(Card Story) Wizards and Music

[schoenheit]

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Card: [SR] (Vicious Bait) Owen
Event: Etude of the Solitary Bandit
Characters: Owen, Mithra

Chapter One ✧ Chapter Two ✧ Training Episode

Chapter One

Location: Manor Dining Room (Day)

Owen: ... Mithra.

Mithra: Hello, Owen. I see you're here, too. Are you here to steal some candy?

Owen: So what if I am? What are you here for?

Mithra: I wouldn't say I'm looking for anything specifically. I'm hungry, so I came looking for something decent to eat.

Owen: Right. Then get lost. Seeing your face makes me sick to my stomach.

Mithra: (Sighs) I don't entirely understand why, but when you order me around, I feel all the more stubborn about staying. I wonder why that is...

Owen: ......

And I really wonder why I have to live here with the likes of you. The twins, Bradley, all these other people— I can't stand how all they do is order me around,^[1] but there's nothing I can do about it when Oz is the one who's the absolute worst about it.

Take down magical beasts this, deal with calamities that, et cetera, et cetera. Only the people who actually care about those things should handle them— they're free to get themselves killed all they want.

Mithra: (Sighs)... You're awfully talkative today.

It must be nice to have so much to occupy yourself with and so little to worry about... I'm envious.

Owen: ... Oh? So you're saying you want me to kill you? Then, just as you wish, I'll crush you to a fine pulp.

Mithra: That's just not possible for you. You're weaker than I am.

Owen: ......

≪Cur...≫

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Chapter Two

Owen: ≪Cur...≫

(Sound of a piano playing)

Owen: ...? What's that sound?

Mithra: I believe it's from a Western wizard. A little while ago, Rutile told me he planned to go listen to one of them play.

Owen: Oh?

Mithra & Owen: (Listening to music)

......

Mithra: Well, life here may be tedious and dull, but...

Strange as it feels to say, hearing music like this every once in awhile isn't so bad. We don't really have this sort of thing in the North.

Owen: ......

Mithra: ...? Why are you smiling?

Owen: What?

Mithra: You haven't noticed? You've had a broad smile on your face for some time now.

Owen: ......

(Frowns)

Mithra: Well... There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself.

Owen: It's awfully annoying how you've been running your mouth all this time. I guess I really will ago ahead and kill y—

Mithra: Listening to this music makes me feel like I might finally be able to sleep... I'll be retiring to my room.

Owen: Hold on— I'm not done talking yet.

Mithra: Pardon me. (Leaves)

Owen: ... Unbelievable. He really does make me sick to my stomach.

(Sound of a piano playing)

Owen: ......

... Well, whatever. I'll let him go, just this once.

(Smiles)

... This music... really isn't so bad.

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[SR] Vicious Bait: The Closer You Are, the More You Fight...?

Location: Manor Courtyard (Day)

Akira: Owen!? Why are you on the ground here!? Did you collapse!?

Owen: Ugh... You're so loud... This has nothing to do with you.

Akira: A-Are you all right? May I lend you a hand?

Owen: Don't need it. Getting help makes me sick to my stomach.

... (Gasping for breath)... Mithra, that jerk... He really had no mercy grinding me up into a squishy pulp... That's why I'm like this.

Akira: (So he got into a fight with Mithra...)

Um... Owen... Maybe I'm sticking my nose into things I shouldn't, but if you could just get along a teensy, tiny better with Mithra, then...

Owen: You're asking for the impossible, you know that? Do you think you could get along with someone who murders you all the time?

You know, just until a minute ago, we were having a completely normal conversation. But then, halfway through, he attacked me without any warning. I wish he'd at least try to have fewer unpredictable mood swings.

Akira: That sounds like the pot calling the kettle black, you know...

(But I wonder if there really isn't a way for them to get along? It'd be nice if we could get them to fight at least a little bit less...)

Oh, I have an idea! What if you smile at Mithra every morning and greet him? Maybe you'll grow close enough that he'll stop attacking you!

You can greet him like... "Good morning, Mithra! The weather is great today, isn't it?"— or something like that.

Owen: ... What's that supposed to be.

Akira: (T-That look hurts...)

Owen: Haha, this is the worst. It's disgusting. I'm going back to my room.

(Disappears)

Akira: Ah! He left...

I guess those two have a long way to go until they can really get along...

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Translation Notes
1. One of Owen's training lines ("I don't like being told what to do.") uses the same phrasing Mithra uses/Owen gets hung up on in this story (指図). ↑

Thank you owenchanlovebot @ Twitter for the raws!