Chapter 6, Part 3 - Sithonia Featherrun

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TL Preamble: This is only a small part of the Light Novel itself, and it depicts Elsa meeting Capella for
the first time. Since I know people will ask, no, I have no plans of translating the rest of the Light Novel,
sorry. It’s too long. Also, as for Capella’s アタクシ様 pronoun, I was contemplating on whether sticking
with just “I” for it, or going with the fan-translation favourite of “this lovely lady”. In the end, I went
with a mixture of both, as a trade-off between naturalness and flair. She ends up dropping the 様 from the
pronoun as well after Elsa mentions Sithonia.

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Elsa left Oliver and Ornea behind in the Hallowed Land, went through the cave, and emerged
out onto a snowy field.

She was going to head straight to the nearest town. There she would gear herself up properly
for her journey and consider leaving this country.

The where didn’t matter. She would aim for a warm land, away from this country of snow. A land
where there was no one who knew about the Featherrun sisters, a land where no one targeted
Curse Dolls. However…

???: [...That’d be way, way too convenient, wouldn’t it?]

A voice came pouring down on Elsa straight after she’d left the Hallowed Ground and stepped
out onto the snowy field.

The sound of that shrill voice was, to put it bluntly, a bundle of malice, brimming with scorn and
derision towards her.

Elsa: [...]

Elsa looked up to where the voice was coming from, which was quite literally the sky, and then
her eyes widened in surprise. Though most things didn’t perturb her, not being surprised by this
wasn’t an option.

Because ensconced in the snowy sky before her was a black dragon flapping its enormous
wings.

Elsa: [...A dragon?]

The Dragon: [Ohoho, why even a bumpkin like you, born and raised in Gusteko, knows. Well, as
you’d expect, we dragons are utterly magnificent! Kyahahaha!]
The dragon, clad in jet-black scales, gave a flap of its wings and slowly descended down onto
the snow.

Its huge body clocked in at around 7-8 metres. The intimidating air that emanated from it was a
given, but what bewildered Elsa even more was its tone of voice and behaviour, both of which
didn’t seem to match its stern appearance.

It’s not like she wanted it to be the picture of solemnity, but the way they were fussing about like
a cheeky little girl was by no means pleasant to behold. Nevertheless…

The Dragon: [Huh? If you can tell with just a glance how scary and awe-inspiring this lovely lady
is, then your eyes must be pretty fucking good for a scummy piece of meat.]

It was typically meant to be hard to discern anything that looked like an expression from a
dragon’s countenance; however, this one was looking down on her, scorning her, chock-full of
emotion and expression.

Luckily Elsa wasn’t the kind who instantly got mad when being shown contempt or disdain.

Besides, she had an inkling about who this Black Dragon, which had suddenly shown itself
here, actually was.

Elsa: [Are you…]

The Dragon: [Hmmm? What is it? What do you want from this lovely lady? Are you back
chatting me? Are you going to flip out and say you don’t like me? How annoying, scummy
pieces of meat like you rebelling are what this lovely lady loves the most! Nipping their rebellion
in the bud, crushing it, killing all their friends and family…]

Elsa: [Are you the mother Sithonia was talking about?]

The black dragon suddenly stopped moving when it heard that. It looked down at Elsa with its
crimson eyes, properly taking note of her for the first time.

The Dragon: [You coming here must mean that scummy piece of meat was humiliatingly,
shamefully defeated… Goodness gracious me, then I’m in quite the quandary.]

Elsa: [Because you couldn’t get your hands on a Curse Doll?]

The Dragon: [No, no, no, no, no! That’s not it at all! You see, getting something like a Curse Doll
would have just been a bonus for me! What I desired was something else completely!]

Elsa: [Something else? Like…?]

The Dragon: [Should be obvious, shouldn’t it? ―It’s love, love.]

What the black dragon had uttered sounded way, way too extravagant; indeed, way, way too
extravagant.

Love, that’s what the dragon had said. That is what they’d desired from Sithonia.

The Dragon: [She’s my daughter. A daughter is someone who will devote their body and soul to
make my wishes come true, given that I’m their mother. Only by doing that will their love for me
be shown! They must endeavour to bring me treasures beyond my wildest dreams; that is the
love I crave.]

A rumble came from the black dragon’s throat, craving for their unseen treasure like a maiden
smitten in love or a poet yearning for it. The way it looked was comical, yet at the same time, it
also seemed awfully warped and repulsive.

For the most part, Elsa hadn’t lived a life she could boast about to others either, however…

Elsa: [You’re pretty selfish and dangerous, aren’t you?]

There’d been the smell of fear she’d felt coming from Sithonia. Her “mother” had desired for the
completion of a Curse Doll - an undying body - manipulating her towards that goal. Yet Sithonia
had been planning to use that to kill her. Elsa now understood the truth behind it all. And now,
for the first time, Elsa felt heartfelt pity for her.

She should have just ran away without bothering to go against her, if she’d wanted to escape
from her “mother’s” curse. It would’ve been better if she’d fled for her life, caring nought for
bravado.

If she’d done that, she wouldn’t have had to kill her sisters and die with nothing to show for it…

The Dragon: [You’re a real fuckin’ interesting scummy piece of meat, aren’tcha?]

Elsa: [...Am I? You have no desire for an imperfect Curse Doll like Sithonia, right?]

The Dragon: [I’m a kind individual. Thus, I shall repeat what I said before once again. I don’t
give a toss about immortal being. After all, I already got my hands on that a while ago.]

While saying that, the black dragon in front of her slowly began to transform. Its body
nightmarishly shrivelled away leaving behind the sound of creaking bones and tightening flesh.

Then the flesh of the now shrunken black dragon squirmed and birthed into something new: a
girl.
A girl with golden hair and red eyes. In terms of age, the black dragon that had turned into this
girl seemed to be about as old as Elsa. Adorable as she looked, she was staring at Elsa with a
cruel smile on her face.

The Girl: [I’m gathering brilliant, extraordinarily eccentric children. The right people, in the right
place, regardless of their skills; I give the lives of these monsters who live in the shadows actual
meaning. I reckon I should make you one of my daughters as well.]

Elsa: [...Um, am I able to refuse?]

The Girl: [I don’t particularly mind if you refuse…But, were you to do that, I’d feel pretty rejected;
being so heartbroken, I’d do anything to cheer myself up. Such as…]

Leaving behind a cruel laugh, the black dragon’s gaze shifted to look behind Elsa― at the cave,
and the Hallowed Land on the other side of it.

(TL Note: The narration, since it’s slanted through Elsa’s POV, still refers to Capella as a black
dragon, even though she’s in her girl form now.)

This black dragon had been in contact with Sithonia, so the people in Elsa’s squad would have
been leaked to her. That, plus the fact that Oliver and Ornea, whom she’d just bid farewell to,
had remained there.

Elsa: [It’s not like I’ll die if those two do. Do you really think that’s going to work as a threat?]

The Girl: [Don’t you dare lump me in with your crappy sisters. It’s not up to me to decide
whether they’ll work as a threat or not, no, this boils down to you.]

This situation was a repeat of what had happened in the snowy plaza when Saria and Hildea
had taken Oliver hostage. ―Actually, no, considering how evil her opponent now was, this was
much, much worse.

Elsa: [...]

The black dragon held out her hand towards the taciturn Elsa, giving her a wicked laugh. She
wasn’t looking for a handshake. The back of her hand was held up, demanding submission from
her.

The Girl: [Come now, aren’t you going to kiss your beloved mother’s hand?]

On hearing those words, Elsa was caught in two minds on whether to draw out her dagger,
however, she stopped in her tracks. ―She’d felt like Tatiana’s voice had rung out.
Therefore, Elsa knelt down where she stood and abided by her “mother’s” demand, kissing the
back of her hand.

Mother: [What’s your name?]

How hilarious it must have been, that she’d gone and added her to her daughters without even
knowing that. However, Elsa lifted her head up without so much as a smirk. She looked at her
mother’s wicked face, inches from her, and said:

Elsa: [I’m Elsa Featherrun. No, scratch that. My name is…]

Elsa trailed her words off there and closed her eyes.

What flashed through her mind was that cold, snowy field, the heat she’d felt during the moment
where she’d first felt alive. And the source of that heat had been from…

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TL Postamble: That’s it for this section. What Elsa is reflecting on the end is that moment where
she’d slashed that guy she’d stolen from in the belly (WN A4C128, and also the Prologue of this
LN), using a glass shard from the bottle of brandy she stole. In fact, the epilogue, which follows
from this, is named “Elsa Granhiert”. The implication is that the bottle she slashed him with was
a bottle of Granhiert. Thus, it was from this moment here that she took the name Elsa Granhiert.

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