No . . . in another place.”

The nobles got up and stood. Behind the door and across from it was a wide stairwell which lead to the first floor, where specially recruited knights were stationed. After all, they were renowned and greatly respected nobles, and even in a secretive meeting they could not neglect to take precautions. Thirty knights should have been on guard over there . . .

When the door was opened, the nobles gasped, shocked. Their own knights that they brought, among them not one remained. Some collapsed on the dance floor, some fell onto the stairs, and on the luxurious carved railing, some knights were leaning against them.

“How did this happen?!”

One noble connected the situation but didn’t have enough time to consider things when there was a sudden great shout. Naturally they were surprised, each of those knights were skilled, of which they obtained outstanding achievements in competitions that took place in the presence of noblemen, they all have experienced the baptism of the battlefield, and they’ve fought countless duels under the fiercest existing general.

“No need to worry, they are not dead. They only lost consciousness.”

“Did you do this?!”

A noble questioned forcefully to Gray-sama.

“You said correctly, it was me who actually hired them.”

So they are . . . the actual cleaning experts which Gray-sama spoke about! In a brief period of time they dispatched thirty knights, moreover, no one inside the adjacent room that was connected to here detected it in the slightest bit, such extraordinary finesse. However, this skillfulness was not fit to be seen by light. The elder nobles analyzed the scene of fallen knights lying on the floor, and sniffed the faint scent of darkness. Freely wandering in the profound darkness, was a nocturnal creature that no one has seen. The nobles imagined what its attitude would be like, and they trembled endlessly.

“As you can honestly see, they don’t fight with honor by their side at all, so to use them to handle that upstart commoner is definitely the best choice.”

“What Gray-sama said is very right,”

A noble stated. By now . . . the play had finished, the door that lead to the first level seats had opened, and the audience members were bubbling into the lobby hall like a swarm of bees.

They noticed lying on the stairs the unconscious knights and screamed blood-curdling screeches. However, Gray-sama was at ease and said calmly:

“Calm down, have peace. I saw all of “Albion’s Swordsman” and afterwards felt unusually touched, hence I am trying to recreate a scene in the play. So, let these knights play out their performance.”

The audience, amazed, changed into smiling faces, and bursting into laughter, they clapped their hands.

“Wow, Mister-sama set it up so beautifully!”

“It really is a masterpiece!”

Enjoying the finished play, the citizens were considerably excited, and it appeared that this entertaining sideshow greatly satisfied them. There was continuous praise toward Gray-sama who was upstairs.

Seeing those kinds of city residents, one person among the elderly nobles whispered quietly,

“Untouchable lowlifes! Don’t be too pleased with yourself!”

“Don’t be so serious, this is a theater, a place where everyone comes to seek a dream. To grant people a temporary dream could be said to be a nobleman’s responsibility. But, nobles overthrown by commoners and such, merely taking place on the stage is enough. This is what I think.”

When he was done speaking, Gray-sama turned towards the spectators downstairs and gracefully performed a bow.