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Madan no Ou to Vanadis - Volume 17 - Chapter 1.2




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I guess Figneria has come to finish me off. One of the ironclad rules on the battlefield she taught me in the past was to never believe that an opponent has died until you put an end to their life yourself. She appears to creep closer ever so slowly, probably trying to get a read on my state while closing the distance.

A shadow darkened the sight behind her closed eyelids, and the footsteps came to a halt. Once Elen faintly opened her eyes, Figneria was looking down at her. The blade of her small sword was clad in golden light with her being ready to strike.

Exactly in the instant Figneria was about to release those flames, Elen jerked her body up, and thrust Silver Flash at her. The wind bursting out of Arifar’s point made Figneria’s flames flicker violently as it peeled it off the blade. The black-haired Vanadis swiftly jumped backwards.

“Gu…uu….a…” Elen crouched on the spot while groaning in pain.

With her face twisted from the pain screaming at her from all across her body, Elen was surprised at her own action.

──I could still move…?

Even though she couldn’t move a single finger moments ago, her instinct to live on with death right in front of her eyes had likely stirred her body. Or maybe it happened because Sasha and Vissarion had told her that it was too early for her to join them.

Once she resolutely lifted her face, she saw Figneria warily looking her way with faint surprise dwelling in her eyes. Lim seemed to be on the verge of crying from effusive joice.

──It’s good that she focused on me.

If Figneria had left Elen alone and faced Lim instead, it might have led to an irreversible situation. Elen was glad from the bottom of her heart for Figneria to be such a stickler to the rules of the battlefield.

──However, for those two to line up and stand in front of me…

Probably because her mind was still hazy, Elen allowed herself to indulge in pointless thoughts completely unrelated to the current battle. Sasha and Vissarion – there was no doubt that both were important to Elen, but they shared no common point besides that.

Having thought up to this point, Elen remembered what Vissarion had wished from her. Albeit indistinct, a gleam returned into her ruby eyes. Her lips relaxed a bit. And she became able to feel the coldness of the snow that was melting after having drizzled down on her hands and shoulders.

While wondering why she had forgotten until now, she also thought that it was only natural for her to have done so. Back then, it had become a common habit of hers to hear past what he told her almost every day. Besides, since she was always reminded of his death first whenever she thought about Vissarion, she made sure to not recall those painful memories unless absolutely necessary.

Biting down on her lips, Elen forced her murky consciousness to sober up. She scratched the ground.

──I guess I can still go on.

She poured power into each and every finger of her right hand which was holding onto Arifar. Once she tightly clamped down on the hilt, Arifar wrapped up Elen’s body in a gentle wind as if to encourage her.

“Sorry, I’ve shown you something pathetic…” She apologized to her draconic tool, squeezing out a hoarse voice.

She had become embarrassed of herself.

Am I not simply basking in self-pity after being beaten down a little bit? I’m still alive. I’ve got all my limbs. My body hurts, but I can move it. And above all, I haven’t used up all my strength yet. There’s no way that I could face Sasha and Vissarion after having done so little.

Borrowing the help of the wind coiled around her body, Elen got up. She gazed at Figneria, slowly breathed in, and then exhaled. She felt like she’d collapse from the pain all over her body, if she lost focus. But she couldn’t afford to act so disgracefully.

“You did well to have managed to get up after this.” Figneria said in admiration

Elen lifted the corners of her mouth, and flashed a confident smile at her.

“I remembered Vissarion, so yeah.”

Figneria’s eyebrows twitched faintly, and then she provoked Elen, spitting out with a dispassionate tone, “I guess you’d be too ashamed to face him in the other world, if you didn’t avenge him.”

“No,” Elen shook her head, “If I don’t make Vissarion’s wish come true, I don’t know what he’s going to tell me once I meet him in the other world one day. Once I realized that, I had no choice but to stand up.”

“…Ah, the dream of building a country, huh.”

“No, not that.” Elen clearly denied, and glared at Figneria with an expression baring her discontent. “I’ll say it because we’re here like this right now, but I envied you in regards to that dream. You were the only person Vissarion told about this dream by himself. Lim and I pestered him to tell us, but in the end he never directly spoke to us about it.”

Hearing Elen, Figneria narrowed her eyes, apparently not having expected this. But, once she thought about it logically, it was only natural. At the time when Vissarion died, Elen was 13 years old, and Lim 16. Vissarion doubtlessly doted on the two girls, considering them precious, but it’d have been weird for him to have perceived them as people he could seriously consult about his own dreams.

Vissarion’s dream was nothing he had entrusted to Elen. It was something she had decided to succeed out of her own volition. What Vissarion desired for Elen was something completely different.

“Anyway, I’ve digressed,” while putting her breathing in order, Elen continued talking.

She expected that Figneria might respond if she mentioned Vissarion’s name, and she was spot on with that assumption. Her continuing to speak about things long past to the extent of her mentioning what made her envious as a little child was for the sake of buying time. She wanted to accumulate as much power in the hand grasping the sword and the feet planted on the ground as possible.

“Vissarion’s dream, you see──” she deliberately added a pause here to put on some airs, “──was for Lim and me to find a good man, get married, and give birth to healthy children. This was something he told us almost everyday as he seemed to be quite worried about it. He said the same in the morning of that day as well.”

A stiff silence stretched out between the two Vanadis. It was Figneria’s short laughter that tore it apart.

“That totally sounds like him.”

If he felt love as their foster father, he might not have wished for them to keep walking down the path of mercenaries where you never knew what tomorrow might bring. Their mercenary band had several women who were in charge of miscellaneous chores, but some mercenaries found lovers among those women, and left the mercenary band to lead the life of a married couple.

“One more thing: I inherited the wish of a precious, close friend.”

Sasha had regretted that she couldn’t give birth to any children before she left this world. That wish, which she passed on to Elen, made Elen recall her final conversation with Vissarion.

“I want to grant Vissarion’s hope and my friend’s wish. For this reason, I cannot afford to lose my life in a place like this.”

 

◆◇◆

 

The snow still continued to flutter down on the battleground. While weighing the best moment to unleash their deadly, draconic arts, the two Vanadis cautiously closed their distance.

“Come to think of it, I still haven’t heard your answer, have I?” Figneria said as if having remembered all of a sudden. “Did you manage to fulfill Vissarion’s dream?”

Elen blinked, staring at Figneria with a puzzled expression. This was no question you’d ask on a bloody battlefield during a duel to the death. But, she couldn’t sense any hostility from Figneria’s eyes and tone. She couldn’t believe that she had asked this while harboring some kind of hidden motive.

──I remember. She asked me the same at her governmental residence, didn’t she?

This happened before winter, during Elen’s return to Zhcted after taking the sea route from Brune. When their group stopped by Legnica’s governmental residence, Elen had reunited with Figneria out of the blue. At that time, Figneria had also confronted Elen with that question. Considering the fateful bond between the two and seeing how this was a battlefield, Elen might very well answer with a slash of her sword. And as a matter of fact, she tried to do just that during their past meeting.

However, after thinking it over for a short time, Elen faced Figneria seriously, “Vissarion’s dream is a part of my dreams right now,” and then continued with her eyes full of dignity, “My views greatly differ now compared to back then. Of course a part of it stems from my past views having been crude and immature. But, that’s not all. My many, new encounters changed my opinion about building a country in a positive way.”

The soldiers and citizens of Leitmeritz. The Vanadis such as Sasha and Sofy. Eugene Shevarin who taught Elen and Lim about etiquette. And Tigrevurmud Vorn who governed over Alsace after having properly inherited the will of his father, despite being a puny noble from another country.

Elen had learned a lot as a ruler from all of them.

“No one having to starve, no one having to fear wild animals and bandits, everyone having a warm place to weather through the cold seasons, a lively coming and going of people, everyone being able to happily live their lives…those wishes of Vissarion have certainly become a central part of my dreams. But, my dreams are my own, not some copy of Vissarion’s dream. Even though both our dreams follow the same aim.”

Dreams kept changing their shape depending on the person embracing them. At times dreams would need to face reality, at other times they’d be completely altered through new knowledge and experiences, and ultimately they’d change depending on new encounters and discoveries.

“I won’t forget Vissarion. Neither his wishes nor the plethora of views he imparted on me. But, I’ll only add them to my own.”


Elen pointed Arifar straight ahead. The blade glowed bluish-white, and wind coiled around it in a vortex. As the snow continued to be drawn into that whirlpool, a white spiral came into existence.

“That’s your dream, huh? ──I got it.”

Figneria readied Bargren by crossing its blades in front of her face. Golden flames from the golden blade and crimson flames from the scarlet blade surged out, drawing arcs in the air. For an instant, the blades increased their radiance, and the flames grew in intensity.

Figneria soundlessly muttered, “I have my own dream as well.”

Nurturing soldiers by actively invading foreign soil, stealing riches and resources, creating prosperity by expanding the realm, and not allowing any opposition. Someday when I die, I won’t be able to meet Vissarion’s eyes anymore. But, if I don’t manage to achieve this dream, I’m going to lose the qualification to even talk with his spirit.

“For the sake of my dream, I’ll burn your dreams to nothing.”

Their tremendous powers caused the atmosphere around them to tremble. The wind cladding Elen’s Arifar howled loudly, and transformed into a storm cluster destroying everything it touched. Figneria’s Bargren, on the other hand, created two rings of fire burning everything to smithereens.

“──Tear the atmosphere apart!Ley Adomos”

“──Rotating Twin BlazeFlanroth.”

The crossing flame halos and the ferocious beast manifested by the wind collided. The ground was gouged out, the atmosphere ruptured, and a fiercely hot wind swept across the vicinity as an after-effect of the clash. The heat assaulted the soldiers of both armies who had been watching the battle between the Vanadis from a distance. They tumbled down, suffering a multitude of burns.

The wind beast tried to rip apart the flame halos, and the flame halos tried to tear the wind beast into fragments. The two clusters of immense power whittled each other down while scattering light and heat.

The two Vanadis didn’t move from their spot, only focusing on their respective enemy. New traces of scalding were created on Elen’s body in succession, and her uniform got burned at many places. On the other hand, lacerations similar to being sliced by small blades carved themselves into Figneria’s body, creating torn patches all over her black clothes.

In the next instant, flames and wind were engulfed in a light capable of burning one’s eyes. A roar resembling thunder shook earth and atmosphere at the same time, and the bodies of Elen, Figneria, and Lim floated up a bit.

When the light quietly faded away, a huge hole in the shape of a mortar revealed itself between Elen and Figneria. If someone had been close to that place, they’d likely understand just how seething hot that hole was. The two draconic arts had simultaneously disappeared while fighting each other.

Elen exhaled deeply. She was on the verge of collapsing then and there, but she somehow prevented from toppling over by using Arifar as support.

Figneria corrected her grip of her two blades, believing that she’d bring down Elen for sure this time. But, just when she stepped forward to go around the hole, she perceived an unusual presence, and turned her eyes to her back.

Lim, who had readied her sword on the fly, was charging at Figneria, eyes pinned on just her. Lim had eagerly resisted the urge to jump into the fight between the two Vanadis. No matter how many wounds Elen accumulated, she ground her teeth, clenched her fists, and continued to watch without averting her eyes.

All for the sake of not missing this very moment.

Figneria moved her eyes slightly, and swung the sword in her left hand. The scarlet blade released crimson flames. Any skilled veteran might have stopped after flinching away in front of these raging flames. But, without the slightest hint of hesitation, Lim dashed forward as if to jump into the conflagration instead. The fire roasted her hair, burned her face, and grilled her body. While enduring the pain assailing her whole body, Lim brandished her sword while desperately keeping her eyes open.

Two metallic clangs overlapped, resounding as one. The blade of Lim’s sword snapped in the middle, and countless fragments fell to the ground while shining dully. And at the same time, the scarlet sword left Figneria’s hand, dancing through the air while leaving a trail of fire. The small sword landed several steps away from the black-haired Vanadis.

Figneria didn’t openly show the slightest hint of her internal astonishment. Neither did it create a single chip in her composure. She swung the sword in her right hand at Lim. At the same time, Lim threw the remains of her broken sword at Figneria’s face.

Figneria swung her sword through while knocking down Lim’s sword. The flames released from its golden blade assaulted Lim while greedily devouring the atmosphere.

Lim leaped sideways as if diving into the ground. The flames scorched the tips of her boots, and nothing else.

Figneria tried to attack Lim on the ground, but suddenly she sensed a stream of wind, immediately changed her thinking, and shifted her eyes to the side.

“Figneria! Your opponent is me!”

Accompanied by that shout, Elen, clad in wind, jumped across the hole, and slammed down Arifar from above Figneria’s head.

The two blades clashed, emitting a flash of silver and golden light. The gust-like blow of Elen was thwarted by Figneria’s blade. Elen’s deep crimson eyes as they burned with fighting spirit crossed Figneria’s freezingly cold, jet-black eyes.

──You did well, Lim.

Elen yelled her thanks at her blond friend in her mind. She, who was no Vanadis and didn’t have a wind protecting her like Elen, had played her role by mustering her courage. Now it was Elen’s turn to respond to Lim’s bravery.

Elen swiftly drew her sword back, just to immediately slash it sideways. Her aim was Figneria’s left hand. Figneria attempted to escape the ferocious blade by immediately bending her body backwards.

A small quantity of fresh blood joined the raging wind. A red line ran across Figneria’s left wrist. It was a graze, but she didn’t manage to fully dodge Elen’s sword.

──Her left hand isn’t broken, I guess. But it must be numb.

It likely happened when her scarlet sword was sent flying by Lim’s sword. Otherwise, Figneria would have undoubtedly summoned it back into her left hand to block Elen’s slash. After all, a Vanadis could do so at any time.

While lightly breathing in and out, Elen changed her posture. Closing the distance to a reckless extent, she unleashed a severe slash at Figneria. She couldn’t allow to waste the golden opportunity created by Lim and the precious time which was very likely limited.

The wind howled, the flames surged. Wind blades and fire pellets jumbled together with the gap in-between filled by a fierce exchange of slashes. The wind blades closing in on Figneria were devoured and extinguished by flames, the fire pellets assaulting Elen were scattered by a squall.

Figneria had no choice but to admit being at disadvantage in this violent struggle. Bargren showed its true ability when the two swords acted as a pair. But, even if she were to summon the sword that had fallen to the ground, it’d just be flicked away with her left hand still numb. Even though she tried to stall for time by restraining her opponent with her flames, it showed almost no effect since the flames got scattered by Arifar’s wind.

For a tiny fragment of a moment, Figneria wavered on what she should do next.

And within that little interval, Lim acted once more. As soon as she raised her body from the ground, she leaped towards the scarlet sword lying on the ground, and tightly grasped its hilt with both hands. As if intending to not let it go for dear life. Like this novel, support it by reading it at the translator’s blog. check novelupdates.

Judging Lim’s action as ill-intent, Bargren clad its blade in flames. The flames swayed like a living being, rose up, and burned Lim’s hands along the hilt.

A painful scream escaped Lim’s lips. And yet, she didn’t let go of the sword. In response, the flames crawled up from her hand to her arm at an astounding rate, spreading in the blink of an eye, just to fully engulf Lim’s body

“Lim…!”

Elen unconsciously stopped moving due to that gruesome sight. Figneria didn’t miss that chance, and immediately assaulted her with her sword. The flames wound into a vortex, and the wind raged. The hair of both Vanadis got enveloped by a hot wind, causing it to flutter.

The tip of Figneria’s blade grazed Elen’s arm, whereas Elen’s longsword pruned the tips of Figneria’s hair. Both of them jumped backwards, panting heavily.

“At this rate, Lim is going to be burnt to death.” Figneria croaked with an intentionally indifferent tone.

Lim’s move had been unexpected for her as well, but there was no reason for her to not make use of it.

Elen strongly bit her lower lip. Figneria was luring her into losing her calm. As she was quite aware of it herself, she had to hurt herself to keep her composure.

Astoundingly, Lim didn’t show any intent to let go of Bargren even with her whole body basked in flames. And not just that. She inclined her body forward, and used her own weight to pin the small sword against the ground. No voice came from her. She had no leeway for it. For this reason, she screamed in her mind. She frantically appealed to the draconic tool trying to burn her to cinders.

──Alexandra-sama, your previous owner, told me that she wants me to protect Elen. I replied to her that I’d do so to the full extent of my lacking abilities. Her request, that oath, doesn’t only apply to her time. It was something I ought to carry out as long as Elen continues to be herself.

──Draconic tool, you might have a duty you have to carry out yourself. And, I have one as well.

──Until the last fragment of my bones has burned down to nothing.

Even while her consciousness grew hazy due to the intense heat and oppressiveness, Lim never loosened her hold on Bargren.

 

 

——————— End of Part 2 ———————





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