Impressions

I felt horrible. No matter what happened in the past, I shouldn't let it affect me this much. I felt horrible that I was being so cold and distant to Louise. After she talked to me last night, I silently vowed that I would never let anything happen to her. I would not allow anyone to get her hands on her and I would not allow what happened last time to repeat itself.

When I woke up, not quite used to this world, I had a brief period of panic. This was not the first time I've woken up in an unfamiliar, though admittedly nice looking, room. I heard a sound to my right and saw Louise, and I remembered what happened. I woke Louise up so she could go to class, while I went for a walk around the academy to familiarize myself with the surroundings. If an attack were to happen, I wanted to have an intimate knowledge of the battlefield. After that was done I walked to what appeared to be the school courtyard and sat down at one of the table.

Apparently it was around lunch time because many of the students were eating and talking to each other. One guy nervously walked up to me. He was rather thin, had a mop of blonde hair, and was a carrying a rose.

"You are the girl Louise summoned?" He asks me nervously.

"What of it?" Something about him made me angry, but I didn't know what.

"Well, its just that... You're rather pretty. Would you mind-"

"No," I tell him bluntly. I already knew what he was going to ask, and it wasn't something I was looking for.

"W-what? You didn't even let me finish!"

"You don't usually tell a girl she's pretty and then suggest anything other than a date. I'm not really into dates at the moment."

"P-please! Just one!" Then what I hated about him made itself apparent as a girl with curly blonde hair stormed up to the boy.

"Guiche! What are you doing talking to her?" The girl asks angrily.

"Montmorency! I-I just heard a rumor that this girl was a mage, and I just wanted to ask her if it was true! Honestly!" The boy named Guiche said.

"No, you didn't. You said I was 'pretty' and then you tried to ask me on a date."

Montmorency gasps. "Guiche! You asked another girl out? And I suppose that rumor about you dating the first year was true also!"

I can feel myself start burning up with anger. "You ask me out when you were already dating two girls?"

Guiche takes a step back, startled. "Y-your eyes changed color!"

"Answer the question!" I yell at him while getting out of the chair.

Guiche takes another step back and starts sweating. "I-I-It's not true!" Then he firmly plants his feet into the ground and takes on a look of determination. "If you insist on treating nobility this way then I have no choice but to challenge you to a duel."

I raise an eyebrow. "Duel?"

He nods. "If you insist on treating nobility in this way, than there is no other option. Regrettable, I hate to do this to a pretty thing like yourself," then Montmorency slaps him.

"So you were hitting on her!" She kicks Guiche in the shin for good measure.

"A-Anyway, meet me in Vestri Court if you are willing to go through with this. Otherwise an apology will suffice."

I respond by glaring at him. "If you think I'm going to back down from a cheating, womanizing weakling like you, then you are mistaken."

He looks frightened, then turns and runs off to what I assume is Vestri Court.

"I can't say I approve of this. We shouldn't be starting fights," says Alastor.

I sigh. "I know, but I couldn't help myself. He needs to be taught a lesson."

"I completely agree," says a voice from behind me.

I turn around and see Louise. "You're not going to try and stop me from fighting him?"

She shakes her head. "No, he deserves to have some sense beaten into him. Just go easy on him, and try not to kill anyone."

I nod. "I understand. Can you show me to Vestri Court?"

Louise smiles and grabs my arm, "Follow me."

*Scene Break*

"Ah, Louise. Are you here to beg me to stop the duel so your familiar doesn't get hurt?" Says Guiche.

"No, I'm here to make sure she doesn't go overboard and accidentally kill you," Louise tells him.

"What?"

"Trust me Guiche, you can't win this. You really shouldn't even try."

I was standing in the court across from Guiche. From what I heard from Louise, Guiche was an earth mage who specialized in making bronze golems. They could be a problem, but I highly doubted they'd help him much.

"Now, shall we begin?" I ask him.

He looks surprised at my eagerness, but nods. He waves his wand and a single petal flies off. A bright light shines where it lands and a golem resembling a valkyrie rests where the light once was.

"Hmmm. Not what I expected from a bronze golem. I probably won't even need my sword for this."

"Try not to show off too much, we don't need to draw attention to ourselves," says Alastor.

The golem charges and tries to punch me in the gut, but I expected something like that. I sidestep the punch and grab onto the golem's arm. I throw the golem behind me and it falls apart as soon as it hits the ground. Guiche starts panicking and waves his rose again. Six petals fall and spawn six more valkyries. I start casually walking towards the six of them, and they charge me. I sidestep their swipes and slices. I grab the arm of one as it brings down its sword and snap its hand off. I pick up the discarded hand, still holding the sword, and toss it behind my shoulder, where it implants itself in the helmet of the valkyrie trying to sneak up behind me.

I kick one of the valkyries in the stomach, and it falls apart. Then the valkyrie whose hand I snapped off tries to punch me with it remaining hand, but I jump and land behind the valkyrie. I plant my elbow into its back, and it falls apart. The three remaining valkyries form a defensive line in front of Guiche. I stay put, waiting for one of them to make the first move. Then the one in the middle of the line breaks formation and tries to swipe at me horizontally with an axe. I duck and the axe goes over my head. I use the opening and charge at Guiche, and weave right behind the two remaining valkyries. Guiche looks surprised that I could have tried such a tactic, but that doesn't last long. Before he can do anything I stick my fist into his stomach, and he goes flying backwards about 10 feet, landing on his back. His concentration lost, the last valkyries crumble.

I casually walk up to where he is, and he tries to back up and get away from me.

"If I ever catch you cheating on anyone ever again, I will be back to finish the job," I tell him. To prove my point I deliver a swift kick and implant my foot into the ground right next to his head, leaving a foot shaped imprint in the soil. He gets up and runs away.

"I tried to warn him," I hear Louise say. We turn around and head back to her room, ignoring the stares of everyone in attendance.

*Scene Break*

BANG! BANG!

"Shana, wake up."

I immediately bolt upright. "What is it Alastor?"

BANG!

"Oh, that. Hey, Louise! Get up!" I shake Louise until she wakes up.

"Shana? What's going on?"

BANG!

"Oh, that explains it." We get out of the bed, get dressed, and head out to investigate the noise.

When we get outside we see the cause of the banging, a giant stone golem. On the Golem's left shoulder is a person wearing a black hooded cloak. I can't make out any details other than it's a female on the Golem.

"Louise, use your magic and try to take out the golem, I'll get the rider." I put on my cloak and pull out Nietono no Shana. I grow my wings and fly up to the top of the golem.

The golem is only about 70 feet tall, so it doesn't take long for me to reach it's shoulder. I quick glance shows that Louise is trying to cast spells, but the fact that the treasury tower just exploded behind the rider shows that her aim is terrible. I point my sword at the rider.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

She responds by pulling out a wand and having the part of the golem I'm standing on rise up and trap my ankles. Before she can respond or try anything else, Louise finally manages to hit her target and the Golem's right arm explodes and collapses into dust. The rider turns and notices Louise. She has the golem use it's remaining arm to pick up a boulder and toss it at Louise.

"Louise!" I exert some energy and the ground holding onto me breaks apart. I jump off the golem and fly towards Louise. I grab her and jump back out of the boulder's impact zone. I look towards where the golem was, but its already taken off. I notice that the rider is carrying a box with her. Whatever was in that box was her target and she got away with it. Upset at myself for letting the thief get away, I chuck a large fireball at the golem. It's far away by this point, so I miss.

"S-sorry Shana, I froze up," Louise says.

Too upset at myself for letting such an easy target get away, I don't say anything. I turn around and start to walk back to the room when I'm stopped.

"Wait! What happened!" I turn around and see the school's faculty. The one speaking is the teacher who was present when Louise summoned me.

I glared at them. "A person riding a giant golem showed up and broke into the treasury. We tried to stop them but were unsuccessful." The group takes a step back, probably noticing how upset I am.

A man I recognize as being the headmaster steps forward. "R-right. We'll talk about this in the morning. For now, just go to sleep."

Without waiting for a reply from anyone, I grab Louise by the arm and drag her back to her room.

"Shana, what's the matter?" Louise asks me once we enter her room.

What an inconceivably stupid question. "What do you think is the matter? I was careless and let the thief get away!" Maybe I was overreacting, but I didn't care.

"Yes, the thief got away, but if you didn't help me, I'd be flattened by a boulder. Tomorrow, we'll go after her." Louise says.

"Fine." And with that, I crawl into the bed and go back to sleep.

*Scene Break*

"You're sure this information is accurate?"

"Trust me, its accurate," says Ms. Loungeville.

Louise, myself, and Ms. Loungeville were currently on a carriage heading for a cottage in the middle of the woods. The headmaster called Louise and I up to his office to discuss the theft. The thief was named Fouquet, and had stolen the powerful magic artifact, the Staff of Destruction. Ms. Loungeville had done her own investigation, and claimed to have the location of Fouquet's hideout.

"Shana," whispered Alastor, "I don't trust her."

"I agree, it's too convenient that she could have so easily found the location of a thief that on one has caught before."

"What are you whispering about?" I hear Louise ask.

"Absolutely nothing," replies Alastor.

Louise raises an eyebrow, clearly not convinced, but decides against asking us. Eventually we reach the cottage, and the three of us step off the carriage.

"You two check out the cottage, I'll sweep the surrounding area for Fouquet," says Ms. Loungeville.

What's she up to? Why is she so willing to leave us to a potentially dangerous situation?

Louise and I nod and we walk up to the cottage. Not bothering to check to see if anyone is inside, I kick down the door and begin the search for the Staff of Destruction, only for it's box to be sitting out in the open on a table in plain sight.

"Louise, is this the staff of destruction?" I ask.

Louise walks over and looks at the box in surprise. She picks it up and examines it.

"There's no denying it, this definitely looks like the staff of destruction's box. It feels like it's still in there too."

"Why would Fouquet leave what she stole out in the open for anyone to come by and pick up?" Alastor asks, trying to hide the fact that he already knows.

Before we can think about it too much, a familiar noise is heard outside the cottage.

BANG!

I run up to the window and see the golem walking towards the cottage. I put on my coat and pull out Nietono no Shana.

"Louise, stay here. I'm going to handle this."

Louise opens her mouth to protest, but I give her my best shot at a death glare. She shrinks back in fear.

"G-go on."

Not bothering to walk to the door to get out, I hit the window with the hilt of my sword, smashing it into pieces, and jump out. I run up to the golem, but notice that Fouquet isn't riding on it.

"Look like I was right," Alastor says.

"Yep, and considering she's not on it, we have no need for this golem."

I calmly walk up to the golem. It looks at me and decides it want to try and crush me under its foot. Not in the mood to mess around, I dodge the step and jump up. When I'm level with the midsection of the golem, I swing my sword horizontally, putting only a little bit of power of existence into it. When I land I look at the golem for a second. Then the golem splits into two halves and falls apart. The torso hits the ground and becomes dirt instantly. The legs stay frozen where they are for a moment before they also crumble into dirt. I point Nietono no Shana at a spot in the forest and shoot some flames in that direction.

"Ms. Loungeville, come out now. Your golem is destroyed."

"What? That was her golem?" I turn and see that at some point Louise had joined me and was next to me. "Then that means-"

"Very good familiar. I never expected that someone would figure it out so quickly," Ms. Loungeville says as she walks out from behind the trees I scorched. "I also never expected someone to take out my golem with one swing. That must be some sword you have."

"Wait, so you're Fouquet?" Louise asks.

Mrs. Loungeville smiles. "Yes. I am Fouquet of the crumbling earth. I'd love to stay and chat, but since you know who I am, and have taken the staff back, I should go."

I put some energy into my jump and close the distance between us in seconds. "I don't think so." I hit her on the head with the flat end of Nietono no Shana. She collapses to the floor. I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder.

"Ready to go Louise?"

She looks stunned, but nods. I walk over to her and grab onto her arm.

"You might want to hold on. The flight gets a little bumpy," As I tell her that, I grow my wings and take off towards the academy. Louise screams a little when we take off, but she gets over it, and starts enjoying the flight.

*Louise POV*

I still couldn't believe that Shana was so powerful. She could completely destroy that golem with just one swing! I also couldn't believe she could fly so easily either. How could she use flames to make solid wings?

When we got back to the academy we explained the situation to Osmand. For our efforts, we were both offered the title of chevalier, but we both refused. I didn't think I deserved it considering I didn't do much but watch, and Shana just flat out refused. We were however, going to be made guests of honor at the ball. Shana never showed up at the ball though. I was asked by many people to dance, but I refused them all. I had this weird feeling that something wasn't right.

After a while I became worried about Shana, so I went out looking for her. Eventually I found her sitting on the roof of the building the ball was being held in.

"What's the matter? Don't like dances?" I asks her.

She looks startled for a second and turns to me. "How'd you know I'd be here?"

"I didn't. You didn't show up for the dance, so I went looking for you. I had a feeling you'd be on top of one of the building though. You seem like that kind of girl," I say while sitting next to her.

Neither of us really say anything after that, and we don't need to. I just sit next to Shana and look up at the sky. As I look at the sky, I feel a sharp pang near my heart. Why? I ask myself. Why do I feel like someone important is missing? Shana and I stare at sky until the ball is over, lost in thought.