Lightning Empress Maid Chapter 12

Sad Strength

I knew we would meet again but I had hoped it wouldn’t be you.

(T/N: we=Five Emperors and Nanaki)

If only it wasn’t you, excluding mother and friend who sticks with Nanaki, who is the one with whom I have spent the longest time together since my birth. I am grateful to everyone of the Five Emperors. I respect the pride that each of you hold. But Envy, you, I just didn’t want you to come.

I had to come

Your existence is too strong for this world. You would know where I am or when I called for you. As expected you are n.o.ble, Envy. You are being concerned for the surroundings of this Nanaki that has left the imperial capital. If Nanaki had to fight with master behind me, there would be nothing I could do. My thanks.

dou itas.h.i.+mas.h.i.+te~

Envy, Nanaki remembers.

hmm?

The day we first met. The day I became a Five Emperor. The day I met the emperor. The day we fought together. The day we laughed together. The day we argued. And the flower we saw together at the capital. Even so, Nanaki was unable to affirm that world.

I remember too

The world that Nanaki affirmed is this world. Envy, Nanaki wants to convey to you this world that I have seen and affirmed. But that will probably never come true. That day it was denied, Nanaki denied it. So there is no choice but to fight. For our own prides.

yes

“……It was a promise.”

that should not have been made

My master is a wise person. He understood from Nanaki’s expression and single sentence. The situation then is different from now. This is not the capital. Envy can probably wield her power as she likes. If two Five emperors clashed for real, Freyline won’t even last a few minutes before being wiped out.

collateral

Just that Nanaki is also different from that time. Master promised me. If this day comes, abandon me, is what Nanaki said. But that day we only had a temporary relations.h.i.+p. There was no trust then. But now it is different.

you have changed.

——I will return here.

I won’t let you

“I have no intention of letting you go yet. Come back later.”

understood

I smiled. It feels like he peeked into my heart. Thank you, good master. Nanaki has intended to express the wish to remain here. To make the master say it, Nanaki really cannot be said to be a good servant. I must return to make up for this.

a good reason to return

Nanaki has accepted it, this place where master is.

your new home

As long as I receive permission it is fine, there is no need to reply. That would be doubting master’s trust. What Nanaki should do is with all my gratefulness and respect, bow my head to master. But if I just reported it in my heart, could it be forgiven?

speak

I will definitely return, to your side.

go forth nanaki

Let’s go friend——tonight will be a death match.

intermission

intermission

What should the first words be?

apologies?

An apology is wrong. Thanks for everything would be wrong too. Neither is it to talk about my pride nor show enmity. I think this should be correct. Then at least, let’s report.

…report…okay

“I had a good encounter. Envy.”

“——Haha. That’s good. I was worried.”

whether you were fine alone

After a pause, she laughed. That is the same smile she has shown Nanaki multiple times. Flames do not just burn, they give people warmth. But she is one of the Five Emperors, Flame Empress Envy. In the capital it is said that all would be turned to ash by her h.e.l.lfire.

no difference

“I think it probably has to be me. Silver and Raicou are out of the question. Salia is slightly better but is still no good. The first one to meet you again, probably has to be me.”

it is destiny

I did not think of interrupting Envy as she spoke while leaning against a tree. I just listened to her words. This is most likely, going to become our last memory after all. Most likely, after this is a future where one of us is gone.

say your farewells….

“I had things I wanted to say. A lot of things.”

I will say them now

Envy might have the same feelings. She spoke as she looked up at the madder sky.

my last chance

“You were cute. I thought of you as a little sister. Really, you were a stupid kid but had the strength to not lose to anyone despite being a child, thanks to that you gave me a lot of trouble and wasted a lot of my time. But I liked taking care of that idiot. This time is the same. Nanaki is bad at various things.”

not perfect

Don’t raise me up only to drop me.

it’s the truth

“Nanaki you see, your heart is too strong. You face things you don’t have to face. There was no need to purposely go out the front gates. If you had silently disappeared, it would have ended with my being lonely. But as expected Nanaki was Nanaki. That was too forceful.”

if only 

Yes, Nanaki is one of the strong. I must be so, I must be so or else. I must become strong or I cannot survive. Even Mother that held that much strength fell before the fate of this world and lost her life. Nanaki will survive. That is one of the promises that I made with my mother on that last day.

you left quietly

Even if my elder sister to whom I owe a great debt points her sword at me, Nanaki will live.

I wouldn’t have to

And Envy, it should be the same for you.

hunt you down

“I am a Five Emperor. One of the Five Emperors, Flame Empress Envy. Just like Nanaki, I have things I must protect. No matter how cute I think you are, no matter how much I wish to not kill you, I must kill you. That is the duty that a Five Emperor must bear.”

my duty

Both sides have something we cannot yield. That is sufficient, Envy.

is opposed to what you must do

It’s fine for the way to decide whose pride is superior to be primitive. It is the rule of this world that the stronger one survives. But that is why you should not have chosen this method. Because you are n.o.ble, because you are proud——you came alone.

out of my own choise

Why did you not bring them?

I needed to do this alone

Silver, Raicou, Salia. That is no good Envy. Even though you know Nanaki.

I know

“This is a curse, Nanaki. You understand right?”

you get it too right?

Those were kind words. She is warning me that I bear an endless curse that I must end. If I wish for the present, I must end it. I cannot avoid it any more. That’s probably why she said it. That this is a curse. To break it off.

show me your resolve

Thank you, elder sister of Nanaki’s heart.

you’re welcome

This time for sure, let’s make our farewells.

yes, so

“Let’s change locations, Nanaki. Come.”

here is no good.

The decisive place is not this remote mountain depths. It is because we hold power that exceed human imagination that we arrived at that place in an instant.

teleportation

The stage is, the End.

of the world

“The End of the finished age. Here there is n.o.body. n.o.body will come either.”

A fitting place

The ruins of the time that people lived with science. The huge buildings built in the ancient past, they are now rotted and half-collapsed. The G.o.ddess that once signified freedom has become an ornament that no one wors.h.i.+ps anymore. The finished age. The age that people ended.

in a rebellion

“Let’s talk about the past, Nanaki. This place used to be the country that held the most power in the world. But just one human ended that age. That also seemed to be part of a prophecy. ……And now, the same prophecy has come out. You see, this world……no longer has the strength to endure the next one.”

it will end for real

The start of the G.o.d world war. It was a nightmare caused by just one human. That was all taught to me by Envy.

That is why

“So let’s end it at this place where it all started——Come, ‘Hiyent=Helios'”

I must kill you

The golden inferno Hiyent=Helios. The h.e.l.lfire that Envy subjugated and now serves her. That h.e.l.lfire enveloped Envy’s body and she sublimed into Flame Empress Envy.

with my own hands

“Armament materialisation——‘Flame knight of creation-All Chevalier'”

begin

The gun cover of battle has been removed, literally.

(T/N: that’s the original words, 戦いの火蓋, is there an english equivalent that can be used here? with the literally part and still fits with the next line)

The flames that was no longer restraint roared up towards the sky and the h.e.l.lfire shook the very atmosphere. Any and everything is returned to ash before this h.e.l.lfire exceeding tens of thousands of degrees. Crimson knight armour and an enormous sword of flame, before Nanaki, Flame Empress Envy has descended. She has appeared.

time for talk is over

“Nanaki is strong. I know that. Even with me as an opponent, you definitely won’t hesitate. No, no matter who it is you won’t hesitate. But Nanaki.”

strength is not everything

Yes, Nanaki is strong. I won’t run anymore.

for that strength

“That strength is too sad.”

you have lost too much

Let us express our farewells together, Ilveng=Nazgul. We won’t be able to meet anymore. We won’t be able to laugh together anymore. In order to break the curse, the song of farewell——

goodbye sis

“——too slow Nanaki.”

The end

Hecate’s bad naming:

 

Envy’s name in j.a.panese is エンビ, romaji form is Enbii, and the way it is p.r.o.nounced is basically how ‘envy’ would be p.r.o.nounced with a j.a.panese accent….doesn’t fit Envy’s personality though ;-;