Can anyone remember why exactly Fonquet was going for the Staff of Destruction specifically? I think it was a request from Reconquista or something but I'm not too sure.
"Only one guard?" Patchouli commented as their carriage drove straight through the unbarred castle gates to the Tristainian Academy of Magic. The sole guard gave them only a cursory glance but did not take any other form of action. Looking around the wall's battlements and parapets, she could not see any other form of watchmen or patrol.
It seems that de Orleans claims of lax security were to be taken seriously. How no one has taken advantage of this yet was beyond her. Perhaps this was where Fonquet was?
A castle filled with rich children who could be kidnapped, plenty of likely expensive things to be fenced and a whole vault filled with magical artifacts that were likely worth a fortune. That and security was extremely lax and there seemed to be minimal guards, the few there were being unable or unwilling to be competent.
"A consequence of noble arrogance." de Orleans said as she looked outside the window, her eyes thoughtful as she looked at… some trees.
"Yes. That would be an explainable reason." Patchouli agreed. An oxymoron as nobles should not really be displaying arrogance but rather humbleness, Noblesse Oblige and all.
She supposed that de Orleans implied that the nobles here thought that no one would possibly think of stealing from them and so did not bother putting up any form of security just in case some did. That was ridiculously stupid. Even by human standards.
The carriage slowed down as they reached what looked like the main building. Various servants hurried on with their tasks, but most if not all shot the carriage some curious looks before they disappeared around some corner outside of her field of vision. Not a single one seemed interested in being the reception to their sudden guests.
"And now what?" Patchouli asked. Even if the faculty here was careless, they could not possibly just be willing to allow two foreign nobles prance freely in their school. But then again, she could be overestimating them.
"I suppose that some of the commoner staff is calling for their superiors as we speak." De Orleans responded as the footman, an agent in disguise, opened the carriage door for them.
It took only a minute for a green haired woman, in a clean outfit that set her apart from the rest of the commoner staff, to hurriedly fast walk towards them, her mouth moving constantly in a way that expressed that she was certainly upset or angry with someone. Her words become more legible as she drew closer.
From the sound of it, she was angrily rambling on about some old man and him being a quote 'lazy molesting ass'.
This of course, all stopped when she stopped in front of them and politely bowed. Her tone was now polite and curt compared to the harsher rumbling. "Good morning. I am Miss Lougueville, the secretary of the Tristainian Academy of Magic. How can I help you?"
"Good morning. I'm Josette de Orleans." Josette introduced herself and waited for Patchouli to follow.
Suppressing a sigh, Patchouli introduced herself by her rather odd noble name. She could understand that knowledge would not be a convincible noble name but she preferred it to "And I am Patchouli de Knowl."
"And your business here?" Lougueville asked. A bit too interested than normal but not suspiciously so.
"Just a visit. My friend is an avid scholar and would be interested in the prestigious library that you keep maintained here." de Orleans said, speaking for Patchouli, who was completely fine with that.
"Of course, there is no problem with that. May I ask for how long will you stay." Lougueville asked politely.
"Just a few days." Patchouli answered this time. That should be an adequate amount of time to find and read the books that were not found in the much larger Gallian library.
"Very well. I'm afraid that we cannot provide accommodation however." Lougueville said sounding somewhat apologetic as was appropriate.
"That is fine. We have our own accommodations in Tristainia." de Orleans said, her tone reassuring.
They did. They went from Tristainia to Tristain's Academy of Magic as soon as they arrived in the city. She supposed that this was another minor detail that de Gallia arranged but did not tell her, instead passing it along to de Orleans.
"Well then, do you require a tour of the premise?" the secretary of the Tristainian Academy of Magic asked.
"That would be appreciated." de Orleans replied as Patchouli nodded in agreement. Getting lost would be a waste of their time later and would be inconvenient. But then she only needed to go to the library no?
…
Actually it would be good to take a look at what kind of magic they taught here. Their brand of elemental magic was universally inferior to hers; and she was certain that many human magicians' here would not believe her claim that she used spirits in her magic.
But they may have a unique idea somewhere hidden with mediocrity. Humans were experts at adapting their methods so they have to spend less times doing menial things.
But then again… the humans of this world were shamefully behind the ones in her world.
"May we be guests in lectures?" Patchouli asked the green haired magician.
"As long as you do not disrupt the class, there is no problem with that. However classes are off today." Lougueville replied, accepting of her request.
"Tomorrow then?" Patchouli noted and went quiet again. Miss Lougueville waited for a few awkwards moments for the purple haired magician to say something else before it became clear that nothing was forthcoming.
"I will have a maid provide you a tour. Your carriage can be left by the stable." Lougueville said as she gestured to a distant stable further away.
"Very well. Thank you very much." De Orleans said.
"And this is the Vestri Court milady's." the maid that was touring them said. She gestured to her left outside the window to the extremely wide open courtyard.
Patchouli suppressed the urge to sigh and show her boredom. This was necessary for her to understand the premise and not get lost.
de Orleans had suggested that they stay for a few days and allow her to study in the library. Of course, this would be under the pretense of looking for Fonquet.
It was a somewhat plausible excuse. The Tristanian Academy of Magic apparently kept a magic vault holding several mystical and ancient artifacts. There were likely a number of people, including herself, who wanted to obtain such items.
She wondered if she could get the thief to steal something for her from the vault. It would be faster than waiting for de Gallia to pass one along to her.
She would even be willing to pay the thief. While she had no money in this world she could make jewels with her magic, her preferred one being emerald. She was not certain an emerald would be worth here, but she could build entire buildings made of it and that must be worth something.
She paused as she saw a large grouping of students form in the court. She frowned as she examined their ahead-of-their-time uniform.
While it was appropriate by her world's standards, it was centuries, or maybe thousands in this world's case, ahead of its time. She had thought a early renaissance society frowned upon the baring of too much flesh on woman. Skirts above the knee were considered scandalous and inappropriate for a lady of this period.
But now that she thought about it... There did not seem to be a lot of the sexism that permeated her world in this one. She supposed that it could have somehow contributed to this type of clothing being appropriate.
"Is there some sort of event today?" de Orleans asked in curiosity towards the gathering.
"Um... No, I am not aware of any being scheduled." the maid hesitantly said in worry.
"Shall we go watch then?" de Orleans offered Patchouli. She would be lying if she was not interested in seeing what the commotion was. But then she doubted that a spectacle made from students of a rudimentary magic school would be all that impressive.
Patchouli shrugged as answer, whether they went or not did not really matter that much. "It does not matter to me."
That was enough of an answer for de Orleans who asked the maid to lead them through the quickest route to the gathering. It seems she was far more interested.
It was when they drew closer that she could see why. She was fairly certain that that was Tabitha in the crowd there. The rather small dragon standing on all fours by her side was a new sight.
It was when she saw a flourish of red hair next to Tabitha that she began to opt out of this, quickly slowing down to stay at the back. The last thing she wanted was the girl to repeat the same comments where so many could hear.
Many a student gave a look of scorn at the maid leading them nervously navigated her way to the forefront of the crowd. This was turned into surprise when they saw Josette who was essentially a Tabitha look alike and they politely moved aside when they finally realized that they were in fact guests of the academy.
"A duel." Patchouli concluded when they reached the inner part of the crude ring of students. Standing in the center was a blond boy who seemed to give off an aura of arrogance, and not the good kind if that was possible.
"It is. I would have thought duels between students would have been banned." de Orleans commented as the maid that led them shyly placed herself between them.
Patchouli agreed with that sentiment. They were in a facility where adolescent were taught to use their volatile magic responsibly. As such the chances of them doing exactly that were predictably low. She could only imagine how much damage an adolescent with a damaged ego could do.
Oh wait... She already knew thanks to a certain two individuals. At least those two were courteous enough to host a party afterwards for all the trouble. She doubted that these nobles present would do the same.
"I assume the blond flower will be fighting. So where is the other fighter?" Patchouli blandly asked a rhetorical question.
It appeared that the flower heard her and misinterpreted her words as a compliment as he winked at her.
...
She felt disturbed by the action and will endeavor to cleanse it from her memory.
"I can't tell whether that was a compliment or insult." de Orleans noted as her eyes seemingly scanned the crowd.
"The latter." Patchouli said and noted, with amusement, that the wall flower wilted as he eavesdropped on them.
A flower maybe pretty to look at but place it under pressure and it broke exceedingly easily. Unless it was those in the Forest of Magic; but those could be explained by all the magic in the soil, roots, leaves and well, just about everywhere there.
A sudden round of chatter inclined her to turn her head to see, who she supposed was the opponent/challenger.
Dressed in what she supposed was the girl's uniform and sporting bright pink hair, she did not look all the intimidating. But then, neither did half the residents of Gensokyo but they were plenty powerful.
Behind her was a black haired maid, not too unlike the one that guided them here, but was far younger.
The two of them seemed to be trying to persuade the one at the forefront of something. And that person was…
…Well that was an interesting twist.
"Unless the flower is some unimaginable prodigy; he has lost." Patchouli stated as a fact.
"How are you certain of that?" Josette asked, not understanding her reasoning. Of course, the woman in question appeared normal to everyone else but even she did not know her full power.
Danmaku meant no one was ever fighting at full power and it was a requirement to leave some opening to be defeated. Of course, with those rules lifted; it would be interesting to see.
"She is from my world and I am quite friendly with her." Patchouli answered.
"Do you mean that she's one of those who don't find the creation of a small sun impressive?" she recalled from a previous conversation.
"She's not that level yet. I suppose she is somewhere around my level." Patchouli replied after some thought. Unless she was holding back far more than she knew, she was not one the same level of Gods and Yakumo just yet. She would be more on her level; about midway.
"Around your level…" de Orleans let that sink in before giving a nod to her prediction, her eyes now twinkling with sympathy to the blond noble. "Do you mean she can also shoot small suns?"
"No. Her specialty is something else." Patchouli replied. "Though she could very well likely bring out a comparable amount of explosive power."
She glanced with impunity at the blond flower that seemed so confident in his victory. She did not know why he was dueling with someone like her but he must either have been mad enough to challenge her or must have done something exceedingly dumb to have provoked someone that was generally mild mannered. "This will be painful to watch."
Finally decided that Saito would too dull even if he would still make sense since him and Patche are both from Earth. Instead I'm using someone else and it is in fact not Youmu or her yet to be seen grandpa. Being the only one using swords, aside from the forgotten Yumeko, that would be too obvious. I will hopefully enjoy writing the next chapter.
