CH-56 : Melody From The Flames

 Chapter 56.1

Heading back home my mother is talking to the fan union girls.

They've left the more popular streets and the area they are in now is already dark and deserted.

"Isabella-san."

My mother turns around and see's Emilia standing there.

"Good evening Emilia sensei. It's amazing that the two students from your class are in the finals."

"Indeed. Thank you. Both of them are my prided students."

Emilia smiles but something about the expression gives off a dark feeling.

"Is your home this way Emilia sensei?"

"No. I'm here because the regulations say that the finalist's swords are kept the day before the finals so I rushed after you."

The fan union members seem to be wary of Emilia and whisper amongst themselves

"Was there such a rule…?"

"I don't know…but…"

"Is that so? I wasn't aware. Does the tournament committee keep them?"

My mother asks without displaying any cautious behaviour.

"Yes. Its to stop swords being switched. It's just a formality though."

Fumu. So Emilia's aim is my sword.

Do you intend to alter it or just break it?

"I see. I feel bad asking sensei to do it so I'll go and hand it to the tournament committee directly."

"It's fine. I don't mind. I'm going back to the school anyway."

"Funnily enough, I've left something at the school as well. Should we go together?"

My mother laughs while smiling but Emilia is starting to panic a little.

"It's a bit strange though. I read through all the tournament rules but having to leave the sword behind wasn't written down anywhere. It did say though that each person was responsible for managing their sword."

My mother's smile doesn't break.

Even if she's not suspicious of Emilia directly she's not accepting her words either.

Since she investigated about becoming a demon emperor she must be aware of the feud between the royals and the unification faction. She's also aware that Emilia is in the royal faction.

"Let's go. I can't believe I missed that rule. I need to confirm it properly."

Emilia's really confused now.

At first glance, my mother seems like she's easy to deceive, however, compared to mazoku society human society has a lot more scammers, swindlers and fraud in general.

As such, even if you read a manual on a product you've bought you'll get a headache from the level of detail written.

Humans, in particular, are very noisy and troublesome when it comes to rules and regulations.

It looks like it hasn't changed after 2000 years either.

No, it might actually be worse.

Even if my mother trusts Emilia she will want to check just in case. Emilia seems to have made light of the common sense of human society.

I guess due to that wall I made there would have been almost no interactions between the humans and the mazoku. Oh well.

"…I'm troubled…"

That said, Emilia grabs the sheath of my sword.

"…Emilia sensei…?"

"Please give me the sword Isabella-san otherwise you'll get hurt."

My mother pulls the sword from its sheath and backs off.

"Are you okay with that? If you don't listen to me then you might end up dying together with that sword."

The magic formation for Grand Heat Blaze ｢Gusgam｣ appears on Emilia's palm but my mother still doesn't let go of my sword.

"Shall I burn that filthy body that gave birth to that child that defies royalty?"

A large dark red flame that was burning vigorously attacks my mother.

"Mother! Please escape!"

The 8 fan union girls all deploy anti-magic fields at the same time.

For a moment the barriers seemed to block ｢Gusgam｣ but they were burnt down the next moment.

"Kyaaaaa!!"

Wounded by the intense flames the fan union girls collapsed. Though they managed to avoid death thanks to their anti-magic fields they had suffered extreme burns.

"Everyone…!"

My mother screams out.

"Why…Emilia sensei? Aren't they your important students?"

"No. Lowly mixed-race peasants are not my students. They are just leftovers begging for the scraps left in my class."

Emilia lets out a smile full of dark feelings.

"Will you hand me that sword now?"

"…Why…?"

"Why? Please don't say such a shameless thing." Emilia says in an upright and innocent tone.

"My brother Kurt Roodwell is a swordsman representing the royal faction. More than anyone, he had a noble power and a noble heart but that unforgivable cowardly great criminal Arnos Voldigod broke that. I cant silently allow that man to brazenly stand on the final stage."

"Arnos-chan fought fairly! Your older brother won't be pleased even if you do something like this!"

Emilia scowls at my mother in anger.

"Fighting fairly are words only allowed by the royals. There is nothing honourable in the power of Arnos Voldigod. No matter how strong he is, he is still a feeble coward of low birth. Such contemptible powers cannot be allowed to defeat royalty."

"…Don't you find it strange that you intend to break Arnos-chans sword so he can't appear in the finals? If you say royalty are honourable and noble then do the right thing and act like it!"

"You're wrong Isabella-san. The royals don't have to do the right thing because anything the royals do is always the right thing. Your arrogant words of doing the right thing is a direct criticism of the royals!!"

｢Gusgam｣ appears in Emilia's hand again.

Anti-magic appeared again to counter it.

"…Mother…please run away…"

The 8 badly burnt fan union girls stood up again.

"Everyone, don't."

"If we relax the anti-magic everyone will be burnt again. Please run as far away as possible. Arnos-sama will surely come."

"But…! If you are all burnt by that flame you will all die!…You're all already badly burnt…!!"

Emilia intensifies the flame.

｢Gusgam｣ was already twice the size of the last one and it was getting bigger.

The fan unions magic cannot prevent it. It's hopeless against the power difference but they all laughed.

"It's fiiiiine! There's eight of us but only one over there."

"Fumu. I held back a little last time."

"Oi! Are you imitating Arnos-sama!?"

"By imitating Arnos-sama I can borrow one one-millionth of his power! That's fan union magic!"

"Was there such a magic!?"

"If we can borrow one one-millionth then this will be easy!"

Despite the crisis in front of them, they are fooling around trying to calm my mother's anxiety.

"Please hurry up and go mother. If mother is here then we cant get serious!"

My mother nodded immediately.

"I'll call for help! Please wait!"

My mothers starts to run while carrying my sword.