Published at 18th of July 2022 8:42 am

Volume 8, Chapter 5 - Kriemhild’s Song, Part 4

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Part 4

“What is this? How can this be happening?”

Eco completely stiffened up when she ran over to the window. Blazing flames burst into the distant night sky. The place that had been bathed in a sea of flames was a school building.

—Doon! Booooom!

The sound of explosions erupted through the dark of night, accompanied by flames which lit the horizon. After a while, one of the school buildings collapsed, raising a cloud of hazy dust into the sky.

“…Dragons appear to be the cause of chaos outside.”

Cosette used a pair of military binoculars to assess the situation. She seemed to have borrowed it from one of the unconscious soldiers.

“I cannot overlook something like that, Cosette! What reason would the dragons which are the treasure of this nation have to destroy a school building?”

Silvia snatched the binoculars from Cosette and widened her eyes as she pressed the binoculars against her face. She was utterly speechless, and the hand which she held the binoculars with did not stop trembling.

“That is…!”

Eco finally noticed as well. In the fiery night sky, there were a countless number of crow-like shadows which flew in circles. However, they still seemed to be of substantial size despite being so far away, which made them far too large to be mere birds.

“Could they possibly be Stradas…!?”

Her fellow dragons were inciting mass destruction. To Eco, it was an unbelievable sight — no, it was a sight that she didn’t want to believe was true.

“…It doesn’t appear to be just Stradas. There are also groups of Asias and Hydras attacking buildings on the ground…”

As Silvia murmured that, her entire body became limp, and she barely managed to hold herself up. Cosette quietly helped support her stricken master, and spoke with a serious expression.

“The feeling that I sense from those dragons is not unfamiliar. When Tristan was under the control of Celestina-sama, it also felt like this. However, the only dragon that she could control was Tristan…”

“Do you mean to say that there is someone more powerful than Celes who can control Pluto…?”

After Silvia muttered that, she suddenly lifted her face.

“That’s right, where is Lancelot right now?”

After returning the binoculars to Cosette, Silvia removed a Bright Dragon Crystal from her pocket. She then raised the ice blue crystal high up into the night sky.

“Silvia Lautreamont commands you! Lancelot, respond to my call!”

…A few seconds passed, but Lancelot did not appear. Silvia’s face was instantly drained of its colour.

“Lancelot, why won’t you respond to my call!? Could it be that even you are under the control of Pluto like the other dragons…?”

“—Lancelot is not the only one affected. The same goes for my Pal.”

Rebecca appeared at the entrance to the bedroom.

“President!?”

“I’m sorry, Silvia. Due to the urgency of the situation, I had to intrude on you here.”

Rebecca was equipped with a bright red Ark, and it was even the unrestrained second form. Her stellar figure was certainly not inferior even to that of a nation’s military general. The weapon she held in her right hand was the magical spear Gáe Bolg.

“I didn’t expect the situation to be this outrageous…my Rhiannon must be there as well.”

The person who whispered softly behind Rebecca was Jessica. Although her orange-blonde hair looked somewhat dishevelled as she had just woken up, she hadn’t forgotten to properly change into her uniform and coat.

“Gawain isn’t listening to me either. I called it several times…but it completely ignored me.”

Beside Jessica, Lucca dejectedly hung her shoulders. Perhaps it was just an illusion, but her long ears which were unique to the Ecbald tribe also appeared to hang down. Although Lucca was a student of the Unios Course and lived in the neighbouring Maeve House, she had probably rushed over here as a member of the Student Council. She was also dressed in uniform. On the other hand, there appeared to be many other people crowded outside the bedroom door. Those female students were probably residents of the dormitory who had come to seek Rebecca’s instructions. Simply because Rebecca had arrived at the top floor of the dormitory reserved for royalty, all of them had followed her.

“…By the way, Silvia. Why is your room in such a mess?”

Rebecca frowned as she gazed around the room. Not only were there four unconscious Imperial soldiers in the room, but all of the glass windows had been shattered as well, causing a cold gust to blow in from the outside.

“Judging from their equipment, these people should be soldiers of the Imperial Army.”

Cosette stood in front of Rebecca as she began to explain

“I suspect that their purpose was to kidnap Eco-chan. Please rest assured though, I will tie them up and take them to the sheriff’s office later. By the way, there are also around ten other soldiers lying outside the dormitory.”

Upon receiving Cosette’s report, Rebecca made a bitter expression.

“I’m sorry, Cosette-san. Even though I was in the dorm, I still allowed these barbarians to infiltrate.”

“Don’t say that. All of these people appear to be veterans in combat, so the responsibility does not fall onto you, Rebecca-sama. Rather, I would say that these kinds of opponents are easier for me to deal with. My skills have gotten a bit sluggish lately, so it was a good opportunity for me to do some exercise. Fufufu.”

Cosette giggled cordially as if she was engaging in gossip. It was really quite an embarrassment for the dignified Imperial soldiers that they had been effortlessly been treated as mere objects for ‘exercise’ by a maid. Eco suddenly raised a rather simple question.

“Hey, Rebecca…how are you able to wear your Ark?”

Rebecca had definitely mentioned earlier that her Pal had also been affected. In other words, even Cú Chulainn had abandoned its master. Under such conditions, how was Cú Chulainn able to bestow its Ark upon her?

“Hmm…it happened before the dragons began to riot.”

There was a hint of melancholy on Rebecca’s face.

“I was dealing with some of my chores for the Student Council in my room at the time, and inadvertently, I was vaguely able to hear Cú Chulainn’s sorrowful wail…not long after, my Ark automatically appeared even though I didn’t request it. From what I understand, Cú Chulainn bestowed its Ark onto me while it could still retain its sanity.”

“Cú Chulainn really is amazing…”

Upon noticing the complicated look on Silvia’s face, Eco was initially surprised, but soon after she immediately understood why Silvia had reacted in this way. Several days ago, Silvia had finally become an Ark Dragonar as well. That was why she seemed upset about how Lancelot hadn’t been able to react with the same level of vigilance that Cú Chulainn had shown.

“—You shouldn’t be like that, Silvia. Compared to Cú Chulainn, Lancelot is like a young dragon. You should understand this, right?”

When Rebecca reprimanded her, Silvia bit her lip. Seeing Silvia like that, Eco began to think hard about whether there was anything that she could help with. Suddenly, an idea came to Eco’s mind.

—That’s right!

Eco silently called out to the Dragweiss in her mind — Navi.

—You called me?

Navi immediately responded, and Eco conveyed her thoughts to her.

—…….

After listening to her though, Navi remained silent.

—Hey, why aren’t you saying anything? Is it impossible after all?

—…No, it’s just that I didn’t expect you to come up with such a good idea, so I was a bit surprised.

Navi’s reply went beyond Eco’s expectations.

—Hmph! You really underestimate me, don’t you!?

—Fufu, I’m sorry. I’ll send it right away, so just wait.

While Rebecca and the others were busy with discussing an evacuation route, Eco patiently waited for Navi’s reply. A few minutes later — Navi finally sent over the information that Eco wanted. Eco couldn’t help but show off a proud smile as she tugged on the sleeve of Silvia’s pyjamas.

“Fufu. Hey, Silvia?”

“What is it that you need me for right now, Eco?”

Silvia seemed impatient, and wasn’t particularly in the mood to speak to Eco. Her expression was clearly saying ‘I’m busy right now and don’t have the leisure to accompany you, okay?’. Even though she felt that Silvia looked down on her, Eco still attempted to seek her attention. Rather than using words to explain, she felt that it would be more rapid and effective to demonstrate. Eco’s glimmering pink-silver hair, her ruby eyes, and her entire body began to give off a dazzling glow.

“I’m going to begin — Almete, Gorjal, Peto, Espaldar, Brafoneras, Faldaje, Escarcelas, Bufetas, Hombreras, Brazales, Codales, Antebrazos, Manoplas, Quijotes, Guardas, Grebas, Escarpes…”

And then, the word which completed the chant!

“Espolón!”

Magic surged from Eco’s body like a raging wave, and a flash of light was emitted. Silvia’s body was also swallowed up by the torrent of light. And then — Silvia, who was originally dressed in her pyjamas, had become a radiant Ark Dragonar in the blink of an eye. It was a beautiful set of armour with an ice-blue coloured theme. There was also a cloak that gracefully swayed in the wind, and a crown that symbolised her identity as a princess.

“W-What is…!?”

Silvia’s jaw dropped as she looked down at the equipment on her body with widened eyes. Rebecca, Jessica and Lucca were also speechless as they stared at Silvia’s figure.

“Oh my…”

Even the usually calm Cosette couldn’t help but feel stunned. The armour on Silvia’s body was exactly the same as the one that Lancelot had previous bestowed upon her, down to the very last detail.

“Eco! Did you give this armour to me!?”

“Hmph, are you finally starting to admire me?”

Eco placed her hands on her hips in an arrogant stance.

“I see, I get it now! The blueprint of the Ark that Lancelot once created for Silvia has been recorded in the Dragweiss, right? Eco, this is a replica that you created according to that design.”

Eco felt admiration towards Rebecca’s deductive ability. The Student Council President was most certainly quick-witted to have been able to instantly figure that out.

“You guessed it. I’m a master when it comes to making replicas based on reference designs. I had to carefully select several different designs in the past in order to create equipment suitable for Ash’s body. I had to slowly pick various things out from a countless number of blueprints then. I only had to make use of Lancelot’s blueprint this time, so it was pretty simple.”

“Silvia, how do you feel wearing it?”

Upon hearing Rebecca’s question, Silvia swiftly came back to her senses.

“…There’s absolutely no discomfort at all. This is indeed the same set of armour as the one that Lancelot offered to me.”

“Hmm. Has Eco made use of her talents in an unexpected manner? It goes against common sense and the rules…anyway, this is necessary to resolve the current urgency, so I don’t think Lancelot will mind.”

Rebecca smiled wryly as Silvia unrestrainedly hugged Eco.

“Wait…what are you doing!?”

“Thank you, Eco. Thanks to you, I’ll be able to fight.”

“I-If you’re going to thank me, do it with real actions! For example, you could entrust Ash to me—”

“No, this and that are two separate matters.”

After giving a serious reply, Silvia let go of Eco. Eco then grumbled ‘tsk’ to herself.

““Mmm~””

After the two of them stared at each other for a while, Eco couldn’t help but break into a smile. Silvia also followed suit and laughed. Despite the tenseness of the current situation as they were just about to confront the enemy, the atmosphere between Eco and Silvia was strangely warm.

“—You two, now is not the time to be playing around.”

Rebecca made a wry smile as she reminded and urged the two of them to stay on guard. Eco pulled her mind back to reality, and Silvia also made a serious expression.

“There are too many uncertain factors at this stage, but there are things which are certain. The first is that the enemy intended to kidnap Eco while taking control of the dragons in the Academy at the same time. The second is that our enemy is currently using the dragons to destroy the Academy…this means that our enemy has given up on concealing themselves, and they are now preoccupied with causing damage.”

Rebecca folded her arms in front of her chest and continued with a sober expression.

“I don’t know what kind of method the enemy has used, but I know that even Cú Chulainn wasn’t able to resist against them. We should follow the worst-case assumption that all of the dragons in the Academy have lost their sanity. The only one not under their control is Eco—”

“Hey, wait a minute!”

Eco suddenly interjected from the side with a restless look on her face. A strong feeling of unease gripped her heart.

“What’s wrong, Eco?”

“Do you think Ash is okay on his own? The Imperial Army even knew that I sleep in Silvia’s room at night, right? In that case, they might already know that Ash is staying in that hospital right now to recover…”

“Indeed, our enemy has locked onto Eco as their primary target this time. They wouldn’t be naïve enough to ignore Eco’s knight, Ash, no matter what…”

Just as worry surfaced on Rebecca’s face…

[So this is where you were. The descendant of Avalon’s Holy Dragons’ Emperor Family, the young dragon Eco…]

Eco’s vision was suddenly dyed black. A fully naked girl appeared before her eyes. The girl’s skin exuded the brilliance of a pearl within the darkness. The seemingly gentle girl gave off a surreal vibe. However, both of her eyes had been replaced by two dark stones.

“…Pluto!?”

[Yes. I am different from Celestina Lafon, I am one of the < Pluto Children > artificially born in a research institute…]

The girl’s confession caused Eco to shudder. She had never imagined that she would hear those words again.

[Now, listen to my song. You will then become my ‘familiar’ as well.]

As soon as the girl stopped talking, she began to sing. A clear and almost cruel-sounding song resounded from the girl’s lips.

“Don’t joke around! Who is going to become your…”

Eco instinctively covered her ears, but such an action had no meaning at all. The girl’s demonic voice still resonated in Eco’s head indiscriminately. Even though Eco was completely unversed in the appreciation of music, she still felt that it sounded like a beautiful melody. The lyrics belonged to the Imperial language. Although she didn’t understand the meaning of the lyrics, the sharp pronunciation of words was a feature of the Imperial language.

“Kuh…no! I absolutely refuse to become your—”

—Slap!

A slap suddenly hit Eco’s left cheek, and her consciousness was pulled out from within the darkness.

“Hey! Get a grip, Eco!”

Silvia stared anxiously at Eco’s face. The slap on her cheek caused it to feel hot and numb.

“Eco, what’s wrong? Did you feel something?”

Rebecca asked from the side. Like Silvia, she continued to gaze at Eco’s face with worry. As she recalled how she had almost become fully entranced earlier, Eco felt ashamed.

“…A strange girl appeared in front of me. She claimed that she was an artificially-produced < Pluto Child >.”

Eco recalled the girl’s appearance. As soon as she said that, everyone’s expressions shifted to one of horror.

“Would you believe it? Both of that girl’s eyes were Pluto. She also sang an incomprehensible song. All of the dragons must have lost their mind because they listened to her song! If Silvia hadn’t brought me back to reality, it might have gotten dangerous…”

“How can such a ridiculous thing be possible…according to what you said, Eco, the girl that you saw is the culprit behind this commotion then?”

Silvia furrowed her brow.

“Speaking of < Pluto Children >, the first person that everyone will think of is Celes-san. However, Celes-san first had to bury the crystal that she produced into Tristan’s body as a pre-condition for activating the power of Pluto—”

After Jessica mentioned Celes, Lucca stammered as she followed

“She just needs to sing…and that will cause all dragons to obey her orders. It’s incredibly difficult to deal with…”

“—Everyone, please listen carefully to me.”

After starting off with a serious tone, Rebecca continued

“With our Pals captured, there is little that sets us apart from ordinary students. The only ones who still have the ability to fight are me and Silvia with our Arks, as well as Cosette.”

Without exception, all those present were nervous, and their mouths felt dry as they breathlessly listened to Rebecca.

“Unfortunately, the senior officials of the Lautreamont Knight Country have summoned Princess Veronica back to Fontaine City. As with our previous situations, we cannot expect that they will come to our rescue immediately. It’s just…although this may seem like an insult to Captain Ursula, even if the Holy Dragonars do make it here and come to our aid, we cannot rule out the possibility that even their Pals will be captured by the enemy.”

“Umm, President…may I say something?”

“What is it, Silvia?”

“I think that the timing of this incident is more than just a coincidence. After the news that my father Oswald would be executed was publicised, all of the troops stationed in Ansarivan were withdrawn, and Imperial soldiers immediately invaded…moreover, the < Pluto Children > was originally meant to be Prince Uriel’s trump card. It has now become a weapon of the Imperial Army. It’s so much of a coincidence that it’s suspicious…”

“Hmm, that does make sense. Imagining the worst-case scenario…perhaps there is someone in the Kingdom who wouldn’t hesitate to collude with the Empire for the purpose of annexing the Knight Country.”

“What did you say!?”

Eco felt deeply astonished after hearing Rebecca’s guess.

“…This battle can’t possibly be something that the aging and asinine Zacharias III could have come up with. In addition, I don’t think that the King of Chevron who once personally experienced the Xenoglavia War would cooperate with the Empire.”

Silvia agreed with Rebecca’s opinion as she added

“Moreover, I’ve heard that the King of Chevron is currently bedridden with illness. Viewing it in light of this, isn’t this entire incident a conspiracy planned by Prince Uriel?”

“Yes. Although there’s no proof of that, I’m afraid…”

Just as Rebecca responded with a solemn expression on her face…

—Doon! Boooooooooom…!

The sound of dragons causing damage to buildings reverberated ever clearer that before. There was no longer any room for hesitation given the critical state of affairs—

“Okay, let’s split into two groups.”

Rebecca cast her eyes around once more as she looked at the faces of all those present.

“Team A will be responsible for evacuating all of the students and teachers in the Academy. Team B will make its way to the hospital to protect Ash. The problem lies in how to assign team members…”

Eco and the others immediately pushed themselves in front of Rebecca. Eco took the lead with

“I’m obviously in Team B!”

Not to be outdone, Silvia followed with

“I volunteer to join Team B!”

Jessica anxiously shouted

“I want to join Team B!”

Lucca softly proposed

“…Team B.”

A thought suddenly seemed to strike Rebecca’s mind as she quickly turned around and strode over to the entrance of the bedroom.

“…Sorry, we have a slightly complicated problem to discuss.”

After Rebecca gave her regards to the female students who had crowded outside the door, she shut the door which had been half ajar. The female students of Epona House had inadvertently sneaked into the corridor outside the room reserved for royalty, and they peeked in through the half open door of the bedroom. The members of the Student Council were all fighting over the right to save Ash, yet no one volunteered to evacuate the students and teachers of the school — it would most certainly be bad if ordinary students overheard such a quarrel. That was why Rebecca shut the door. Nonetheless…Rebecca secretly quietly whispered to herself

“If possible, even I’d like to go and save Ash…but as the Student Council President, such selfish behaviour cannot be allowed.”

Rebecca couldn’t help but sigh to herself. After putting a serious expression back on her face, she walked back to Eco and the others.

“Königin der Nacht II ~A.S.B.1365.11~” is closed.

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