And I've finally managed to write this chapter.

The main problem I had with this one was that I ended up restarting it twice because the first two times didn't feel right at all but once I started writing this particular version it managed to flow properly.

Anyway, first I would like to respond to a specific guest review that I will copy here:

WRONG ! Lucifer is not the root of all evil ! It's YHWH !... Oh wait, you don't know much about SMT's lore, don't you ? My bad.
To be honest, I'm not happy with the whole 'Minato's persona become magically weaker for no reason', it's a very, very, VERY cheap plot device, and it's annoying. But heh, he still got his resistance, so I can live with it
... Giving Lucifer's Blade to someone in that world ? Where everybody is stupid ? Where no one could use it ?... Is he himself stupid or something ?

Okay, first things first, there are two problems with your first assumption, namely that 1) in Japan Persona is technically a different series to Shin Megami Tensei, it is only considered a part of it in the West, just like Avatar Turner (Digital Devil Saga where I come from), though I don't know about devil summoner. 2) I didn't say Lucifer was the root of all evil, MINATO said Lucifer was the root of all evil. Unlike those who have played any of the Shin Megami Tensei games, Minato has NO WAY of knowing anything about his personae outside of what he knows about their abilities and what religion has told him about them, so HIS ignorance should not be mistaken for MY ignorance.

The second part, the whole 'they become magically weaker' part is for another reason, to make it quicker to look up their abilities. There are countless different possibilities for a persona's move set courtesy of fusion and I decided that I would simply set them to their base stats so that I could simply look up their stats on the wiki and use those stats as a quick reference... as it stands he's still easily the most powerful being in the world.

And lastly, it seems you hadn't noticed that he only briefly considered the idea before deciding 'It would probably be better if I didn't'.

And that's all I have to say right now so let's get this show on the road.


Minato opened his eyes as he found himself waking up once again, not that such a thing was a surprise but he could always hope that he had somehow managed to return to the great seal during one of the times he allowed sleep to take him… then there was the hope that somehow, this whole situation was just some sort of dream meant to test his resolve.

Not that those thoughts changed anything, he was still here in Halkeginia and still in this extravagant room that had been given to him courtesy of his position as a teacher at the academy… sure the room was nice but it was missing the most important thing as far as he was concerned… the heat of his lovers.

Seriously, he had no idea how he managed to get away with such a thing, especially given how big a mouth Junpei usually had on him, sure, they had all ended up discovering each other and proceeded to slap him and tell him to choose… but they had all ended up accepting that he had no negative intentions when he ended up choosing none of them… after all, it was the only way he saw that wouldn't hurt any of them more than the others but that didn't change the fact that he expected Junpei to open his mouth about how many of the most attractive girls in school he had been dating.

But still, none of that mattered anymore, he needed to return to the great seal before his world was destroyed by Nyx… if it hadn't already been destroyed that is.

And if he was to do that, then he needed to find a way to reverse the summoning ritual, which would require access to the restricted section of the library according to what Colbert told him… which required that he be a teacher, which required that he actually teach the students at least one subject… though given how he had decided to teach four instead, it wasn't really that surprising that he was finding himself more and more pressed for time than he initially expected.

That's not to say he didn't enjoy teaching basic concepts to people around the same age as him, it slightly reminded him of the times he studied with Chihiro back at Gekkoukan, though more along the lines of finding himself helping others of a similar age to him learn subjects he had always found easy.

Shaking his head clear of those thoughts, he proceeded to rise from his bed and stretch a couple of times to work out any kinks that may have made themselves at home in his back.

Finally free of kinks, the blue haired boy proceeded to get dressed in his typical school uniform, it did strike him as ironic that the clothes he wore to teach were the very clothes he wore to learn.

It didn't take him long to finish dressing himself, he had had plenty of practice over his year at Gekkoukan after all so getting ready wasn't exactly difficult or time consuming, only taking about three minutes to get everything straight and tied properly… even if none of these nobles would realise how it was meant to be worn, their style was far more extravagant than his own.

Finally finished, he proceeded to walk towards the door of his room where he immediately opened it to grant him access to the corridor he would follow to make his way to the main hall… silently knowing that he would probably have to perform another partial summoning of Lucifer today as well if he wanted to get any real peace during breakfast.

Seriously, how hard was it to figure out that a person doesn't want to talk when they summon a being of absolute evil as an intimidation tactic?

So putting a headphone on his right ear and leaving his left free in case anyone tried to speak with him about anything important, he made his way towards the banquet called breakfast.

XXX XXX XXX

Well, at least breakfast was just as impressive as yesterday. It really was an amazing thing to see, all that food that would probably go to waste… oh how he wished his friends were here to devour the food with him, though he wasn't going to turn down any of what was available this early, he was always happy to gorge himself on food… he still remembered spending entire evenings at restaurants and fast food joints just eating… then there were the times he ate out with friends… but he ate out far too often… though it did make him wonder where he kept getting money from during his trips in Tartarus, that made even less sense to him than anything else in that distorted tower of madness.

"So Professor Arisato," came a voice that lacked the undercurrent of superiority he usually heard from the other members of the faculty, which narrowed the choice down to either Colbert, Old Osmond, Ms Chevreuse or Ms Longueville.. given that the voice was female and lacked the depth of Chevreuse's voice, there was only one person left.

"Yes Ms Longueville," he answered as he looked to see the green haired woman sitting right next to him, surprisingly far from the headmaster she worked as the secretary for, not that he could blame her, given what he knew of the old man he would probably do something like grope her under the table when no one was looking, "is there anything I can help you with?"

He asked her in a perfectly calm tone as he tried to figure out what she wanted to ask him, that is, if she wasn't just talking for the sake of saying hello.

"I suppose I was wondering how you felt being called that," she said with a small smile plastered on her face as she started to tuck into her food with a grace befitting a noble, much less a mere secretary… though to be fair, it was likely that she was a noble given her position of responsibility in the school.

"Ah… it doesn't really bother me to be honest," he admitted with a blank expression adorning his visage as he selected some of the selection that was being offered all along the table, "I'm more used to just being called Minato but I don't really care one way or the other."

"Oh? I know that most of the teachers I've met here much prefer to be called in a more formal manner," she said with her small smile still in place, "I'm actually quite surprised that you don't care, I would've thought that you'd like to lord your 'superiority' over the common rabble like me."

"You're a commoner? I find that hard to believe," the blue haired boy said expressionlessly, earning a couple of blinks from the woman, "from what I've seen of this place, commoners lack the education you obviously have and on top of that, your table manners are perfect."

"Don't tell anyone," she said quietly as she noted that all the other teachers were engrossed in their own conversations, "I was born into nobility but my family was ruined because of events outside their control… so I'm a fallen noble."

The Japanese teen simply shrugged, the fact that she was a fallen noble didn't really bother him, it would obviously bother most of the others that learned and worked at the academy but that was because they seemed far too obsessed about things like social hierarchy, something that wasn't that surprising given the obvious French overtones of their society.

But he wasn't a French man from the middle ages and was probably a breath of fresh air as far as she was concerned, someone that didn't care about her past or consider her sub-human for not being a part of the nobility or fallen from it.

Then again, the fact that she used to be nobility but wasn't anymore was probably something that the fully fledged nobles would look down on, after all, it would indicate some form of great shame befalling her family and places like this tended to put a lot of emphasis on such things despite the unfairness of it.

He probably would've let out a sigh if he had been more bothered, honestly the more he thought of how this worlds social structure was crafted the more he felt like he needed to make an impact on it and give it a push into a modern era. For one thing it would be something this world could really do with, from what he'd heard it had had no real upheavals in the past six thousand years… it had basically remained a variant of medieval France for about the same length of time that had passed since the Neolithic era back home… seriously how could a civilisation that was so advanced so early on still be this far behind his own when it basically had a five thousand year head start?

He pushed those thoughts out of his head, trying to think about how stagnant this civilisation was simply made his head hurt.

"You aren't going to tell anyone are you?" he was brought back to the fact that the bespectacled woman had obviously missed his gesture or quite possibly not understood it due to social differences, so he just gave her another shrug before saying what was on his mind.

"Why would I? it's not like it makes any difference to me what your history is," he could immediately see the relief that appeared on her face at his admittance, it only further supported his theory that fallen nobles were scorned more than outright commoners in most cases.

Though admittedly there was another option, that she was fallen because of the actions of someone here and she was looking to exact some measure of revenge and didn't want them to realise her objective… he hoped that wasn't the case, she seemed like a pleasant enough person when nobles weren't involved.

That thought led his mind to take another turn, that maybe it wasn't a specific noble that had caused her ruin, but rather the system itself. If that was the case then it was possible that she held all the nobles in contempt and wanted to make them pay for being born into their social status.

He glanced at her, taking in everything he could tell from her posture and eyes, he may not have tried to read into her too much before but now, now he wanted to know if she was a risk to the safety of his students. Sure he may not care for most of them but it was the job of a teacher to care for the people learning under them without letting their personal biases get in the way of their duty… he learned that much from Ms Toriumi, despite the feelings she had for him she never treated him differently to anyone else.

What he saw when he looked at the green haired secretary was obvious contempt whenever she looked at any of the nobles sitting in the hall, she didn't seem to hold him or the servants in the same vein as the teachers and students so that meant she had been wronged by at least several nobles in her past and the thought of vengeance was probably quite appealing to her.

Putting his hands together and using his thumbs as a rest for his chin, he proceeded to give a simple warning to let her know his stance on what he had read from her.

"If you're looking for vengeance," he started, earning a startled look off the attractive woman as she processed his words and realised that he had somehow managed to figure out the basic gist of her goals, "then be careful, if you attempt to harm a student I will stop you."

He could see the shudder that went through her body at his declaration, he knew that she had now experienced his partial summoning of Lucifer and would realise that he wasn't as helpless as most 'commoners'.

"I don't intend on hurting anyone like that," she decided that telling him the truth was probably the best thing she could do, he was clearly good at reading people if his decision to threaten her was anything to go by, "just make them understand what it feels like to lose something important."

"Object or person?" he decided to ask, after all, he knew that some people defined importance differently, some people would consider their family the most important thing to them while others would consider an object more important than that.

His question was answered by the disgusted expression that appeared on her face at his question.

"I'm a thief, not a murderer," she made sure to keep her voice as low as possible while still letting him hear her but he did and it was clear that she considered his question insulting at least to some degree.

"Then I guess there isn't a problem," he stated with a shrug, "just make sure you don't try and take out any accidental witnesses and we won't come into conflict."

At his statement, the green haired woman simply stared, she hadn't expected him to just dismiss her true profession without any hint of concern… even if he wasn't a noble he surely shouldn't be so laid back about the thought of dealing with a thief like her, especially given the sorts of valuables that were stored in the vault at the very school he worked.

"Oh, and don't try to steal my MP3 player… if you do that then I'll have to beat you to a pulp," he added casually, earning a look of utter confusion from the former noble, causing him to lift up his music storage device, "this."

"I'll make sure not to target that then," she admitted with a small smile on her face as she tried not to laugh at his one exception as he nodded in acknowledgement.

XXX XXX XXX

Professor Colbert didn't know what to think as he eavesdropped on the conversation between the two, sure it took a lot of effort, especially without making it clear that he was listening in on them but he was a war veteran.

He honestly couldn't believe that Ms Longueville was a thief that stole things in order to exact revenge for losing her status as a noble.

He could believe Minato's reaction to that information, the seeming disregard for it did seem pretty normal for the blue haired boy but that didn't change the fact that he was technically planning on supporting her by keeping quiet about the matter.

But then again, could he really blame the teen? Despite his position at the academy it didn't change the fact that he lacked any real bond in this world and his whole decision to teach at the academy was based around getting assistance in finding a way home… plus he did at least tell her that he would stop her if she ever tried to harm a student directly, though it wasn't lost on him that he didn't include faculty members in that statement… well outside of the servants, they were technically his students as well so they were under his protection from what he could tell.

However protecting the royal families treasures wasn't the sort of thing that would matter to him at all, after all, he didn't even know what was contained in the vault… honestly Colbert didn't even know if the teen knew there was a vault in the school at all, after all, it wasn't the sort of place he would've expected to find a vault if he didn't know most of the teachers were skilled triangle and square class mages with enough military experience combined to be considered a small army by themselves.

The main problem was that he would have to present this information to Old Osmond without his secretary finding out that he knew, which meant getting the man alone, he could probably make use of an excuse like 'I've found out something important concerning the summoning of human familiars' and use that as an excuse to see the man alone… the problem would be if she decided to eavesdrop on the man.

He didn't want to give her prior warning to whatever intentions Osmond would have towards the young woman, but honestly, if she was a thief then she would have to be arrested despite the circumstances surrounding her decision to steal. Especially if she was here to take advantage of the vault… if she could that is.

The vault was most certainly not the sort of thing that a regular person could breach, the wards on it had been erected by four square class mages, so they should be too great for any single mage to bypass… unless they used pure brute force from the outside, something he doubted the lithe woman sitting next to the science teacher would be capable of… that is, unless she was a skilled earth mage and could make a large enough Golem to hit at the wall, though even that wasn't guaranteed to breach the vault.

Hopefully Old Osmond would have a better idea of what to do than he did, after all, while she had admitted to being a thief to the teen, he didn't know what she was guilty of stealing. Maybe she was just a minor thief that stole a little bit here and there… no, she talked about taking things that were important, so maybe… oh… his mind stalled as a possibility popped into his head, of someone that stole valuables from wealthy nobles all over the country, every town within a nights journey from the academy for an experienced mage.

Had the blue haired boy just found Fouquet? It made sense, sure it was believed that Fouquet had been speculated to be a thief for hire because of how selective they were in their thefts but what if they weren't stealing for the money but as vengeance? Such a thing hadn't been considered because of how unrelated all the victims were… but if they hated nobles in general then it would make sense.

He found himself starting to sweat at the thought that the beautiful woman he had had his eyes on for several weeks may in fact be one of the country's most wanted criminals… but in the end, he knew that he would have to talk to Osmond about it, there was nothing else he could do outside of that.

He just hoped there wouldn't be too many complications.

XXX XXX XXX

Breakfast finally ended and immediately Professor Colbert decided to walk up towards Professor Osmond, his intentions clear in his mind as he noted that the green haired secretary was walking alongside the blue haired teen, though their previous conversation was replaced with silence… probably the younger of the two's usual apathy shining through once again.

"Headmaster," he called out in an even tone when he got close enough, noting that the secretary hadn't shown any signs of having noticed his call to the oldest in the building.

"Oh, Jean, what can I do for you today? And why not wait until I reached my office?" the aged headmaster asked the balding professor with an expression betting someone that had just said hello to their grandson instead of asking one of their employees about their work.

"I need to speak with you about Professor Arisato and Ms Longueville," the square class fire mage said with a hint of seriousness in his tone as he eyed the duo from afar.

"Ah yes, they seem to be rather close don't they," the bearded headmaster said with a small nod of his head before he continued, "though I do admit that I am disappointed in the young man's decision to hold off on telling anyone about what she told him."

The balding professor suddenly stalled, did Old Osmond just admit that he had overheard their conversation too?

"Why so surprised Flame Snake, I have even more military experience than yourself so it shouldn't be a surprise that I would overhear something like that… unless you were listening in for other reasons that is," the man that many thought to be a senile old fool said with an air about him that made it clear he already knew exactly why the bespectacled professor had been eavesdropping on the two.

"So what do you plan on doing about it?" the younger of the duo asked, earning a small sigh off the old man who obviously felt he was too old for this sort of trouble.

"I'm not going to do anything," the highest authority figure in the school said with a calm voice, earning a look of shock off the fire mage, "you are going to try and find out as much as you can about her, I'll have Chuchu keep an eye on her without drawing suspicion to see if she'll reveal anything else to Professor Arisato… hopefully by the time she makes any move on the academy we'll have enough information on her to arrest her without having to throw baseless accusations at her."

"But what about until then? Surely you can't seriously be allowing her to continue her criminal activities?" the balding man asked earning another sigh off the older of the two.

"Fortunately, she did mention that she was a thief and not a murderer… of course Professor Arisato appears to be of similar mind to me that even a thief that tries not to kill anyone could attempt to eliminate a witness… hopefully she'll keep to non-lethal means to commit her crimes," the man with the ridiculously large beard said with a frown, hoping that she was telling the truth about that.

"But are you really willing to risk letting her steal when you know what she does? What if she tries to take the vault?" the bespectacled teacher asked seriously, earning a small smile off his elder.

"Professor Colbert, do you honestly believe she could break into the most secure vault in all of Halkeginia?" the white haired wizard asked rhetorically.

"No, but taking that risk seems foolish, it is better not to take the risk in the first place," the former soldier said with an obvious level of commitment to his thoughts.

"Perhaps but if we take that risk, then we may be capable of proving that she isn't simply some small time thief," the headmaster said seriously, "I'm sure you have that feeling too… that Longueville is Fouquet."

Professor Colbert found himself unable to do anything more than nod in agreement as the old man's plan finally became clear in his mind, he was trusting the younger man to dig up enough that a connection between the green haired secretary and the notorious thief could be established and when that happened… then they would pounce and she would get a sentence far harsher than she would otherwise.

"Very well, I'll do my best to find whatever I can about her… hopefully she won't do too much before we can apprehend her," the bespectacled man said with a firm nod before he started walking away, eager to start his investigation on the green haired woman that had managed to integrate herself into their facility so easily.

XXX XXX XXX

Louise couldn't stop herself from letting out a tired sigh as she walked out of her last class for the day. It had been a class on fire magic and she had completely bombed it like she usually did… both figuratively and literally… it wasn't like it was her fault her magic liked blowing up, well at least she didn't think it was her fault.

But why couldn't they have been doing science again? She actually managed to display a certain aptitude for that particular series of subjects and didn't embarrass herself in front of her classmates… or nearly blow them to kingdom come.

She honestly didn't care that it was her familiar that was teaching the subjects, he was proving himself to be pretty much completely impartial when it came down to dealing with the students… well, he still pretended to not know who Guiche was but that didn't really matter in the long run.

Thankfully the classes were finally over and the horde of students were making their way towards the dining hall for the purpose of once again filling their stomachs, something she was quite happy to do after such a disastrous day of classes… it was a bit of a shame that the one person that she found herself feeling comfortable around was no longer available because of his new job.

She knew she was just being selfish but in the end, she wanted him to stay by her side and talk her through everything like he did that day when he told her of his past, of the fact that he literally sacrificed his life to seal away a deity of some kind… the way he talked back then and told her a story that was fantastical and yet apparently true was nice… she also wanted to hear more about his old friends, of his old lovers… she silently thought that it was strange to think of someone having multiple lovers at the same time.

Though she did admit that if he was slightly less… anti-social, he would probably make most of the girls in the academy fall for him with his demeanour and the way he smiled… oh no… she found her eyes widening in shock at the thoughts running through her head, she should not be having thoughts like that! She was engaged dammit!

Taking several calming breaths she tried to keep herself from blowing up at nothing, she had already caused too many explosions already today, she didn't need to create even more just because she wasn't happy with how her thoughts were wandering along paths she didn't want to think of.

Still, she couldn't stop herself from admitting that it would be nice to talk to him outside of class once again… honestly, he was probably the only familiar that had a role that kept him away from his master, if she could even be called that… her mind stalled as she thought of the one serious problem his independence could cause for her, the simple fact that her mother would probably punish her for being unable to control her familiar like she should… then she might try to dominate the blue haired boy herself.

Once again her mind stalled as it thought over that concept, Minato Arisato vs. Karin Désirée de La Vallière… what would that fight be like? Sure she knew Minato was strong, skilled and had those ridiculous summons but her mother had impossibly powerful wind magic and a casting speed that surpassed anything anyone else had ever managed to achieve in recorded history.

Honestly it was her speed of casting high level spells that made her mother so formidable, sure most wind mages would be incapable of casting magic with the same power as her mother but even if they could, it would likely take them a few seconds to gather the raw power needed to cast it… her mother could do it in an instant, in rapid succession and without breaking a sweat… how could anyone stand up to her?

Louise found herself shivering at the thought, if Minato and her mother fought, she was pretty sure her mother would win… and probably turn him into a smear on the ground in the process and then she would be alone again.

No, that wouldn't happen, even if he didn't care about anything he wouldn't do something to suicidal if she warned him of the dangers beforehand… right? She once again began to lose all hope as her mind brought up images of a bloody smear scattered across the garden of her home, her familiar shredded into a fine paste that was indistinguishable from the blood courtesy of her mother's onslaught.

Shaking her head again she tried to keep the picture out of her head but no matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't keep that thought out, it had become a constant companion as she walked towards the dining hall and she found her appetite slowly fading as she got closer and closer to the hall where every meal was held.

And then her thoughts were broken by someone she usually hated but couldn't help but feel happy about seeing right now since she would be almost guaranteed to forget about that image if Kirche was bothering her like usual.

"Hey there Zero, did you have a good time blowing up the classroom again?" the tanned redhead asked with a cheeky grin adorning her face as she draped her arm around the much shorter girl's shoulder as Tabitha walked up beside the much taller girl, her nose still firmly placed in a book.

"Zerbst…" the little pinkette said with a small growl that lacked the usual animosity that accompanied it when dealing with the far more well endowed Germanian, "what do you think you're doing?"

"Oh? Whatever do you mean Vallière?" the significantly taller girl asked with her grin still plastered on her face as she refused to budge from her position around the shorter girls shoulder.

"What do I mean? Since when have the Zerbst and Vallière's ever been this friendly with each other?" the low tone was filled with faked hostility but then again, she didn't want the redhead to know she was actually happy for the distraction she was causing, that would simply make matters even more complicated later on.

"Oh come on Zero, surely you don't intend on throwing me away?" the redhead stated with a smirk that only increased in size with her next words, "especially when you looked so upset just now."

"W-wha?"

"Did you confess your love for your familiar and get rejected?" the busty teen said with her smirk still gracing her lips, "or maybe you're jealous of that secretary he was talking to this morning?"

"S-shut up Zerbst! It's nothing like that!" the now tomato red faced pinkette shouted indignantly at the taller girl's imagination, "I don't have any feelings like that towards him!"

"Really? I'd beg to differ, what with how you keep looking at him during meals, or how you've suddenly gotten all depressed now that he's no longer sleeping with you," and on cue the second shortest girl of their year exploded in embarrassment at the accusations being thrown her way by the redhead.

"T-that's only because he's my familiar!" she tried to reason, "and familiars aren't normally so independent!"

"So the Zero feels like a useless master? Is that it?" when Louise failed to respond to the jibing, the redhead proceeded to pull the shorter girl into her chest, earning a splutter at the gesture, "aw… don't worry Vallière, me and Tabitha are going to see if he goes to the library after dinner today, so why not come along with us?"

The shorter of the two girls that were talking found herself staring blankly at the buxom fire mage before she decided to say the one thing on her mind about that statement.

"I thought you were terrified of him?" it was the obvious question, after all, Kirche had been constantly on guard and obviously upset whenever she was near him ever since he beat Guiche.

"Yep," she admitted without any hint of shame in her tone, "but as they say, the best way of conquering your fears is to face them directly… so I'm going to do the Germanian thing and put on a brave face and face him down no matter how scary he is."

The explosive mage stared at her tormenter as if she had grown another head, she had never expected to hear her say something like that… and what was that about facing down your fears being a Germanian thing?

"Since when has facing your fears been a Germanian thing?" she decided to ask sceptically, earning a small chuckle off the redhead.

"Facing your fears isn't just something to talk about, it is expected of a Germanian to face whatever they fear and overcome it," the taller teen said with a small grimace, "if I didn't then I wouldn't be able to truly call myself a Germanian."

Louise found herself internally grimacing as the word 'expected' made her thoughts drift back to her mother and what she expected her mother's response to her failure to meet her expectations would be… which brought that image of blood staining the garden back to the forefront of her mind.

However, there was one thing that came to her mind concerning her present company and she refused to let it go.

"Oh? If that's so then why haven't you been facing your fear before?" Louise found a malicious smirk adorning her face as she proceeded to ask the busty teen with every intent to make the redhead squirm… only to frown when the tanned girl simply looked at her like she had grown another head.

"I have been, if I had it my way I would have never been in that guy's presence after the whole Guiche incident," she admitted with a shrug, making the pinkette frown, "but now… now I'm going to try and push myself further and completely face my fear!"

"Silly," a short and curt call came from the smallest of the group, making Louise turn to see that Tabitha had decided to include her own input to the conversation.

"How is it silly to want to face your fears?" the pinkette asked with confusion clear in every word, only for it to grow greater when she noted that the only girl even shorter than her shook her head in the negative.

"Tabitha thinks my fear of him is silly," Kirche informed her with a sigh, "and I hate to admit it but I do agree… it's just that every time I see him all I can think of is the duel with Guiche and that… that… thing he does whenever he wants to get a point across."

"You mean that demon head thing?" the young Vallière asked for confirmation, earning a nod of acknowledgement from the taller girl, "I guess I can understand why you're so scared of that… though I don't know about the duel with Guiche, I didn't bother watching it."

"Yeah, you're lucky, I wish I hadn't seen it either, if I hadn't then I probably wouldn't be anywhere near as scared of him as I am," the busty girl said with a frown.

"I did hear that it was pretty bad," she admitted with a frown before her mind focused on the one part of the conversation she had completely forgotten about, "hold on! Why am I even having this conversation with you?!"

"Maybe because you don't hate me as much as you think you do?" the tanned Germanian said with a smile tugging at her lips.

"Of course I hate you! You are… you are…" Louise found herself failing to say the only way she could think of to describe the taller girl… 'everything I'm not'. She simply found herself unable to continue her sentence, knowing that admitting that would basically be a matter of admitting defeat to the redhead… and as a Vallière she could not allow herself to lose to anyone.

"Silly," once again Tabitha seemed to find then the appropriate time to intervene, making the pinkette blink a few times as she tried to figure out what the blue haired girl was calling silly.

"What're you calling silly this time?" she decided to ask, hoping that she would be capable of getting some back up with her reason to hate Kirche without sounding completely petty.

"You," scratch that, Louise was tempted to just do what she did best and blow the duo up upon hearing the shorter girls one word statement, after all, who was she to call a Vallière 'silly', "obviously friends."

The pinkette nearly flinched at those words, since when had she and Kirche given the impression of being friends? She certainly didn't think she did… besides, she hated the way the other girl was always surrounded by boys and always leading them on… though she wasn't certain if she ever did go all the way with any of them, though it certainly was possible that she did it with all of them.

It just frustrated her that the busty girl seemed to have everything going for her while she had nothing outside of her name and fiancé… not that she was dissatisfied with her fiancé, she was anything but, sir Wardes was everything she could want in a husband, but it would be nice to at least be appreciated by others… and have talent.

"I am not friends with that… that… that harlot!" she shouted at Tabitha, only to find that she was promptly ignored by the slightly shorter girl while the much taller one simply leaned over with a smile on her face.

"Now now Vallière, what's wrong with being friends?" the redhead asked, earning a scowl off the pinkette.

"Because it's you!" it was a terrible excuse but the most volatile of the group couldn't bring herself to say anything more, not that she could even if she tried, unlike the redhead she didn't have the casualness required for day to day backtalk, instead being raised in an environment that promoted the sort of social interactions that worked in politically important situations… even if she lacked the self confidence to put those skills to proper use if needed, "now go away and leave me alone!"

She immediately noted that the Germanian's demeanour changed subtly, it wasn't much, just a small grimace that could barely be seen through her usual smile… the fact that she could identify that subtle expression should've told her that she wasn't as hateful of the tanned teen as she thought she was but she didn't put any thought into it, all she cared about was the fact that her mother wouldn't be happy if she heard that she was getting closer to a Zerbst… that was just something that she couldn't let herself get caught up in… no matter how appealing the thought of having a 'friend' was.

"Fine then Vallière, but me and Tabitha will be going to see Professor Arisato later, it would probably be a good idea for you to come along too," and without any further argument, the redhead proceeded to speed up and pull ahead.

Louise noted that Tabitha didn't quite pull ahead like Kirche, however that thought was derailed when she saw the blue haired girl look at her and shake her head in a disappointed manner before looking back at her book and speeding up to catch up with her much taller friend.

And without even realising it, the girl had once again found herself alone… this time by her own design and she once again began to find depression slowly seeping into her being as she realised just how common the situation was.


And that's all for today.

And now, since I'm certain there are some people that will ask about why Colbert and Osmond suspect Longueville of being Foquet, the answer has several aspects to it.

1) she admitted to being a fallen noble, meaning she obviously knows magic of some sort, the level of which is unknown but could easily be any.

2) she made it obvious that she has at least an intense dislike of nobles and steals for vengeance, which means she would target nobles (they don't know about Tiffania so they don't know about that part of her decision to steal).

3) she's in a location where she could quickly reach most of Foquets victims if she had a method of travelling fast.

4) they didn't suspect her before. That shows them that she's at the very least skilled at acting, something they would expect of an expert thief.

Of course they aren't certain, choosing to follow their gut instincts but they have not evidence outside of purely circumstantial evidence and are therefore deciding to hold off on acting against her for now in the possibility that she is a major thief instead of a minor one.

As for their reaction to Minato... yes, they are being favorable towards him, with several reasons again.

1) He doesn't have much in the way of connections to anyone in their world.

2) He was hired as a teacher, not a guard.

3) He doesn't know about the vault that houses the staff of destruction.

4) And the most important one... he's REALLY dangerous and they would rather not pick a fight with him until they know more about his abilities.

And so those are my explanations for the decisions made in this chapter.

So now that that is over...

Shadow out.