David sighed, ending off another song on his guitar, and sat still for a few seconds before returning the instrument to its case, closing the lid and clasping it closed, before sitting cross-legged, arms crossed and eyes closed in thought.

"What are you doing now?" Louise asked, getting out of her bed to stand in front of him, looking down at him with a mixture of confusion and exasperation. "You've been doing nothing but playing that Oracion song and meditating for the last few days. What's got you so bothered?"

He blinked, looking up at her, though he didn't uncross his arms. Obviously, he couldn't tell her what was really on his mind, but luckily, he had planned out an excuse in case she asked.

"Something I heard from Malicorne while I was training with Derf since I didn't have my guitar." he lied, referring to the first side character whose name he could think of. "There's some kind of messenger coming by soon or something?"

Louise blinked, before nodding. "Right. Count Mott, a messenger for the Palace. He comes by the Academy every now and then."

David nodded. "What's he like?" he asked, uncrossing his arms and holding onto his thighs in a resting position, still looking up at her.

Louise's face twitched, and she groaned. "Arrogant, irritating, perverted." she listed off. "Even Guiche doesn't like him."

David laughed. Of course...Definitely one of the worst people for Siesta to be noticed by. he thought. "I'll have to meet him." he said with a grin.

"You're not challenging another noble just because you don't like them!" Louise exclaimed immediately. "I forbid you!"

David waved his hands in defense. "I wasn't going to, I just wanted to see what he's like!" he defended. I know I don't like the guy already, but I need as much information as I can get.

~~~Later~~~

David stood next to the other familiars, leaning on Sylphid's side as he watched the horse-drawn carriage enter the large gate serving as the entrance to the academy grounds. Louise stood nearby, glancing between him and the carriage, and for once, Derf had decided not to speak, resting quietly in the sheath on David's back, under the second sheath containing the useless gold sword, which David had opted to carry despite its lack of purpose for the sake of not insulting Kirche. Of course, being made of gold, it was very heavy and kind of made his back hurt.

As the carriage slowed to a stop in front of the group of students who had collected around the area in curiosity at the visitor, whom none had seen as they were all first or second year students and had not been there the last time he'd visited, David adjusted his weight, standing straight up and crossing his arms, mostly to keep himself from toppling over at the weight of the cosmetic sword.

Pure gold was a bad idea for a weapon for many reasons.

When the carriage stopped, the door opened, and out stepped the Count, who David immediately focused on, observing the way he moved and how his face looked.

As expected, his style of walking suggested an overabundance of confidence, and the smile on his face looked like it was not there due to happiness, though it didn't seem to be faked either. Maybe David was just a little too suspicious thanks to knowing what the Count was like, but he seemed to notice more about the man than he thought he would.

The red mantle he wore denoted him as a noble, though that much was obvious...though perhaps its color implied that he was a messenger? Or maybe it simply signified that he was a Count, David never really did learn how the cloak system worked in the show.

Of course, there wasn't much to do now relating to the man, so he simply watched as Mott walked into the Academy, heading to Osmond's office to deliver whatever message it was that he'd been sent to give, and within moments, the crowd of people had dispersed.

He looked around, and was surprised to find that Louise had already left. She did have class that day, it made sense that she wouldn't bother to say goodbye to him before vanishing, so he simply shrugged it off as normal.

Well, he didn't need her anyway. Today, he was planning on checking with Kirche about the book, a conversation that no doubt would be awkward for him, though he had a fairly solid excuse for knowing about it.

However, that plan would have to wait, as Sylphid reached her head down to tap at his head with the tip of her beak.

He rubbed his head where she'd tapped it, looking to at her, and she tilted her head to motion to someone, and he followed her movement, blinking as he saw her owner, the quiet Gallian Chevalier, walking up to them, carrying her staff and a book as she usually was.

He smiled, stepping away from Sylphid, but Tabitha simply shook her head, pointing her staff to him.

"I wasn't here for Sylphid." she said quietly. "I wished to speak with you."

He blinked, surprised. Here was an event that certainly did not happen in the anime...he couldn't remember Saito even speaking with Tabitha until much later. Had he messed up the timeline somehow by being around Sylphid too much?

"Um...sure, what is it? You're Tabitha, right?" he said, and she tilted her head in a small nod.

"Sylphid likes you." she said. "You know her." Her tone made him gulp. How much had he accidentally revealed to the dragon? He couldn't have told her anything about the future, he'd been very careful about that!

"You can understand her?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"I cannot speak her tongue, though she understands me." she replied, and David let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "But I can see her emotions in her eyes and how she moves. She is comfortable with you. I wished to thank you, for taking care of her while class is going."

He smiled at her, holding the back of his head with a hand. "It's no problem, really...We're both familiars, after all, it's normal to be friends."

Another shake of the blue-haired Square mage's head. "She is afraid of humans." she stated. "You are special." She turned around, walking away without any further words, heading off person to class.

David and Sylphid exchanged a glance, before he laughed. "Your master is a good person." he said to the dragon, who closed her eyes in an expression of happiness and nuzzled the side of his head. He laughed again, reaching his arm up to run his hand along the top of her snout.

"And you're a good person too, Sylphid."

Well, if Tabitha was skipping class, that meant Kirche was probably in class too, so the idea of mentioning the manga was out the window. Oh, well, he'd just follow along with the more canon route, though Tabitha appearing had sort of shaken his confidence that everything would go properly. He hadn't even planned for her to ever speak with him, he didn't remember her talking much at all in Season 1, so if she was already starting to talk to him, it could prove bad for when he actually set his plan in motion.

~~~That night~~~

It took less preparation than he thought to get ready for heading to Count Mott's mansion. Louise had gone to sleep early, and it proved very easy to find a horse. It was a good thing he knew enough French that he could read a map he'd 'borrowed' from Louise, because there wasn't going to be much help here.

After checking to make sure he was safely on the horse, an animal he had never ridden before - he took the reins and whipped them, causing the animal to start into a run out of the academy grounds.

It was surprisingly easy to gain control, and within a few minutes of riding, he was able to both direct the horse's speed and direction and read the map at the same time, though he didn't know why. Perhaps Gandalfr had a tiny overlap with Vindalfr that he wasn't aware of.

However, the ease of the ride did not help the fact that he was riding bareback for two hours, so by the end of it, he could barely walk straight from how sore he was. At least the horse stayed still as he headed towards the manor.

He didn't plan on confronting Mott. That was a bad idea on many accounts, and he was uncertain how it would end out, so instead, he opted to do a little research into the man by finding a poorly guarded area of the mansion and entering through an open window.

Screw direct confrontation, if he could find something incriminating, it would only be easier to do this, and the heirloom book may not actually be necessary if he could find something particularly useful.

Unfortunately for him, he ended up in, of all the rooms in the mansion, the main guardroom. So, as soon as he stepped inside, he found himself surrounded.

"..." He stared at them, before grinning sheepishly. "Oh, sorry...wrong house." he said.