The lower levels of the academy library were normally devoid of light, sound and life as it was reserved for books of the most obscure nature where fact met fiction and where myth was the closest thing to truth.

Which was precisely the reason why Colbert was down here, digging through books that hadn't been opened in decades, possibly centuries.

For some unknown reason, Headmaster Osmond had suddenly taken a large interest in the young Valliere's magic and had asked him to perform a more extensive investigation then what had been previously done.

At the beginning of the week, he had started with the upper floors of the library which held all the contemporary knowledge on magic but found nothing of use.

Hour after hour and day by day he slowly descended the labyrinth of a library, slowly finding more and more passages that contained references to her explosive brand of magic.

The core issue with these passages was the fact that almost all of them were found in grand mythos, stories of heroes and villains.

It was only when he got to the legend of Brimir's Familiars that the puzzle pieces began to come together.

Gandalfr stuck out the most. The master of weapons, who with but a single touch knew how to handle and use a weapon like a soldier who had wielded it in a thousand battles.

As he read more and more on the subject the coincidences began to pile up.

Louise's familiar may have been, in her own words, that tank but he had yet to see any familiar runes on the iron beast, then there was the fact that Louise began wearing gloves the day she summoned it and the fact that seemingly upon contact she had mastered its control's.

It was an insane idea to be sure, but even as he trudged passed the tale to try and find a more plausible hypothesis, but as hours went by and the tower of books, he skimmed through grew larger and larger, the voice in the back of his head defending idea that Louise may be the Gandalfr grew louder.

'What am I thinking. Branding yourself during a summoning ritual.' He thought to himself closing the latest book he looked through. That would be the first ever instance of a summoning ritual resulting in the caster being branded.

It was probably a simple rune that taught her how to use it and nothing else which was probably situated on the inside of the tank

But... This was a Valliere he was talking about, firsts, when it came to magic, was their specialty.

No. What he needed to do was take a look at her hands, that would put his tired mind at east.

"The epic of Gandalfr?"

Colbert shot upright, startled by the sudden intruder, he turned to face the person, finding the all too familiar face of Loungville glancing down at his book from over his shoulder.

"Oh, Miss Longueville," He said, letting out a held breath. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people."

The woman chuckled. "I didn't think you liked reading fiction, Mister Colbert."

"Well." He started with a chuckle. "I sometimes use them as inspiration for my inventions."

"How so?" the green-haired woman asked taking a seat across from him.

"Well, there are several books that are occasionally found by people throughout the continent, usually in Albionese sometimes in Gallian and German and on even rarer occasions in languages that don't resemble any spoken in Halkeginia. Some of these books speak of great machines that come in the form of Steam powered horseless carriages."

"Really now?" Longueville asked leaning forward in her seat.

"Indeed, they usually don't focus on the machines themselves, and mostly consists of a dialogue between passengers."

"And why haven't more people attempted to create these machines?"

His joy ran away from his face. "Mostly because lords don't want to invest in something that they don't see short term benefit from."

The green haired woman scoffed. "Doesn't surprise me. Nobility is often short-sighted when it comes to anything outside of attempting to expand their influence."

Colbert stared at her wide-eyed, stunned by the words that had come out of the usually soft-spoken secretary.

She pursed her lips and looked away from the professor in shame. "I'm sorry you had to hear that."

"No, it's... fine, Although It makes me wonder why you would choose here of all places to work."

The woman sighed. "As much as I hate it, this is the best paying job that was available to me when I entered the country." Her eyes drifted up to meet his, piercing straight into his soul. "And I have people that depend on me." The voice she used carried an aura of power, making it feel less like an attempt at explaining one's actions and more like a threat.

Longueville leaned back in her chair and stretched out her arms, letting out a pleasant groan as she did. "But. If people like you are teaching the little snobs, I think that the future for Tristian is a bright one."

Colbert sat there in silence his face slowly heating up, not quite sure what to say, and it was something he was never good at. "So." He started not quite sure what to follow it up with. "You're from out of the country?"

Her face slowly twisted into confusion, her jaw hung open and her eyes widened.

And then she started to laugh.

Cobert's face grew red in embarrassment, "Wha-. What are you laughing about?"

"Oh." She started as the laughter began to die down. "It's just the servants were dead on their nickname for you,"

His face only grew hotter. "Which is?" He asked.

"Colbert the charmless."

His gaze shot back to her, his jaw dropping to the floor and his mind turning blank. The unbearable heat only growing hotter.

But before he could say anything she continued. "But I'm not here to tease you. Osmond has asked me to help you in your research."

The man closed his eyes and slowly closed his book as he took a deep breath. "Well, if you are willing to wait, I need to go see the young Valliere, to follow up on something."

She seemed to be at a loss for words if her silence was anything to go by.

Tucking the book under his arm he stood up. "Now, I apologize, but I must get going," And without saying another word, began the long ascent up to the ground floor in search of Louise.

xXXXx

The first class of the day, something that Louise had excelled at before the incident. Most of her classmates were either too tired to listen properly or simply didn't put in the same effort as her.

Thus, she rose to the top of the class, only ever competing with Tabitha in terms of marks.

But that was before her new job.

Now it was a marvel if she could get through the class without dozing off.

It wasn't as bad when she had started her new job but with more and more servants being transferred to gods know where she had to do the work of five other servants.

It wasn't just how tired she felt either, she had grown dissatisfied with her near perfect penmanship as after a long and gruelling shift, her arms would tremble uncontrollably.

Siesta had said it was because her muscles were shocked by the sudden use and that she faced similar issues when she had first arrived at the Academy, but founder she hated it. She couldn't even draw a straight line if she wanted too.

However, the worst thing if she was honest with herself was hunger.

With so many students attending the academy and so few servants meant that the morning work almost always cut into breakfast, leaving her with little time to eat.

So here she sat, at the back of the class, her stomach growling, her eyelids feeling heavy and interest in the textbook resting on the table beneath her weaning.

At the very least, her classmates left her alone, choosing to and gaze on in disgust, but that was where the positives ended.

She had to wonder where the professor had gone. for the past few days, Colbert's class had been replaced with study hall, something that was a welcome change considering she had so little time for her studies.

But reality was often quite different from expectations, and with the book being a blur and her mind an unintelligible fog she wasn't making up for any lost time.

As she gazed down at the book, a new idea popped into her mind.

Perhaps.

Perhaps she should have a nap.

On the one hand, it may have been seen as lazy and could be used to berate her further.

On the other, she wasn't going to get things done like this, she was simply too exhausted.

Yes, she would take a quick nap, no more than fifteen minutes then it would be back to studying.

Placing both her arms on the table, one on top of the other to form a makeshift pillow, she leaned down and rested her head on her arms.

Slowly but surely her eyelids shut, and she felt the world of dreams lure her into its embrace with its sirens call, luring her close until she drifted into the unconscious realm.

"Louise?" A faint voice asked while seemingly poking her.

'Can't they just leave me alone?'

Opening her eyes, she tilted her head up to find a seemingly healed Montmorency staring back at her, with bugs hanging off of her eyes and a concerned look on her face.

Yawning, she rubbed the sleep from one of her eyes. "Hello, Montmorency. Is there something I can help you with?"

The freckled face girl pursed her lips. "Study hall ended some time ago. It's mid-day break." The blonds voice now back to normal.

Her drowsiness instantly vanished, and she shot straight up.

How had she sleep for over an hour and not notice?

"Anyway, that wasn't the only thing I wanted to tell you." The blond said as a grin formed on her face. "I got us a musket and have come up with a few interesting ways to use your powder which I want to show to you."

Louise looked down at the girl's arms finding them still covered in bandages.

"Oh." She muttered, looking breaking her gaze away from the bandages. "Well, I don't have much to d-" Louise was suddenly cut off by the audible growling of her stomach. She bit the inside of her cheek "I must apologize, but I really should eat something first."

"I'm afraid we don't have the time, due to the explosive nature of what we're dealing with, I need to conduct the test outside the walls." She explained. "We can, however, pick something up from the kitchen before we leave."

"That would work."

"The field I picked out is around sixteen miles from here deep in a forest."

Louise contorted her face in confusion. "I'm, sorry but why is it so out of the way?"

"To maintain secrecy. We can't let people know what we're working on. As such, I was wondering if we could use your familiar for travel?"

Louise let out a sigh. "It's no problem." She muttered, receiving a smile in return.

As she placed her hands down on the table to pick herself up, she felt liquid on her palms. An eyebrow perking up, she looked down to find a puddle of what seemed to be wine on the table, which was confirmed when she turned her hand over to see purple liquid running down her palm.

The sudden sound of laughter pulled her gaze up from the table to a group of several nobles leaving the classroom. "Looks like she can't even stay sober in class." The blonde leading the pack quipped with a dismissive wave of the hand.

"No wonder she was turned into a servant. You can't get drunk if your too poor to afford wine." Another laughed.

Louise clenched her jaw and looked away in shame, saying nothing as the group left the room.

"Montmorency?" She asked, looking to where the water mage had been standing, but she was no longer there, in fact, it seemed that she had already left the classroom.

Not in the mood to question how the girl was able to move so fast, she swiftly left the classroom.

Only to run into Claudie waiting just outside the class and holding the young girls uniform in her hands. "There you are, Miss Valliere."

"Claudie? What are you doing here?"

"I'm truly sorry to say this, but with recent transfers, I will need you in the dining hall to help serve the students."

Louise's mouth went dry, fear choking her. "I, uh."

"I must apologize, but I've already given this servant a task." Louise looked over her shoulder, seeing Montmorency standing there with a warm smile on her face.

"I see." The woman extended the arm that her uniform hung off of. "You still need to change, and when you're done helping the young Montmorency, I'll need you to report to the kitchen."

Biting the inside of her cheek, she grabbed the uniform from the woman, who gave them a bow, before leaving them.

Louise shifted her gaze to the uniform, noticing a purple handprint on the white apron hanging off the front. "Do you think you could grab the food Louise and meet me at your familiar?"

Louise sat there in silence, staring at her uniform. "Ya... I can do that."

xXXXx

The squeaking of the tank tracks and roar of the engine destroyed any semblance of peace that once dominated the sunlight forest path.

"Just a little further!" Montmorency shouted over the engine from her seat in the bow gunner's position.

As the tank rolled through the sunlight path, Louise couldn't help but feel a small spark of joy. It felt free, too simply drive her familiar, without the constant jeering of her fellow students.

It was just herself, her tank, and the road.

"You know, this really isn't the best transportation if you want to keep what you're working on a secret," Louise shouted back.

"What do you mean?" The water mage replied.

"This thing leaves large tracks. Anyone even remotely curious can simply follow them." Louise explained.

"Well, it's good that we're relying on time as the main deterrent," Montmorency said with a smile.

"What do you mean?"

"The fork in the road is close to fifteen miles away, if anyone wanted to follow us they would need to do it by air, and need I remind you that the only person who summoned a winged beast was Tabitha and even if she did, the canopy makes it impossible for her to track us from the air."

Louise mulled it over in her head. What she was saying did make sens-

"Stop!"

Eyes widening and her body going rigid, Louise let her foot off of the gas and yanked both of the break handles back with all the force she could muster.

The tank lurched forward as it ground to a halt, accompanied by a sudden yelp from the turret originating from the guy Montmorency had dragged along.

Confusion filled her mind as she took in the seemingly normal environment.

"What was that for Louise?" Guiche questioned as he popped his head out of the turret, rubbing his forehead.

"Why here, Montmorency?" Louise asked, choosing to ignore the earth mage. "This doesn't look any different to any other part of the path?" she asked, looking over to Montmorency.

The girl only smiled and pointed up at a red ribbon tied to a branch above the path. "And like I said, it's deep in the woods. Just a half mile from her." She told the girl pointing to the left of the tank.

Louise looked back to the supposed path they needed to take, the forest wasn't particularly dense in this area so she was sure that she could find a way through.

Soon finding a suitable gap in the tree line, she clenched her jaw, throwing the tank into reverse and backed up, before shifting back into first gear.

Yanking the right break to her chest, the tank began to head into that direction until she was mere inches from the side of the road, before she let go and pulled the left one as close to her chest as was possible, sending the tank directly into the tree line.

The tank rocked back and forth as it maneuvered over the uneven terrain of the forest.

After a ten-minute drive, they arrived at the picturesque clearing situated at the base of one of the many mountains in Tristian with a river acting as a natural barrier between the clearing and the mountain itself.

Stopping someway into the field, Louise shut off the engine and lifted herself out of the driver's hatch.

"I will say, Louise, this "tank" rides better than any horse I've ridden before, although I think it's because whoever made it was ingenious enough to put cushioned seats in it." The water mage commented as she did the same.

Standing up on the hull Louise patted down her school uniform, before turning her attention to the cargo she had been carrying on the engine deck which was already in the process of being unloaded by Guiche's Valkyries which included a chest and two barrels.

Leaning down, she hopped off the turret, landing on the soft grass, mindlessly grabbing the musket that they had tied to the side of the tank for the trip as she walked over to where the Valkyries were setting the equipment down.

Only to stop dead in her tracks.

Not a second after grabbing the gun, information about the weapon flooded her head, how to handle it, how to load it. She instantly knew everything she needed to know in order to use this weapon like a veteran.

Her grip tightened on the weapon as she brought it up to meet her gaze. 'What was that?'

It was like when she first touched the tank after branding I- Herself with those familiar runes, but why did it teach her how to use a musket?

"Ah, you want to start with the musket?" Montmorency asked, breaking her from her thoughts. "I had a few experimental weapons that I wanted to show you, but if you want to start with the basics, we'll do that."

Louise looked between the gun and the girl. "Yes, lets."

Montmorency gestured her to follow her to the firing line, where the barrels and chest were set up by a stone wall that wasn't there when they arrived. When they reached it, the girl crouched down and opened up the chest, grabbing a tube-shaped piece of fabric that Louise only assumed contained a musket ball and powder.

Standing up, Montmorency turned towards Louise extending a hand to receive the musket, which Louise gave up.

The blonde then began to fiddle with the musket in her attempt to ready it.

When Louise had stepped in and offered her help, she simply declined it, stating that she would figure it out eventually.

It wasn't until another five minutes passed that the water mage gave up the musket to her.

Using her newfound knowledge, Louise quickly got the rifle ready, using the new powder and loading a standard musket ball before handing it back off to the girl.

"Guiche." Montmorency stated.

The boy let out a sigh. "Yes." as one of his Valkyries walked up to the girl, and grabbed the rifle from her.

It turned and walked several feet away before stopping and raising the rifle to its brass shoulder, aiming at another brass golem on the other side of the clearing.

"Are you sure you can hit that from here?" Louise asked. "I've heard stories about how inaccurate muskets tend to be."

"A musket wouldn't be able to make that shot but what it's holding is a rifle," Montmorency replied with a smile. "It costs more, but it's more accurate."

Louise pursed her lips. "Are you sure you're alright spending so much on this?"

The girl's smile was instantly replaced with a scowl. "Alright? Louise, what you've given me will revolutionize warfare as we know it. Once we figure out how properly use this powder, we'll be the queens of the new world. Everyone is going to want this and we'll be the only ones in all of Halkeginia that can supply it!" She shouted. "Any price at this point is worth it."

Concern sprung up from within her at the girl's declaration. "We, should probably test the rifle?" Louise asked changing the subject.

The scowl vanished, as the girl was brought back to reality. "Right, I'm sorry for getting off track. Actually, before I forget." Montmorency reopened the chest and pulled out three pairs of flight goggles and handed them to both her and the earth mage. "Just in case." She stated.

The trio all put on the glasses and got behind the stone wall.

"Guiche if you will." The water mage asked.

A thundering boom echoed throughout the clearing, but the target Valkyrie still stood in its original place unscathed. It wasn't until they looked to the one that had been shooting did, they realize what had happened.

The musket had blown itself apart.

The back of the musket looked normal not an inch down it split into three distinct pieces that merged back together further along the barrel.

Montmorency sighed. "I figured this might be a problem," She muttered under her breath, stroking her chin.

"So, what does this mean?" Louise asked, glancing over to the girl.

"It means we'll need a higher quality metal to act as the barrel. Guiche, don't you have a square earth mage in your family?"

The boy nodded. "Yes, uncle Gillis."

"Can you ask him to make me a musket barrel, smoothbore or rifled it doesn't matter."

The earth mage scratched the back of his neck, "He's quite busy as it is with the harvesting season starting soon, but I'll see if I can persuade him."

The blonde turned back to Louise. "Well, that's one issue sorted, although this does give me hope for the next use I thought of." Before the Valliere could reply, she was already grabbing something from the chest.

Standing back up, she turned back around, holding a ceramic vase in her hand with a fuse sticking out of the top. "What's that?"

"Oh, this is a powder-filled pot, it's still a work in progress, but I plan to line future pots with iron balls." With a swift movement, Montmorency grabbed a wand from out of its holster and brought it up to the match. "ignium." She muttered. The fuse instantly lit and began to burn down towards the pot.

The girl cocked her arm back and tossed it, landing in the soft grass by the Valkyrie. Both she and Guiche quickly hid behind the stone wall.

"Louise!" The water mage shouted, grabbing hold of her arm and dragging her down behind the wall just as the urn exploded.

The trio slowly emerged from cover, to find the Valkyrie seemingly unharmed with the only indication that it was at the center of an explosion being the slight warping of its legs.

"My beautiful Valkyries," Guiche muttered to himself.

"And nobles will want to buy these?" Louise asked.

"Of course, the Albionese civil war consisted of a lot of urban fighting in the port cities and the capital, these will help clear out buildings. Not to mention that just a few of these will disrupt any military formation out in a field."

Louise thought it over, it did make sense, but something felt wrong. "Montmorency. Don't you think you're going to fast?"

"No." She stated with a scowl. "If anything I've been dragging my feet, we need to finish this up as fast as possible before the civil war ends."

"Why?"

"Because right now the Albionese monarchy is desperate, they see their defeat coming and are willing to do anything to stop it. We start making these things now and present them to King James, and he will empty his coffers into our pockets for them which will go directly into resupplying your tank. And on such a note, I'll need another piece of ammo if you want me to look into supplying your tank. "

A pang of guilt struck Louise at the girl's words as she nodded. " But don't you think it's wrong though?"

The blonde sighed. "Of course, it's wrong, but with weapons like these, we could save lives, pull more nobles off of the front lines of the war. Why send a fire mage to do the job when a commoner could be just as effective."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The pinkette relented.

"Now." The blonde started grabbing her attention, how about I show you what I've come up with for dragon riders."

xXXXx

So I just want to say sorry for the delay, I started working a few days after the last chapter and it drained me of my will to write. Hopefully, with the posting of this chapter, I'll be able to get back into my groove and begin a better update schedule.

Also i was wondering if there are any native German speakers in the audience who would be willing to lend a hand. I want to have Kirche speak German here and there to make her seem more real, but as i don't know the language myself I really don't want to rely on Google translate for the German.