[V10C18] The Way the Winds Blow
Translated by Jodas 10: A Job for a Con Man“Even after we came to the Wedge Tower, Satie was still everything to me.”
Miriam had idolized Satie to an unreasonable degree.
That was why it had come as such a shock to learn that she was pregnant, and why Miriam became absolutely despondent when Satie died from complications of her childbirth.
And when facing the unbearable truth of Satie’s pregnancy and death, she found a religious purpose.
—Satie has given birth to the Daughter of God. Therefore, Satie is the Holy Mother.
And thus, she raised Satie’s newborn baby as the Daughter of God.
(I suppose it would be fitting for the Daughter of God to take the role of contractor to ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower,’ the one who protects humanity.)
There was Möbius, who had no choice but to sacrifice his best friend’s daughter to protect that friend.
There was Abel, who was forced to offer up her own daughter as contractor, and who saw through that daughter’s short life.
And there was Miriam, who deluded herself into tales of a Holy Mother, and who worshiped her friend’s daughter as the Daughter of God.
He thought all of them were twisted, foolish, and yet eminently pitiable.
Hütter looked down at Miriam, and whispered in his heart:
(…What you’ve done won’t be forgiven, but it’s not my place to scold you for it.)
Hütter was a rational man, but he didn’t feel like contradicting Miriam’s faith or pointing out the flaws in her logic.
A con man had a different job.
“Assistant Headmaster Miriam, about Rose and Sophie’s seals…”
“I won’t undo them. I can’t trust outsiders. Even if they happen to be one of the Seven Sages.”
Hütter curled his brows and gave a slightly wistful smile.
“I’m an outsider too, Assistant Headmaster.”
“……”
“Let’s make a bet, shall we? No, a holy woman shouldn’t be betting… Let’s call it a competition, then.”
Miriam lifted her head a bit to look up at Hütter.
…Good, she was listening. That meant the con will work.
“If I can get you to believe in me, that maybe you can trust an outsider after all… Then I would like you to please remove the seals on those two.”
She should have replied “Surely you jest.” She didn’t.
Once she’d stepped out of the room with Sevil, Tia leaned on the wall and listened in.
To Tia’s good ears, the wall was no obstacle for her to hear Hütter and Miriam’s conversation.
All this stuff about Saints and whatnot flew right over Tia’s head, but she instinctively tell what Hütter was trying to do.
Hütter was working his hardest to ensure that Rose and Sophie were freed from their seals. To that end, he was saying a lot of really hard words.
(Mr. Hütter’s so amazing!)
In her attempt to comprehend even a little bit of what Hütter was saying, Tia started by thinking about the conflict between Samuel and the Wedge Tower.
To tell the truth, Tia still had a hard time wrapping her mind around that part as well.
Human politics, emotions, and plots were such complicated and human topics that any Harpy would have a hard time with.
(Um… So the previous Emperor is Sevil’s dad. Samuel is Julius’ dad. And someone who was carrying messages between Sevil’s dad and Julius’ dad… did something, right? And then important people at the Wedge Tower got really mad.)
Tia thought back to what Miriam had said.
A blond young fellow who could walk about in human lands. Someone who could pick up information on the Wedge Tower. Someone who wanted to isolate the Wedge Tower — One individual popped up in Tia’s mind.
(Wait, so that means…)
Wasn’t she getting ahead of herself here? But still, she couldn’t help that tingling feeling in her chest.
“Vuvuvu…” Unconsciously vibrating her lips, Tia only now realized that she could hear a voice coming from where Julius was standing. Julius hadn’t noticed it yet.
“Pefu, Julius?”
“…What is it?”
After their exchange earlier, Julius must have been dissatisfied that he wasn’t able to convince Miriam of anything. His voice sounded awfully crestfallen.
Tia let out a huff as she pointed at Julius’ hand.
“Agniol is calling for you.”
“What?”
Julius immediately turned his attention to the ring on his hand. “Oh, she’s right. It’s glowing!” Wren remarked. Indeed, the ring on Julius’ finger was letting out a faint glow.
It was an indistinct glow that one couldn’t see without holding a hand over it to shade it.
If they listened real closely, everyone else could hear Agniol’s voice faintly calling out “Young Master!”
Julius spoke an incantation and passed his hand over the ring. He must have given her some of his mana.
Just as the light started to glow a little stronger, that light dropped out from the ring to form the shape of a lion on the floor. It was, however, much too small.
What appeared was a red lion about the size of a rabbit.
“Aww! I’ve gotten so small! That silver wolf!! Next time I meet him I’m gonna beat him to shreds!”
Lions didn’t have expressions in the same way humans did. Regardless, it was clear that this little lion was infuriated.
Tia was well aware. Spirits weren’t usually known for their expressive nature, but when it came to flame spirits, it was easy to tell when they were angry.
The fact that Agniol had always been all smiles was a notable outlier.
“…Agniol.”
When Julius whispered her name, the red lion pounded the floor with her front paws.
“Aw, Young Master! I’m frustrated! Really ticked off! I did such a good job holding back! I made it so you and the others wouldn’t get burnt up, but that wolf! He called me soft! Soft! Can you believe it!?”
While Tia had no way of knowing, the fire Agniol had called ‘a good job holding back’ had only avoided burning up Julius and the others thanks to Roswitha’s water fish blocking the blast. That was just how intense it had been. It was on the level of an advanced mage’s spell at least.
Julius dropped to his knees, picked Agniol off of the ground as she fumed, and brought her in to an embrace. Then, he dipped his head and chuckled.
“Ku, ku, kuku…”
“Oh, Young Master is imitating Samuel again! I guess you’re feeling better now–mmph!”
Covering Agniol’s mouth, Julius lifted the corners of his mouth into a defiant smirk.
“It seems that our luck hasn’t run out quite yet.”
“Young Master, Young Master, I’m sorry! I can only burn half as much as usual right now!”
“Ku, ku, worry not. In fact, that makes things easier.”
Everyone here was probably thinking the same thing as Julius.
While the flame spirit Agniol was powerful, her inability to hold back meant her use was limited to a (almost suicidal) last-ditch attack, or as a mount for Sevil.
While Agniol was weakened now, it sounded like she could still make half as much flame as usual.
If anything, this new-found limit on her powers meant she could now be used in far more applications.
“I don’t really get it, but the Young Master is laughing, so it’s all okay, right! That’s what Samuel said! The strongest ones are the ones who laugh!”
She now had an idea why Agniol was always smiling despite being a spirit. It was no different from Julius’ ku–ku–ku–ing.
“Agniol, I am pleased to see you are back in action.”
Sevil reached over and patted Agniol on the head.
Agniol purred in delight.
“Grand One! You’re pleased? I’m glad! Be as pleased as you want!”
“I shall.”
With that, Sevil leaned over and gave Agniol a light kiss on the forehead.
Julius jolted in shock, while Agniol shouted “Bold!”
The princess with the audacity to kiss a flame spirit gave a smile more voracious than a lion’s.
“Battles are decided by the direction of the wind. With your return, Agniol, the winds have shifted in our favor.”
“I can’t make the wind blow, I’m not a wind spirit, Grand One!”
“Even a wind spirit cannot control the winds of victory. That settled, we’ve now got all the cards in our hand. All that’s left is to wait for Rukiye.”
‘Speak of the devil…’ they say, as right that instant who else but Rukiye rounded the corner before them.
It was as if Sevil controlled the winds of fortune. Winds capable of guiding others that not even a Harpy could control. Only humans had this ability.
Seeing Agniol in Julius’ arms, Rukiye looked a little surprised.
But, electing to leave her comments on Agniol for later, she spoke to Tia.
“There was a spare Magical Flying Device.”
“Piyo! Really!?”
“Yes, the guys at the Management Office took anything they thought could be useful with them when they were evacuating.”
Now that the Management Office and its mana forge had been taken over, they figured it would be difficult to repair the Magical Flying Device, so this was an unexpected stroke of good luck.
According to Rukiye, Old Man Kappel, the Director of the Management Office, stuffed all the valuable materials and devices he could carry into his clothes, hauled a bag across his shoulder, and strapped the Magical Flying Device to his back as he ran.
As he put it, “You fool! You expect me to abandon all the money we put into this!?” — Human obsessions were truly a magnificent thing.
“That said, they want to make some adjustments, so would you like to come help?”
“Piyopp! Actually, if I’m doing that…”
Tia spoke the words she’d been thinking ever since she first laid eyes on the crystal-contaminated Wedge Tower.
“I’m gonna go do some scouting tonight!”