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Falling in Love with the Captive Noce - Episode 5
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[ Northern Country - Open Plains ]
Bradley: « adnopotensum » !
Mithra: « arsim »
Akira: Amazing work, you two. You took care of that giant monster in no time…
Mitile: I can do it too!
Mitile: « scintilla » !
Mitile's magic crackled and sparked, morphing into brilliant flashes of emerald embers that leapt at the fiends.
However…
Mitile: Oof, I missed...!
[ The fiend turns on Mitile and Akira with a roar. ]
Mitile & Akira: ...!
Bradley: « adnopotensum » !
Akira: Bradley!
Bradley: Your spell wasn't stable. Let’s say it was a bit too ambitious for your level.
Mithra: It had no bite to it either.
Even when you successfully hit the fiends with your magic, you don’t leave a scratch.
Mitile: .........
Bradley: Man, give him a break. All the fiends we've fought so far have been terrorising the northern lands.
If this kid here could take them out in one blow, that’d be a shocker.
Mithra: …… Well, he is doing better than before, yes.
But can't you put a little more, say, boom into it?
Mitile: 'Boom'?
Mithra: Oh, maybe not. Maybe it's more of a bam... hmm...
Well, to put it simply, it's like making fireworks explode. You can understand that, right?
Mitile: No, not really...
Bradley: You suck at teaching others...
Akira: Ahaha... it’s like a genius trying to teach a normal person.
Bradley: Tutoring the kid isn’t going to get the job done anyway. Time’s ticking. Let's keep our eyes on the prize and search for that Benedetta tree.
At Bradley's word, we then split up across the snowy plains to search for a tree that bore fruit that looked like truffle chocolate.
[ They reconvene. ]
Bradley: How'd it go? You see anything like it?
Akira: No luck... I didn’t even see anything that’d count as a tree.
Mitile: Not us, either. All we saw were small trees that didn't have leaves, let alone fruit.
Mithra: What? We're still empty-handed?
How many times has it been now? I'm starting to get bored of this.
Mithra had a point; we'd already ventured out to the nesting grounds of so many vicious magical creatures.
Yet, we were still unable to locate a Benedetta tree.
With Mithra's transpatial door, we didn’t have to waste any time travelling, but even so, a lot of time had passed.
Akira: (sigh) My heart's still racing. I can't say I'll ever get used to being attacked by fiends.
Mitile, you're amazing. You can look a ferocious creature in the eye, stand your ground, and go to battle.
Aren't you scared?
I asked my question while hugging Saccie close in hopes that it might help calm my nerves.
Mitile cast his eyes downward.
Mitile: Well... yes, I am.
But I’m as frustrated as I am scared. I can’t help but feel like a burden, because I don’t have the power to do anything...
Akira: Mitile...
Mitile: Northern wizards like Mithra san and Bradley san do as they please. They're brutal, and they'll immediately choose force if you don’t bend to their will, but...
Bradley: The hell. Why you gotta call us names?
Mithra: Are you picking a fight with us?
Mitile: But! No matter how strong the enemy is, they have the strength to protect Kenja sama and the rest of us!
And that part of them, it’s......
... what I, well...... look up to…
Mitile looked away, off to the side immediately, his cheeks flushed a faint red.
Back when I first met Mitile, he thought that all northern wizards were bad people and had held them in contempt.
His dislike stemmed from the fact that he believed the northern wizards’ poor behaviour was the reason wizards were disliked by humans.
The words that Mitile spoke just now were significant. I was surprised and impressed.
And that was why I felt a surge of pride swell up within me.
Akira: (Life at the Magical Manor with the other wizards, Northern Wizards included, a place where everyone could spend time together and interact with each other...)
(Slowly but surely, it's changed Mitile's perspective of the world.)
Bradley & Mithra: .........
Bradley rubbed the back of his neck in thought. Then his large hand gracefully reached out to pat Mitile on the head.
Mithra smiled and clapped his hand on Mitile's shoulder.
Mithra: It looks like you have some common sense after all. Please continue to exercise it and develop your strength.
Mitile: I will!
Mithra: Though, now that we’ve finished searching this area, we’ve run out of places to search. What’s next?
Time is fast slipping away, you know.
Bradley: Yeah…
The time limit Mia imposed on us was till sunset.
Right now, the sun had already passed its zenith and started to descend. I could see that our shadows were growing longer.
Bradley was deep in thought. Mitile stood at his side, and he murmured nervously.
Mitile: ... I wonder if the Benedetta fruit even exists.
Akira: Why?
Bradley: What do you mean?
Mitile: I mean, we've gone around to so many places that fit the criteria with strong magical creatures, and yet we still don't have a clue where it might be.
So I thought maybe this Benedetta fruit's just a legend... and that it doesn't exist anywhere in this world.
And maybe, just maybe, Mia san knew that, and that was why she bet that you couldn’t find it.
Mitile balled his hand into a fist. He gripped it tightly before his chest as he stared up at Bradley.
Bradley didn't so much as blink. With an unwavering gaze, he replied:
Bradley: You don't call it a gamble when the outcome of a bet is fixed from the start.
At any rate, Mia's not someone who would do something like that. That’s why I agreed to this.
Anyway, the fruit does exist. After all, I did give Mia one to eat many years ago.
Mithra: Wait, what? So, that means you know where the fruits grow.
Bradley: Nah, I don't. I just happened to get my hands on one.
Akira: (I believe the Benedetta fruit must grow somewhere in Northern Country.)
(We need a way to narrow our search down to only the places where the fiercest legendary fiends live.)
It was then that I felt Saccie wriggle around in my arms.
It nosed out a piece of paper from my breast pocket, and then it started tugging on it with its mouth.
Akira: What's wrong, Saccie — ah!
Bradley: You okay over there, Kenja?
Akira: I've got it! I know where we can find a strong magical creature!
Bradley: For real?
Akira: This morning, Snow had a mission for us to go take down some fiend! And I've got with me the letter with the details of the subjugation request!
[ Mia's Castle ]
Mia: ... 'So close'? Explain yourself.
Murr: I meant exactly what I said. The door to a new world is within you. You simply don’t know how to open it.
Or should I say, you have wilfully closed your eyes to its existence.
Nero: ... Murr. That's enough. Leave it.
Murr: Whyyy. Nero, don't you wanna get to see the moment Mia steps into a whole new world?
I sure want to!
Nero: That door, no one should get heckled into opening it.
Especially if the person doesn't want to open it in the first place.
Mia: ... You lot of wizards...
Nero: Ah... My bad. I shouldn't have said anything.
Neither of us meant to cause any trouble.
Mia: I feel like I've seen you somewhere before.
Nero: Not a chance.
Mia: In the past, I've definitely met a man with beautiful light blue hair and amber eyes like yours...
Figaro: ......... (smiling)
Nero: ...... Haha, what a coincidence.
Mia san, was it? I’ve been nothing more than the owner of a humble eatery in the East all my life.
No way I've had the opportunity to come face to face with a powerful northern witch like yourself.
Mia: .........
... Is that so. Then I have the wrong person.
Nero: (That was way too close!)
(Good thing northerners don't take interest in anyone but the strong, that’s what saved me...)
Figaro: Oya, whose stomach was that I heard growling? That's a loud and enthusiastic noise.
Snow: Ohoho. That's quite audacious.
Rustica: I’m sorry. That was me.
I’m afraid it’s because of this surely delectable feast spread on this table before us.
As I beheld it with my eyes, my stomach couldn’t help but sing.
Mia: ... Consider this my thanks for your confection from earlier.
You may choose anything to eat off that plate over there. That man, he didn’t seem to want to eat it at all.
Rustica: My, the salad does look tempting. Thank you.
Figaro: A salad... I see. It's got nothing but vegetables in it.
Snow: That's Bradley chan for you when it comes to his greens.
Nero: .........
... You've put a lot of heart into your cooking.
It takes a lot of time to perfect your dishes like this.
Mia: ... In the past, Bradley always talked about how delicious the food was back with his gang.
I had no idea how delicious it really was.
But regardless, I decided to commit myself to improving my cooking skills in order to satisfy that man's stomach.
I intended to fill his stomach, intoxicate his mind, and capture his heart… Then he would never even wish to leave my castle.
Nero: ... You...
What made you go to such lengths for Brad? … I mean, Bradley.
What about him compels you to?
Mia: What, you ask? ......
That, I do not know.
But what I do know is that... he is different.
He understands me.
He understands the significance of me keeping this facial scar and the memories associated with it. He is the only one who ever has.
Nero: That scar...?
Mia: It stands for my resolve to seek revenge.
Long, long ago, I was almost killed by a northern wizard. Loathe as I am to admit it, I was injured in the fight.
The humiliation of that defeat… I swore I would never forget it, so I chose to not heal the scar — not until I killed that man with my own hands.
Snow: Ohoho. What a curious way of thinking.
Keeping a scar as a remnant of that injury is no different from displaying your humiliation in bare sight for all to see.
Mia: ... Hmph. This is hardly the first time I’ve been the subject of scorn for my decision.
Those who know my story, they look down upon me. Those that do not, they fear me. Whenever someone sees my scar, it is always one of two outcomes: derision or fear.
Except for him.
He was the only one who could see that keeping this scar is how I kept my dignity.
Nero: .........
Mia: That's why I wanted to make him mine. His life, his time — all of him.
Yet, I thought it would be such a terrible waste to turn him to stone instantly...
I set myself to becoming better, so that I could claim all of him: his mind, devious and crafty; his eyes, that saw the entire world laid bare. I required total dominion over him, from without to within.
Figaro: ... Haha.
Mia: … What are you laughing at, Figaro.
Figaro: Oh, I was just thinking about how you've been taken captive by him.
[ Figaro CG ]
Figaro: This explains everything. I get it now. I know exactly why you were so desperate back then.
That very desperation resulted in so pitiful a witch, bound to the North forevermore.
Mia: Tch... how dare you...!
[ A strong wind kicks up. ]
Snow & Figaro: ...!
Nero: Woah! What's with this wind...!
Murr: Oh no...!
Look! Snow and Figaro are gone!
Rustica: Mia's disappeared with them, it seems. Oh, dear…
[ Northern Country - Lakeside Plains ]
Bradley: According to this letter, it's somewhere... here. Tch, why's there a blizzard coming up on us.
Mithra: A snake-like magical creature, was it? If barbecued, perhaps it’ll taste good.
[ They hear a sharp rustle. ]
Mitile & Akira: ...!
Mitile: K-Kenja sama... Did you hear that noise? It sounds like trouble...
Akira: Y-Yeah, from the back…
I turned around with immense fear and trepidation. I could see and hear the rustling shrubs.
[ No BGM ]
I gulped. I could see something swaying in the underbrush. It was a long, thick shadow heading straight towards us.
It arose, unfurling itself up to its full height. It towered over all of us, and its form reached towards the sky.
[ Hiss! ]
It was a snake as large as a gigantic tree.
next episode ⭢
[ Northern Country - Open Plains ]
Bradley: « adnopotensum » !
Mithra: « arsim »
Akira: Amazing work, you two. You took care of that giant monster in no time…
Mitile: I can do it too!
Mitile: « scintilla » !
Mitile's magic crackled and sparked, morphing into brilliant flashes of emerald embers that leapt at the fiends.
However…
Mitile: Oof, I missed...!
[ The fiend turns on Mitile and Akira with a roar. ]
Mitile & Akira: ...!
Bradley: « adnopotensum » !
Akira: Bradley!
Bradley: Your spell wasn't stable. Let’s say it was a bit too ambitious for your level.
Mithra: It had no bite to it either.
Even when you successfully hit the fiends with your magic, you don’t leave a scratch.
Mitile: .........
Bradley: Man, give him a break. All the fiends we've fought so far have been terrorising the northern lands.
If this kid here could take them out in one blow, that’d be a shocker.
Mithra: …… Well, he is doing better than before, yes.
But can't you put a little more, say, boom into it?
Mitile: 'Boom'?
Mithra: Oh, maybe not. Maybe it's more of a bam... hmm...
Well, to put it simply, it's like making fireworks explode. You can understand that, right?
Mitile: No, not really...
Bradley: You suck at teaching others...
Akira: Ahaha... it’s like a genius trying to teach a normal person.
Bradley: Tutoring the kid isn’t going to get the job done anyway. Time’s ticking. Let's keep our eyes on the prize and search for that Benedetta tree.
At Bradley's word, we then split up across the snowy plains to search for a tree that bore fruit that looked like truffle chocolate.
[ They reconvene. ]
Bradley: How'd it go? You see anything like it?
Akira: No luck... I didn’t even see anything that’d count as a tree.
Mitile: Not us, either. All we saw were small trees that didn't have leaves, let alone fruit.
Mithra: What? We're still empty-handed?
How many times has it been now? I'm starting to get bored of this.
Mithra had a point; we'd already ventured out to the nesting grounds of so many vicious magical creatures.
Yet, we were still unable to locate a Benedetta tree.
With Mithra's transpatial door, we didn’t have to waste any time travelling, but even so, a lot of time had passed.
Akira: (sigh) My heart's still racing. I can't say I'll ever get used to being attacked by fiends.
Mitile, you're amazing. You can look a ferocious creature in the eye, stand your ground, and go to battle.
Aren't you scared?
I asked my question while hugging Saccie close in hopes that it might help calm my nerves.
Mitile cast his eyes downward.
Mitile: Well... yes, I am.
But I’m as frustrated as I am scared. I can’t help but feel like a burden, because I don’t have the power to do anything...
Akira: Mitile...
Mitile: Northern wizards like Mithra san and Bradley san do as they please. They're brutal, and they'll immediately choose force if you don’t bend to their will, but...
Bradley: The hell. Why you gotta call us names?
Mithra: Are you picking a fight with us?
Mitile: But! No matter how strong the enemy is, they have the strength to protect Kenja sama and the rest of us!
And that part of them, it’s......
... what I, well...... look up to…
Mitile looked away, off to the side immediately, his cheeks flushed a faint red.
Back when I first met Mitile, he thought that all northern wizards were bad people and had held them in contempt.
His dislike stemmed from the fact that he believed the northern wizards’ poor behaviour was the reason wizards were disliked by humans.
The words that Mitile spoke just now were significant. I was surprised and impressed.
And that was why I felt a surge of pride swell up within me.
Akira: (Life at the Magical Manor with the other wizards, Northern Wizards included, a place where everyone could spend time together and interact with each other...)
(Slowly but surely, it's changed Mitile's perspective of the world.)
Bradley & Mithra: .........
Bradley rubbed the back of his neck in thought. Then his large hand gracefully reached out to pat Mitile on the head.
Mithra smiled and clapped his hand on Mitile's shoulder.
Mithra: It looks like you have some common sense after all. Please continue to exercise it and develop your strength.
Mitile: I will!
Mithra: Though, now that we’ve finished searching this area, we’ve run out of places to search. What’s next?
Time is fast slipping away, you know.
Bradley: Yeah…
The time limit Mia imposed on us was till sunset.
Right now, the sun had already passed its zenith and started to descend. I could see that our shadows were growing longer.
Bradley was deep in thought. Mitile stood at his side, and he murmured nervously.
Mitile: ... I wonder if the Benedetta fruit even exists.
Akira: Why?
Bradley: What do you mean?
Mitile: I mean, we've gone around to so many places that fit the criteria with strong magical creatures, and yet we still don't have a clue where it might be.
So I thought maybe this Benedetta fruit's just a legend... and that it doesn't exist anywhere in this world.
And maybe, just maybe, Mia san knew that, and that was why she bet that you couldn’t find it.
Mitile balled his hand into a fist. He gripped it tightly before his chest as he stared up at Bradley.
Bradley didn't so much as blink. With an unwavering gaze, he replied:
Bradley: You don't call it a gamble when the outcome of a bet is fixed from the start.
At any rate, Mia's not someone who would do something like that. That’s why I agreed to this.
Anyway, the fruit does exist. After all, I did give Mia one to eat many years ago.
Mithra: Wait, what? So, that means you know where the fruits grow.
Bradley: Nah, I don't. I just happened to get my hands on one.
Akira: (I believe the Benedetta fruit must grow somewhere in Northern Country.)
(We need a way to narrow our search down to only the places where the fiercest legendary fiends live.)
It was then that I felt Saccie wriggle around in my arms.
It nosed out a piece of paper from my breast pocket, and then it started tugging on it with its mouth.
Akira: What's wrong, Saccie — ah!
Bradley: You okay over there, Kenja?
Akira: I've got it! I know where we can find a strong magical creature!
Bradley: For real?
Akira: This morning, Snow had a mission for us to go take down some fiend! And I've got with me the letter with the details of the subjugation request!
[ Mia's Castle ]
Mia: ... 'So close'? Explain yourself.
Murr: I meant exactly what I said. The door to a new world is within you. You simply don’t know how to open it.
Or should I say, you have wilfully closed your eyes to its existence.
Nero: ... Murr. That's enough. Leave it.
Murr: Whyyy. Nero, don't you wanna get to see the moment Mia steps into a whole new world?
I sure want to!
Nero: That door, no one should get heckled into opening it.
Especially if the person doesn't want to open it in the first place.
Mia: ... You lot of wizards...
Nero: Ah... My bad. I shouldn't have said anything.
Neither of us meant to cause any trouble.
Mia: I feel like I've seen you somewhere before.
Nero: Not a chance.
Mia: In the past, I've definitely met a man with beautiful light blue hair and amber eyes like yours...
Figaro: ......... (smiling)
Nero: ...... Haha, what a coincidence.
Mia san, was it? I’ve been nothing more than the owner of a humble eatery in the East all my life.
No way I've had the opportunity to come face to face with a powerful northern witch like yourself.
Mia: .........
... Is that so. Then I have the wrong person.
Nero: (That was way too close!)
(Good thing northerners don't take interest in anyone but the strong, that’s what saved me...)
Figaro: Oya, whose stomach was that I heard growling? That's a loud and enthusiastic noise.
Snow: Ohoho. That's quite audacious.
Rustica: I’m sorry. That was me.
I’m afraid it’s because of this surely delectable feast spread on this table before us.
As I beheld it with my eyes, my stomach couldn’t help but sing.
Mia: ... Consider this my thanks for your confection from earlier.
You may choose anything to eat off that plate over there. That man, he didn’t seem to want to eat it at all.
Rustica: My, the salad does look tempting. Thank you.
Figaro: A salad... I see. It's got nothing but vegetables in it.
Snow: That's Bradley chan for you when it comes to his greens.
Nero: .........
... You've put a lot of heart into your cooking.
It takes a lot of time to perfect your dishes like this.
Mia: ... In the past, Bradley always talked about how delicious the food was back with his gang.
I had no idea how delicious it really was.
But regardless, I decided to commit myself to improving my cooking skills in order to satisfy that man's stomach.
I intended to fill his stomach, intoxicate his mind, and capture his heart… Then he would never even wish to leave my castle.
Nero: ... You...
What made you go to such lengths for Brad? … I mean, Bradley.
What about him compels you to?
Mia: What, you ask? ......
That, I do not know.
But what I do know is that... he is different.
He understands me.
He understands the significance of me keeping this facial scar and the memories associated with it. He is the only one who ever has.
Nero: That scar...?
Mia: It stands for my resolve to seek revenge.
Long, long ago, I was almost killed by a northern wizard. Loathe as I am to admit it, I was injured in the fight.
The humiliation of that defeat… I swore I would never forget it, so I chose to not heal the scar — not until I killed that man with my own hands.
Snow: Ohoho. What a curious way of thinking.
Keeping a scar as a remnant of that injury is no different from displaying your humiliation in bare sight for all to see.
Mia: ... Hmph. This is hardly the first time I’ve been the subject of scorn for my decision.
Those who know my story, they look down upon me. Those that do not, they fear me. Whenever someone sees my scar, it is always one of two outcomes: derision or fear.
Except for him.
He was the only one who could see that keeping this scar is how I kept my dignity.
Nero: .........
Mia: That's why I wanted to make him mine. His life, his time — all of him.
Yet, I thought it would be such a terrible waste to turn him to stone instantly...
I set myself to becoming better, so that I could claim all of him: his mind, devious and crafty; his eyes, that saw the entire world laid bare. I required total dominion over him, from without to within.
Figaro: ... Haha.
Mia: … What are you laughing at, Figaro.
Figaro: Oh, I was just thinking about how you've been taken captive by him.
[ Figaro CG ]
Figaro: This explains everything. I get it now. I know exactly why you were so desperate back then.
That very desperation resulted in so pitiful a witch, bound to the North forevermore.
Mia: Tch... how dare you...!
[ A strong wind kicks up. ]
Snow & Figaro: ...!
Nero: Woah! What's with this wind...!
Murr: Oh no...!
Look! Snow and Figaro are gone!
Rustica: Mia's disappeared with them, it seems. Oh, dear…
[ Northern Country - Lakeside Plains ]
Bradley: According to this letter, it's somewhere... here. Tch, why's there a blizzard coming up on us.
Mithra: A snake-like magical creature, was it? If barbecued, perhaps it’ll taste good.
[ They hear a sharp rustle. ]
Mitile & Akira: ...!
Mitile: K-Kenja sama... Did you hear that noise? It sounds like trouble...
Akira: Y-Yeah, from the back…
I turned around with immense fear and trepidation. I could see and hear the rustling shrubs.
[ No BGM ]
I gulped. I could see something swaying in the underbrush. It was a long, thick shadow heading straight towards us.
It arose, unfurling itself up to its full height. It towered over all of us, and its form reached towards the sky.
[ Hiss! ]
It was a snake as large as a gigantic tree.
next episode ⭢