Episode 7: Picture Book

**"Picture Book -nature-"** *Transcription:* "Ehon -nature-" (Japanese: 繪本 -nature-) is the seventh episode of *Madlax*. It debuted on May 17, 2004 in Japan.

## Plot Summary

### Japanese

手許にある「ページの破れた絵本」の完全なものを探すため、マーガレットはビブリオ・ディティクティヴのエリック・ジランに調査を依頼する。調査のためガザッソニカに向かったエリックは、内戦地域のドアイホという村に「文字を読める人物がいる」という噂を聞き、ガイドを雇うことにするが、彼の前に現れたマドラックスはガイドが殺され、彼の身にも危険が及んでいることを告げる…。

### English

To find the complete "picture book with torn pages" on hand, Margaret asks Vibrio Detective Eric Gillan to investigate. Eric heads to Gazassonica for an investigation and hears rumors that "there is someone who can read" in the village of Doaiho in the civil war area, and decides to hire a guide, but Madlax who appears in front of him is killed. , Telling him that he is in danger ...

## Synopsis

Five men in a cave discover some writing on a wall and one of them calls it "the legendary Elies.” Suddenly, one of the men goes nuts and starts shooting a gun at the others. It's unclear what happens next, but there's a lot of yelling and screaming.

Eleanor goes to a Biblio-Detective, someone who finds old and rare books for clients, to ask him to find the picture book Margaret has been so obsessed with lately. The book hunter's name is Eric Gillan and he agrees to search for the book. Eric goes to a bar with his old friend Lucile who works at Soldophine University researching philology, the structure and history of languages.

Lucile identifies the characters in the picture book as "Elies Characters," a language discovered in Gazth-sonika. She also says these particular characters in the book are the same as the ones on ancient mural in Gazth-Sonika. Nobody has been able to decipher the Elies characters. Anyone who tries apparently gets caught up in a bizarre incident of some kind. "The first team that went to Gazth-sonika was attacked at the mural site," Lucile says. "Only the professor survived, but he committed suicide in his house a few months later... along with his family."

Since he is being paid a million yuuls, Eric decides to keep looking for the book, and takes a plane to Gazth-Sonika. A man tells Eric there's a rumor that someone in the nearby village of Doaiho who can read Elies. That area is dangerous with the war going on, so Eric arranges to have a body guard and a guide. Meanwhile, Lucile is seen talking on the phone and telling an unknown man that Eric Gillan is trying to decipher the Elies Characters. They both make reference to an unknown event in Eric's past, saying it's strange that Eric doesn't remember any of it. Lucile says it's better for him that way.

Madlax barges into Eric's hotel room and informs him that she is his bodyguard, and also that the guide he hired has already been killed. On their way out of the hotel, Madlax and Eric are attacked by a group of men armed with guns, but Madlax kills three of them, and flees (with Eric) in a stolen car. The attackers give chase. Madlax shoots out the tire of the pursuer's car, though, and escapes for the time being.

In a creepy goth-style home with stained glass windows, we once again see the mysterious gray-haired man with the mask covering half his face (Friday Monday). Over the phone, Carossur Don tells him that Eric Gillan made copy-scans of the picture book. When the sends the images of the book scans (apparently stolen from Eric's computer), Friday Monday looks at the Elies characters and calls them "The Secondary," and "something that was thought to have been lost twelve years ago." He then orders Don to send out every Enfant operant to look for more information regarding The Secondary. At his Nafrece home, Don looks at the scans and calls the book, "The Wandering Forbidden Book."

Eric and Madlax are camping outside and the former asks the latter is she knows who's trying to kill them. Madlox tells them it's Enfant, and that they can be described as a "World-wide mafia organization." They then discuss the ugly war going on, and Eric asks Madlax how many people she has killed so far. The young woman replies, "In this war, I've killed so many it's uncountable."

## Preview

Episode 8

*"I remain here waiting, entrusting myself to the winds, hoping that they do not bring devastation."* – Quanzitta Marison