Disclaimer: I don't own MGQ or ZnT.
Chapter XIII, Side A: Settling Dust
To The Lady Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. On behalf of The House of Mott, I bid you well, whatever time it may be that you would read this letter.
By now, I'm certain you've realized that I have allowed your acquaintance –the maid, by the name of Siesta Erdrick– to return to work at Tristain Magic Academy, as opposed to staying as a maid of my estate. Given the agreement I had made just last night with your proxy, this may come as a great surprise to you. I had, after all, retained the right to do whatever I wished with her contract from your charge's challenge.
Rest assured, however, that this act is not in any way, an insult to your person, your honor, or your family's. I am certain you will more than keep up your part of our agreement. Rather, I feel that in light of the fact that you clearly consider Ms. Erdrick enough of a friend as to come to my home late at night to ensure her wellbeing, that it would be better for everyone that she stays where she had originally worked. This by no means invalidates the agreement between us made previously.
Instead, I would have you see this as a measure of good faith, though one that I must ask you not speak of so candidly. A favor, if you will; one that I hope you may be able to return someday, should the need arise.
Sincerely yours…
Toussaint Guillaume Picquet, Comte de la Mott
Louise laid the letter flat on the kitchen table as soon as she was done, glancing quickly at the girl who'd given it to her in the first place, then to her familiar. Alexander returned the sideways glance. It was obvious to both of them –and likely anyone who knew what happened last night– who it was actually intended for, although only the two of them could tell what its actual purpose was.
The pinkette had to admit, she was starting to see more and more merit to Alexander's claims that Comte Mott was something more than what he seemed at first glance.
This was written to make it look for all the world as though she had essentially granted him a favor from the House of Vallière; that in itself was a good prize for many people. But given what he knew about Alexander…
Louise turned her attention back to Siesta, taking note of her nervous fidgeting. "All of this is true then?" she asked, "Comte Mott really just allowed you to leave and come back here? Because of Alexander and I?"
The young maid paused at her question, seeming to think it over, then nodded hastily. The pinkette's brow quirked up at that, but decided to stay silent. "That's, uh… the unofficial reason, at least… I think," she tried to elaborate, "Umm… officially, I was fired for not being an adequate maid, and the head maid, Ms. Felicity, decided that it would be better to help me regain employment here."
It didn't take much of a genius to figure out that those words weren't Siesta's own. They were both far too rehearsed and spoken with too little surety to be the case. But if written records were made about it, then it would at the very least pass scrutiny.
Worst comes to worst, people would believe she possessed some form of illness that the Comte found out about and didn't want to catch. Perhaps not the best for her in terms of her occupational interests, but Louise certainly considered it better than the alternative.
Still, for all that, Louise saw the words written for what they were, and clearly, so did Alexander.
And speaking of the prince; "I'm glad I was actually able to help then, even if only through giving Comte Mott a change of heart," he said to Siesta, the smile on his face befitting his station. It brought a noticeable flush on the maid's face, a nervous grin and averted eyes compounding her embarrassed look.
It almost took Louise's mind off of the letter, to know that she wasn't the only one who found Alexander's appearance very attractive. Although whether that was due to amusement or annoyance, she couldn't completely tell.
But now wasn't the time to contemplate something like that. "Yes… it… really does seem to be that way, doesn't it," Louise said, only just trying to hide how much she didn't believe that at all. Really, the pinkette couldn't even be certain if Siesta was unaware of what Mott had, at the very least, tried to do with this.
Not that it was particularly bad; the comte was simply trying to get on Alexander's good side; a 'measure of good faith' indeed. One that was only possible after he'd managed to win a favor out of the prince. It was both incredibly devious and clever ploy. Annoying in how obvious it was, yes, but even Louise would admit that, if she was in Alexander's position, her pride as a noble certainly wouldn't allow her to not repay him for what he'd done.
It didn't stop her from having the urge to tear the letter to shreds though.
"Ah… haha… yeah, I guess it is," Siesta laughed awkwardly, shuffling under the master and familiar's attention.
Louise glanced questioningly at her familiar; Siesta seemed to be acting… odd, ever since she came back, especially for someone who just went through what she did. The unsure shrug the pinkette got in return only enforced her thoughts further.
She hadn't been around the maid for much more than their trip to the capital, but if even Alexander found something inexplicably out of character, something must have been up. She didn't seem traumatized; although Louise would admit that her only background in judging that were books and stories. Still, it was something to think about.
"Er… well… seeing as you both are done eating as well, I… probably should stop keeping you here, Ms. Louise. I'm sure you still have classes to get to," the maid suddenly pointed out, reminding Louise that, yes, she did indeed have something else she needed to think about now. "Besides, I have to meet with the head maid here, anyway. She's making sure everyone knows what to do during Her Highness' visit next week."
Just like that, all thoughts of what class she had next flew away from Louise's mind. She began to shake; an awkward site, seeing as she was already in the middle of getting up when it was clear that Siesta was about to leave.
Woodenly, her gaze turned towards a now worried looking Alexander. It didn't take long for her to realize the issue she was now stuck with.
"What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do?"
-X-
"So what do you mean by 'What am I going to do'?" Alexander asked, his curiosity now sufficiently piqued by his summoner's dilemma. They were both back in Louise's room now, her classes for the day and the last of her punishment now behind them.
"Huh?!" Louise exclaimed in surprise, her head whipping towards him, her eyes wide and blinking owlishly, "Uh… um… what?"
"You've been stressed even more than normal since lunch," Alexander interjected, saving the pinkette from embarrassing herself further. "And ever since we got back here, you've been fidgeting, or pacing, or both, and muttering 'What am I going to do?' over and over and over again."
Her eyes never left him, still blinking as she took in what he said, even as a red flush began to cover her face.
"I… I…" Louise stuttered, breaking her silence, if barely, "I've been… saying that… out loud?"
"Every few minutes or so."
In hindsight, the matter-of-fact way Alexander answered probably wasn't the best way to deliver what he wanted to say. Still, Louise took it with as much grace as she could, only wincing slightly and turning to look away.
"How did father deal with mother when she was like this? ... Oh, right."
"Look, Louise, you know that you don't need to hide anything from me, right?" he opened up, mind whirling to think of a reason to follow up with that. He certainly couldn't say that it was because they were married. "You and I are friends, remember? More than that, we're master and familiar."
Another wince –smaller, but still– from the pinkette told Alexander that he may not have been entirely successful in trying to coax Louise into talking about whatever her issue was.
"You're a prince. I'm just the third daughter of a duke. I can hardly call myself your master," she pouted.
"Oh?" Alexander intoned, staring at her questioningly, "Aren't you the one who made such a big deal about summoning me and contracting me as your Familiar earlier?" he countered with a challenging smirk.
The pinkette's cheeks puffed up in response, but she remained silent and turned her head away. He had to wonder if being master and familiar had something to do with this, finding themselves turning each other's sermons against the other.
Regardless, he didn't bother pressing any further, not saying anymore and just waiting for Louise to begin speaking up. At least, he hoped she would.
"There's an exhibition in a week's time," Louise began, all of a sudden, looking at him over her shoulder, "We second years are supposed to put up a performance with our familiars for the whole academy to watch. This year, Her Highness, Princesse Henrietta will also be attending as well as filling the role of judge."
Alexander quirked a brow in confusion. "Okay, so I need to show off a little," he shrugged, "I really don't see the problem."
Despite how little he could see of her face, it was still pretty obvious that Louise's eyes widened in surprise at what he said. The pinkette made a quick about-face.
"You… you'd really be willing to do it? Just like that?" she asked disbelievingly.
Alexander frowned slightly at her tone. "Well… putting on a show for the sake of putting on a show isn't exactly something I do normally, but I don't particularly mind," he admitted, "I'm more curious about why you didn't just tell me earlier. You did summon and contract me as your familiar."
"I know that," Louise was quick to cut him off, pausing only to sigh. "I know that," she repeated, now far more subdued, "It's just… look, I get that you're fine not wanting to be treated like a prince all the time. Hell, you all but prefer it. Even if I'm not used to it, treating royalty as my equal isn't something I lack experience in. But this? Asking a prince, one who I all but kidnapped at that, to give a performance most people won't even give you credit for? That's… that's an entirely different case altogether."
The pinkette had already turned away near the beginning of her explanation, her face set in a scowl that looked more like a cute pout, one hand gripping the other arm tightly. She'd grown quieter as she'd continued, almost inaudible if not for Alexander's stronger than normal senses at the end.
The prince huffed amusedly. "Really now?" he asked with false exasperation, "That's it? That's your reason? Come on Louise, doing something like this doesn't bother me at all. If nothing else, you should've at least told me earlier. It's just a show," he admonished good-naturedly.
The pinkette growled under her breath. "Yes, well, that another thing that worried," Louise said, matter-of-factly. "I've told you before how my mother was a knight, right?"
"It's come up more than once since the first time. She used to work directly under the current queen, right?"
"As her personal bodyguard, yes," Louise confirmed, a hint of familial pride in her voice. She was quick to shake it off though. "But that's not the point. My point is that… well… I've always been taught that martial arts are meant solely for combat; that even using them in pointless fights is a waste, let alone for something completely unrelated to combat."
"Hmm… sounds like something Lady Granberia would say," Alexander noted aloud after a moment of thought. "It's a very militant view on Martial Arts, certainly, but even if it's not wrong, I wouldn't say it's completely correct either; that more of a philosophical aspect of martial arts than a core value," he proceeded to point out, turning his full attention back to the pink haired girl. Louise had a thoughtful expression, seeming to contemplate what he'd said. The silver haired prince continued: "Some people actually argue a completely different angle. They point out how 'Martial Arts' is both militant and artistic in nature, given its name; so they publicly perform routines that showcase their technique."
"Like jousting and curtain casting then?"
Alexander's brow rose quizzically at the unfamiliar term: "Curtain casting?"
"It's something that's done either as a performance or a spectator sport," Louise explained, "Essentially, two –or sometimes more– groups of mages cast very showy spells at each other. Sometimes it's choreographed, whereas in others, both groups set up effigies that the other team must destroy in order to win. It's a well-liked activity among the lower nobility, and something that some of the higher nobility enjoy watching."
Alexander nodded in understanding: "Something like that, yes."
"That, and the occasional exhibitionism, but I don't think the culture here would be too keen on that kind of thing yet. It's very pre-heavenly war like."
Louise seemed to take a moment to contemplate what she'd been told, noticeably far less frazzled now than earlier. It was a comfortable silence as far as the silver haired prince was concerned, so he'd let it be.
"So… you really wouldn't mind going up on stage and showing off?"
He smiled assuringly.
"Of course. It would be a first time experience too, performing for such a large group. That's always something to look forward to."
The pinkette took another moment to think that over, a thoughtful frown on her face as she cast her eyes towards the floor.
Her expression showed a lot more determination and confidence as she came to a decision, nodding her head before looking back up at Alexander. She asked a simple question: "Can you win?"
-X-
"Can you win?"
It didn't really matter much to her if he couldn't. …Well, okay, it did, but certainly not as much as the fact that Alexander was willing to participate in the first place. She still had to ask though. A win in the exhibition, something that would impress Princess Henrietta, would be something to take pride in. Not to mention good news to send back home… as long as she kept out the specifics concerning her familiar, that is.
"Hmm…" Alexander thought the question over, one arm crossed and the right thumbing his chin, his eyes downwards. Louise made her way to her bed as she waited for his answer. It took him a little over a minute to find it, and he answered with his own question: "All of the second years will be competing, right? The ones with black capes?"
"As far as I know, yes," the pinkette confirmed with a nod. She hadn't heard of anyone who wasn't going to join the competition as of yet, though it was admittedly still a ways off. But then, very few of her peers would ever willingly pass up an opportunity like this. She told him as such.
"If that's the case, it makes it a bit harder to judge," he admitted with a tiny frown. He dropped his hand from his chin, arm at a right angle and elbow beside his stomach, his palm open as though holding a goblet. The wind began to swirl atop it, audibly and visibly, despite its gentleness. "I'm certain I've seen all of the familiars from those in your year, and most of them… well, I wouldn't consider it bragging to say that I could probably outperform most of them. Probably all."
Louise looked at him questioningly at his tone. "And yet?" she broached, already guessing where this was going.
The prince's brow furrowed, his frown deepening ever so slightly, seeming to put more thought into what he said next. Finally, he looked up at her and continued: "Your classmate, Miss Tabitha and her dragon, will be the main obstacle. Though… Sylphid… I believe?"
Louise thought about her silent classmate's familiar. She never did catch what the dragon's name was clearly, but it sounded about right. "I… think so," she answered, although it didn't look like Alexander had heard. He seemed to have been muttering something to himself as she was thinking.
"Huh?" he intoned, eyes darting back up to her. He really hadn't been paying attention, Louise frowned at the thought. "Right, well, as I was saying. Sylphid–" he paused, glancing to the side as though looking at someone and hushing quietly, "while Sylphid isn't like any dragon that I know of, she's still a dragon. They're naturally awe-inspiring as is, and Tabitha herself is a skilled mage, as I'm sure both of us can attest to."
His odd behavior aside –something Louise was definitely going to ask about later– the pinkette conceded to his point. Not that it was unexpected. In any group where one person had a dragon, manticore or unicorn, and no one else had anything even nearly as impressive, the win was most likely to go to them, unless their performance was truly horrible.
Given that Tabitha, while not the kind of person Louise would expect to put much effort into an event like this, was also generally the best in her class at anything but theory –the one place only Louise beat her at, she was now somewhat proud to admit– made that unlikely. The things she'd seen the Gallian do during their fight only cemented that further.
Her lips pursed as she mulled it in her mind, eyes wandering. Tabitha was a prodigy without doubt, and always managed to do well in most everything with seemingly no effort. It wasn't unlikely that it would be the same in this situation. Not to mention…
"We still don't know what kind of gifts her dragon received either. And since it is a dragon…" Louise pointed out, more to herself than her partner, really. That didn't stop it from piquing his interest.
"Gifts?"
Broken out of her train of thought, she looked up at the silver haired teen, meeting his questioning eyes with her own. She wondered, for a moment, what it was about that which seemed to confuse him.
It didn't take long to figure it out, her eyes widening in realization.
"I… did I… not… speak about that… when we went over familiars the first night you were here?" she probed awkwardly. Louise could only laugh sheepishly to herself at his negative response.
Alexander didn't say anything back though, choosing to wait for further explanation. Briefly, the pinkette wondered if she'd done this enough times for him to expect some form of exposition from her in these situations.
Nonetheless, it was still needed. Besides, the awkward silence was really making her uncomfortable.
Louise cleared her throat and collected her thoughts, thinking back on all those books she'd read about the summoning ritual and familiars the week before Alexander and her had first met. There was certainly a simple way to approach this.
"You said you've seen all of the other second years' familiars, right? Surely you've noticed how they're different from other animals, right?"
"Yyyess… but…" Alexander responded with a nod, slowly and unsurely, "isn't that just normal for familiars to get? Intelligence upgrade, usually up to basic sapience? Paired with loyalty to their contracted master?"
The pinkette blinked. She supposed she should have expected him to know that much already. The concept of familiars wasn't exactly new to him when they did discuss it. Which, now that she thought about it, was probably the reason this was happening right now.
Well, it made things easier, at least.
"Yes, that one's the one Gift all familiars get," Louise said. "Familiars of inherently weaker mages will generally only have that. Most mages typically have familiars with additional Gifts; usually something which allows better communication with their master."
"Like sharing of senses, sharing of intent, conveyance of meaning or even the ability to talk in the master's mother tongue," Alexander filled in, still looking somewhat confused. "I'm already aware of all those. I suppose, in a way, those could all be called gifts, but I'm sensing that perhaps, in this context, that word might require capitalization were you to write it in a book. Not to mention, that you imply it would make winning more difficult."
The pinkette pursed her lips at the prince's words. He was certainly right about the writing portion; that was how it was always done in the books, and with good reason. Still, if he knew that much, but not about why it was called Familiar's Gifts…
"Oh…"
"Well, those only apply to average mages, and they're fairly widespread with little variation," Louise explained, confident now that she'd gotten to the root of his confusion. "That makes up a good portion of the nobility who summon normal animals as familiars. Stronger mages; those who summon magical or even just extremely rare animals, usually also gain one or two more Gifts. These tend to be more unique to the species or even the kind of magic their master specializes in. Though there have been multiple instances of multiple familiars getting the same gift, many have also been seen only once, at least when you get down to the tiny details. Hence, Gifts, or Tertiary Gifts, in this case."
The pinkette was glad –to be honest– that Alexander looked like he understood her explanation, simple as it was. None of her peers really listened to her about the theoretic portion of magic otherwise, not being to actually apply it and all.
"And naturally, being a dragon, we can expect that Sylphid will have some of these unique Gifts," the prince concluded, nodding in understanding.
"Probably two, given Tabitha's talents." Louise didn't exactly like the fact that she was so easily bested at so many things she wished she was good at by someone not putting anywhere near as much effort as she had. Still, there was no denying the ice mage's capabilities.
Alexander hummed ponderingly.
"How impactful are these Gifts?" He asked, finally.
Again, the mage recalled all that she'd read on the matter, along with her own personal experience in the matter. "Not much, most of the time." she admitted, "Usually, Tertiary Gifts are fairly simple, and only serve to make things easier for a familiar's master. Being able to cast a limited number of spells in their master's element is fairly common; one or two, maybe three spells which their master was already good at the moment they contracted.
"Others enhance or alter certain traits of the familiar animal. My mother's manticore can control the toxicity of the poison in its tail, or spew it out in gaseous form from its mouth, though mother has forbidden it from using that in most situations. Guiche's mole, from what I heard, can sniff out gems, which is odd since he –and House Gramont in general– usually prefer using metals. I've also read of a white wolf who tracked down a thief from one end of Gallia to the next once, but I'm not sure how true that story is. All in all, Tertiary Gifts are mostly situational. But if we're talking about how impressive it can look…"
"So it isn't something to get too worked up over, but also not something to completely ignore the possibility of?" Alexander posited.
"Not if we want to win," Louise replied, her expression completely serious.
"Might as well try, since I'm already participating," the silver haired teen shrugged back in response. "Still, that my opponent is dragon with a particularly adept master makes that difficult. Not to mention that they may have something we don't know about to make them look all the more impressive."
The pinkette nodded in agreement. They weren't the only ones they had to worry about, of course. There was Zerbst and her salamander too, much as she hated to admit it. Aumont and his bugbear could also pose a problem. Still, she had a warrior prince who could kick mini-tornadoes and punch mini-earthquakes, so they weren't as much of a concern. Guiche might be one too but… well, she didn't really expect much from him.
"I suppose if, instead of just me, we had a mock spar, we'd increase our chances of winning," Alexander suggested, looking at her for approval.
It got Louise thinking on the possibility, and there certainly was merit to it, but it wasn't without its issues.
"It's… a little too risky for my tastes," she ultimately decided. "The fight with Kirche and Tabitha didn't really go well, not to mention we don't have very long to practice. Then there's the fact that I'm still using more power than I would normally want. That isn't exactly the kind of thing I want to showcase, and it can be dangerous for more than just us."
"We'll have to get some targets for me to hit then," Alexander quickly pointed out, "Most of my techniques are based around combat. They could make for a nice show on their own, but they'd shine brightest with a target." He paused, contemplating their options. "I don't suppose you're allowed to take help from other students or teachers, are you?"
A fair enough question, and one that got Louise thinking. There were no rules against asking other students for help, as far as she remembered. Still, it would lower their impression if they took that route. She repeated her thoughts to Alexander. "We'd have to make the ending really attention grabbing, if we do that," she pointed out at the end.
Surprisingly, the obvious statement seemed to make him laugh.
"If all we needed was something really attention grabbing to win, I could always end it Typhoon of Babylon."
Alexander had spoken in a clearly joking manner as he'd brought up the subject, but Louise was completely serious now. He'd mentioned that spell before. Typhoon of Babylon, one of Alexander's teacher's –a knight of the wind, no less– favorites, she recalled. And if he was talking about it right now, probably knew it would be safe.
"How eye-catching would using Typhoon of Babylon be?"
All signs of amusement drained from Alexander's face as he looked at her in disbelief. Her questioning expression didn't change a bit.
He didn't like Typhoon of Babylon, for whatever reason. Louise was aware of that. Still, if he was willing to use it and it was something that could get the judges to give her the win, she'd take it.
"Err… I'd say very eye-catching," Alexander answered, "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it makes everyone suddenly pay attention but-"
"That's perfect then!" Louise cheered, grasping for the solution finally presented to her.
The prince didn't seem to fully agree with her though, giving her a very confused look as she got off her bed and began to gather her nightclothes.
"For that purpose, yes. But Louise, you don't even know what Typhoon of Babylon is," he pointed out, turning around with practiced timing to give his summoner some privacy.
"You're right, I don't," Louise admitted amidst the ruffling and shuffling of changing clothes. "You, on the other hand, very clearly know what it is, and I more than trust that you'll know what you're doing. If you think it'll dazzle everyone, then I'm sure it will."
"I… wouldn't exactly phrase is like that, but I guess that's one way of describing people's likely reaction," he conceded.
"Still, Louise, are you sure about this?"
"Yes, I am," she answered, the sound of shifting cloth having stopped.
The prince turned back around at that moment, briefly glancing over the Louise in her pale pink sleep gown. He sighed in resignation.
"Well, as long as you're certain. And I do want to win."
"Then it's settled," Louise nodded, clearly signaling the conclusion to their conversation. "Now all we have to do is find someone willing to make some targets for you."
"Something that can wait for tomorrow, I'm sure," Alexander replied with a gentle smile.
Yawning, the pinkette nodded once more, gentler this time. "Probably a good idea. I doubt we'll find anyone willing to make golems or the like at this hour." Very quickly, she settled into her bed, sliding under the blankets with practiced ease. Gave one final glance at her familiar, she finally felt the rest of the day catching up to her, her mind already drowsy the moment it hit the pillow. "Goodnight, Alexander."
"Goodnight, Louise," the prince greeted back, settling into his smaller mattress –generously provided by the school staff– and beginning the process of going to sleep himself.
-X-
Alexander weaved out of the way of a miniature tornado –not entirely successfully, but managing to dodge the worst of it– before crumbling a boulder that came from his left with a heel kick. "Kory ū Pike!" With a shout, his still raised foot smashed into the ground behind him, putting him in a horse stance. At the same time, the prince felt a pulse of power surge from the runes on his left hand –its glow dimming just the slightest bit– through his leg and into the earth.
A stalagmite of soil and dirt rose up, just in time to stop the stream of water aimed at him, the structure holding solid despite its seeming looseness. Alexander couldn't help but smirk at the sight.
"Derflinger, I've really got to hand it to you. This power of yours is useful enough as is with fire and wind, but adds so many options for my earth, and likely water too. Destroying your vessel was probably one of the best impulsive decisions I've ever made in my life."
"Gotta say partner, I don't know whether to be happy or angry about what you just said," The sword spirit groused in his head, though the amused tone was a dead giveaway to how he really felt. "I still can't believe something like this works though, but whatever. You're still using it in ways I can't say I've ever seen before."
A sense of alarm rang through Alexander's mind before he could respond. With the strength of the earth in his legs, he jumped backwards, far enough for him to be sure that he wouldn't be caught in what he knew was coming. Sure enough, an explosion rang out, its center a few steps right and behind from where he'd been standing, but still enough to take chunks out of his improvised shield.
He heard Louise's shout of frustration from the other side of the clearing and couldn't help but roll his eyes at the sound.
They'd only restarted their training in Onmyōdō this morning, given the lack of time and energy Louise had the previous days. He'd expected her to need some more time to practice her calligraphy, given how short her experience using kanji was, not to mention actually making charms. It came as a pleasant surprise, then, that that wasn't the case. There were some failed attempts in the beginning, but after a while, she managed to get around four out of every five ōfuda correctly.
After some time, Alexander had suggested she practice the application aspect of it through a… well, he wouldn't call it a spar, seeing as he wasn't fighting back, but close. The objective was to try to hit him, either way.
Louise had protested at first, originally thinking that he still wanted them to perform unaided for the exhibition. While Alexander certainly would've preferred it that way, this wasn't an avenue he was unwilling to ask aid in.
More than that though, the reason for this little session was just because Louise needed it if she was really aiming to be a knight like her mother. It was entirely possible she'd choose some other goal down the line, which was why he'd continue teaching her as much as he knew, but for now, this was the best thing he could think of without overwhelming her.
He'd said as much to his summoner and she had –albeit reluctantly– agreed with his reasoning.
It didn't take long for that reluctance to disappear though.
Even when using Gnome's power to further ensure he wasn't hurt –for both their sakes, he had to admit– Louise had a lot of difficulty hitting him. She was, to say the least, a pretty lousy shot. Oh the sheer volume of her attacks and the fact that they were at least aimed well enough in his general position meant that he still had to take action (especially when Louise learned to use them in tandem), but he was very rarely in the direct path of her attacks on purpose.
It didn't help that he'd begun experimenting with Derflinger's magic absorbing ability. An Animist's ability to emulate Elementalist magic was very limited, compared to the reverse, but with this, he had very little problem.
Louise had very quickly found frustration in the fact that he could block a lot of attacks by utilizing his newly made Koryū Pike technique to shield himself when dodging was either too difficult, or would put him in a compromising position.
The pinkette had found a workaround, granted, clever as she was. While the spires of dirt which would normally be easily kicked down were so imbued that they might as well have been made of solid rock, Louise had quickly found that her explosions did quite a number on them anyway. This was only a victory, of course, in the sense that she could break them.
It should bear repeating though, that Louise had horrible accuracy. And if her using ōfuda was bad, casting Halkegenian spells –which really, were just explosions for her– at a distance was far worse. On both ends, mind; the sizes of the explosions were very substantial and usually destroyed a good portion of his cover.
Still, she hadn't gotten a clean hit once, and was growing frustrated by the fact.
That brings us to now, really.
"Hey now, don't be so discouraged Louise," Alexander said, his voice, though not loud, easily carried in the silence of the clearing. "I've done stuff like this for a long time now and you're still a beginner. There's no shame in failing to hit me as you are now. Hell, I'm impressed you managed to get the hang of tandem casting on your own."
The compliment mollified her, somewhat. Louise still had that cute pout on her face, but at least she was no longer vocalizing her displeasure.
"I think that's enough for today anyway," he continued, easing his stance and approaching the pinkette, "You're down to… what… four or five charms now?"
Louise sighed in response, annoyed and resigned, but not disappointed. "Four; two fire, one wind, one earth." She looked at the path to the east, the trees sparse enough to see the horizon. "There's probably only an hour until breakfast anyway. I wouldn't mind the idea of resting a bit before heading back, I guess."
"That sounds like a good idea," Alexander agreed, sitting cross legged on the ground beside her.
The petite mage looked down at him for a bit, then at the grass and earth immediately around them, a disdainful look on her face. She looked over to where they'd tied down their horses, and the blanket she'd brought with them this time, and then back down around them. Finally, Louise looked herself over, sighed, and joined him in sitting on the grass, folding her skirt so as not to let them get to her knees.
-X-
They stayed in comfortable silence, just sitting there for a few minutes, taking in their surroundings and –for one of them– catching their breath. Using magic might not exert any physical fatigue, in theory, but shouting out spells continuously also got tiring. Then there was the phantom exhaustion of using a lot of Willpower over a short period of time.
The clearing around them looked as bad as the first one had, even if the signs of combat were less scattered. Half broken dirt spires, soaked grass, scattered leaves and twigs and scorch marks every few places along with the occasional crater here and there.
Yet despite how ruined the natural beauty of the clearing, Louise couldn't help but find just a bit of pride in it all.
She'd done this. Not all of it, mind, but she'd contributed so much to it with her spells; ones that worked and even ones which didn't. Even those spells, the explosions which resulted in her attempts to cast Brimiric spells, didn't seem so bad now. She still didn't like them much but they had their uses in their own way.
"I see you're getting more used to what you can do with magic."
The sudden comment brought Louise's attention back to Alexander.
The prince had a satisfied smirk on his face, very clearly enjoying the fact that his lessons had taken hold in her. She pouted back slightly, but she didn't feel much in the way of frustration at his smug look.
"You'd do well to practice what you preach before finding happiness in others following you, Your Highness." Her own tone surprised her just a bit, really, the way she'd sarcastically mentioned his station. She never would dare to do something like that to Henrietta, and she was the closest friend Louise had ever had. Yet here she was, snipping at a foreign royal she'd known for all of a few weeks.
Regardless of the inappropriateness of it all, Alexander wasn't offended whatsoever; the laugh he'd let out at her comment proved that easily.
"Yes, I suppose you're right," the silver haired teen admitted self-deprecatingly, "I do give advice better than I follow them, don't I?"
She couldn't help it, really. Alexander's mood was infectious, and the pinkette soon found herself smiling with him. "People our age are known to be hypocrites when it comes to the little things, unfortunately; even if we would wish others to believe otherwise."
"That's oddly philosophical of you."
Louise humphed jokingly. "Being around you so much has forced me to be introspective more than once," she snipped back at his teasing comment, every bit as absent in malice, "It should be expected, really. I don't know if you're the norm when it comes to royalty in your world, but you're different enough from what I'm used to to make me think about some things."
The silver haired teen chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment," he said with a sideways glance at her, his gaze soon returning to face the east and just taking in the sight.
Louise could easily understand his fascination easily. The morning sun's light, seen through the thin foliage, made for a beautiful view.
"Speaking of something to think about…" Louise broached.
He looked back to her, his brow quirked in curiosity.
"When we came here today, I actually expected to learn something new," she said bluntly, "Not that I'm ungrateful for what we've done. Getting better at casting what I can is definitely something I want to work on. That said, I'm still pretty curious about the different kinds of magic you can use."
"Ah," Alexander's expression turned to one of understanding, "Well that's understandable. What do you want to learn about then? If I recall, I said I'd explain about the preparation stage of Onmyōdō in our last morning session, if I recall."
She mulled the thought over for a moment. That was certainly something she wanted to learn. If there was anything she'd taken pride in in her previous year at the academy, it was that she was the most knowledgeable in terms of magic theory, even if she wasn't much good at anything else. Just because she could cast actual spells now didn't mean she had to let that go.
But there was something she'd been more interested in as of late.
"Actually, I was wondering if you'd be able to tell me more about the magic you're used to using."
He was slightly surprised at the object of her curiosity, but the thoughtful look on his face was enough to know he wasn't opposed to the idea. It did confuse Louise a bit, how Alexander seemed to be thinking about the matter far longer and with more intensity than one would think he would.
He'd shut his eyes and just seemed to zone out for all of a minute before he finally responded to her, a pleased smile on his face.
"That's a great idea, actually," he replied, "It's well passed the time I properly introduced you all to each other anyway."
A sudden gust of wind interrupted Louise before she vocalize her confusion, and suddenly there was a tiny face uncomfortably close to her own.
"Hello!"
-X-
Chapter XIII Side B: Meetings
Tamamo observed the occupants of the room as she waited for the rest of the Heavenly Knights to arrive.
Alice was doing better at hiding her unending frustration at the situation at hand, although her continuous tapping on the table was a dead giveaway of just how impatient she was getting. Still, she was holding on well enough now that they knew some way they were sure would let them get to Alexander.
Luka had been the first to arrive, which wasn't a surprise as he'd only been in the library when everyone had been called back. He'd seemed a little exasperated when he'd come in, but the somber atmosphere that Alice alone exuded drained whatever amusement he felt before he'd come in. That wasn't to say he wasn't worried, but he'd learned over the years to focus on what he could do to help fix a problem.
It helped that he never completely lost the optimism he had as a fledgling hero, despite how many times the world seemed to want to hammer it out of him.
Of her fellow heavenly knights, the only one who'd arrived already was, surprisingly enough, Alma Elma.
The Succubus Queen was currently seated across from the blonde kitsune, her chair leaned back and with her legs resting on the table in front of them. Her relaxed posture wouldn't have been out of place with how she normally acted, and were it not for the wan smile on countenance, Tamamo would've thought she'd bounced back from her own emotional slump.
Erubetie had still not arrived yet, but Tamamo could already feel Granberia's presence in the castle. The dragonkin had never been the most accurate in her teleportation, preferring skill and might over purer magic. As such, she normally only teleported to the main hall or her own quarters in the caslte.
The silent hum of power, felt more than heard, heralded the arrival of their fourth member at Castle Gehenna. Seemed Granberia would be the last to the meeting this time.
Erubetie's presence wasn't exactly difficult to sense, even when she hadn't truly arrived yet. Her own massive reservoir of spiritual energy, mixed in with the shards and fragments of those whom she absorbed –man, woman, elderly, child, human and monster alike– in her years of hate was very distinct. Even before she'd be close enough to catch her scent, Tamamo would be able to tell Erubetie's presence from that feeling alone.
Sure enough, the Slime Queen appeared right in front of the doors in a flash of light, a darker mass of slime hanging off her.
Said mass leaped off excitedly towards the only man in the room, landing beside Luka's chair with a squelch before reforming into the shape of a girl.
"Daddy!" Muria greeted cheerfully, completely immune to the mood of the room at large, "Look! Look! His name is Fred!" She lost none of her exuberance as she presented her newest acquisition to her father, pulling out what most would describe as a giant bug from out of her person and holding it up to him.
Luka chuckled at the sight, patting the slime girl's head, causing it to jiggle like some very pleased jello. "He's adorable Muria, nearly as much as you," he said endearingly, even if it was obvious to most everyone that he didn't really find the creature that appealing. Still, it made the little slime girl vibrate with happiness, so he was probably fine with it.
The kick of childish glee was vastly needed in the room, Tamamo admitted to herself. As odd as she found Muria, the little slime –and she did mean little, the girl was about as tall as most humans half her age– was still mostly innocent of many things. She was wonder that even the Ancestral Monster couldn't fully fathom. Still, she had the effect of easing the tension in the room. Even Alice was now looking on at the scene with more of a reminiscent smile than a hard frown.
"Muria, why don't you run along and show your new pet to your sisters? I'm sure they'd be happy to see Fred, and Rao can teach you how to take care of him," Erubetie urged her daughter, the slightest upturn at the corner of her lips the only indication of amusement at what had transpired.
"Okay!" Muria responded with little hesitation, nodding in agreement. She flattened all of herself barring her head and forearms –with her new pet still held between– on the floor and flowed to the door, stopping just in front of it before reforming and twisting to face them; the isopod in her hands retracting back into her body.
"Big Alice, Daddy, Momma Tamamo, Momma Alma," she called out to the rest of the room, curtsying politely with her dress shaped body to each of them in turn. They acknowledged her request to be excused in their own ways, though it didn't look like the slime girl much cared. All too soon, she'd opened the door and shut it back from the other side, undoubtedly crawling across the floor towards one of her sisters' rooms like the world's fastest slug.
"She's as energetic as ever, that one, but also always polite when she needs to," Alma Elma commented, her smile now more relaxed than lethargic. She turned a teasing smirk to Erubetie. "How do you do it Bets? I'd give anything for Nora to be like that."
"You and I both know that's not true," Erubetie called her out with no hesitation, her monotonous tone just tinged with subtle playfulness of her own. Both seemed content to leave it at that though, with the Slime Queen greeting Alice formally before taking her place beside Tamamo.
The Kitsune Queen still found herself a little disbelieving of just how much Erubetie had changed over the years. They all did, she was sure. The pseudo-slime who once could only feel contempt for humans in such large amounts and barely showed emotions even to her own kind had become far more personable in the twenty years since Ilias' fall.
Ah, but that was something to think about for another time. She could already feel the arrival of the last person who was supposed to be here, and she wasn't the only one.
Right on que, the door knobs turned and Granberia strode in with her ever present warrior's grace, decked in her armor but without her blade. "Your Majesty," she bowed, far too curtly to normally be given someone of Alice's station, and closed the door behind her before seating herself.
Alice didn't waste a single moment more than letting her last knight get comfortable.
"I'm sure you all know why I called you here from your search." Everyone else but Tamamo nodded their confirmation, which was more than enough for the Monster Lord. "We've already uncovered a method to reach Alexander. It won't be viable until over a week from now. I'll leave the details up to Tamamo."
The Kitsune Queen took to her que without missing a beat, standing up (on her chair, yes, but no one dared mention that) and beginning to explain her findings.
For all that they were some of the strongest people in the world and most sensitive to another's presence, none of them noticed the fist sized glob of blue slime that was now clinging to the underside of their table.
-X-
In a completely different part of the castle, a "similar" meeting was taking place.
"Before our last member arrives, does anyone have anything they wish to say?" Alicefeeze Fateburn XVII asked her coterie.
"Yes: This is stupid and I feel ridiculous just taking part in this," Agrias complained, very bluntly at that, as she leaned her head on one arm, her elbow at their own war table.
Of course, seeing as the nature of this meeting was such that they couldn't be seen or heard by others, said 'war table' was the only one any of them had which could comfortably seat five people. 'Comfortably' being a loose term, as said table was Rao's kotatsu and Agrias had just about had it with all the shit her sisters had her doing.
"Your opinion has been duly noted and eagerly discarded," Alice replied snappishly, "Now does anyone have anything useful to say?"
"Yeah! Can I at least stand up while you go through all this BS?!"
"Shut up and keep sitting down, you overgrown lizard!"
"That's easy for you to say, you don't have any fucking legs to die on you!"
"Ugh… could you both shut up already?! You girls are giving me a headache!" Eleonora interjected, propping herself up by slamming her hands on the tabletop.
"Right back at you virgincubus!" Agrias snipped turning her ire onto her other half-sister.
The comment had, very predictably, caused the white winged succubus to squawk.
"You're still a virgin too, scaleface!" Eleonora shouted back just as heatedly.
"At least I have a boyfriend!"
And on and on it went, her three older sisters arguing, as they were always wont to do. Rao took it all in relaxingly as she drank her tea with a smile on her face. Another smack on the table caused the tiny plate in front of her to jump up, at which point she took the opportunity to divest it of one of its fried treasures.
"Convincing Alice to hold this little meeting here was the best idea I've had all week," she thought to herself cheerfully, patting her own back for a job well done. Really, she only expected Alice –who wanted everything to be proper like an actual council meeting– and Agrias –who hated having to sit in seiza for too long– to start shouting at each other, but with Eleonora throwing her hat in, she could easily consider this little stunt to be a rousing success.
She'd put a stop to it before it came to blows, of course, which was always a risk with Agrias, but until then-
She felt a vibration in her pouch.
"Guess I won't need to do that after all… well, probably."
Externally, she perked up. "Muria's here!" the three tailed kitsune announced loudly, grabbing all three of her older sisters' attentions.
No sooner than they'd registered her words did the door to her room burst open, admitting the seven year old slime girl into the room. She promptly made a beeline towards the closest person in the room, a stray tentacle being the only thing which closed the door.
The Kitsune just continued to smile as her youngest of her sisters wrapped herself around her in the little slimes own version of a hug, before jumping on her next target. None of them protested the action, though Agrias had an unconvincingly annoyed look on her face.
Finishing up her circuit, the little slime girl jumped off of Eleonora's shoulder, across the table and splatted down beside Rao before reforming back to her three foot six self, false clothes and all. "Private Muria, reporting for duty, Your Highness!" she enounced enthusiastically, complete with a sloppy salute (in more ways than one).
Despite using the incorrect hand, the action put a smile on Alice's face. "Good to have you here private. And it's nice to see someone who actually has a sense of how import-"
"Rao! Look at this! Look at this! Isn't he cute?!"
Alice's commendation was quickly cut off by its recipients excited yelling, a fact which, to her chagrin, caused a pair of very amused smirks to be directed at her from her left. She was very visibly resisting the urge to have another outburst.
Meanwhile, Rao –who had also noticed but took to hiding her amusement, not that it helped– focused more on what her younger sister had brought to her attention now. "Oh, you caught a giant isopod this time," she said as she took the lilac creature into her hands.
It put up a token attempt at squirming against what it could instinctually tell was an apex predator, but otherwise just stared at her. She took the time to look the creature over.
"So you know what it is?" Muria gasped happily.
Rao giggled. "Well, if you mean by species, the no. But I recognize the type. This is a real big one too; almost half as tall as you are." Finished with her inspection, she began drawing a pattern onto the crustacean's shell, "I'm guessing you want to keep him as a pet then?"
"I named him Fred."
That was all she really needed to hear.
"Alright then, I'll look into how to take care of Fred later. For now…" she paused, focusing on the creature in front of her and somewhere else in the castle. A flash of light later and the isopod was gone. "I think it's best if we focused on what big sis Alice wants, hmm? Don't worry about Fred; I made sure he's in a safe place so you can see him later."
"Alright!"
So saying, the two turned their attention back to Alice, one very amused, and the other eager to see what kind of fun her big sis had planned for them this time.