"Chu-Chu!" The old human, Osmond, cried out in obvious grief, putting his head in his hands as tears ran down his cheeks. "Those little whiskers and paws, gone forever! I'll never look through those beady little eyes again!"

I felt incredibly awkward standing there next to Louise. Apparently the mouse I caught was the old human's pet, or at least that was my best guess. Immediately after absorbing the components, Louise had gathered my traps and taken them directly to this office. Soon some other adults, I believe they were teachers, came and Louise told them what happened.

Just one thing confused me. If the mouse was a pet, why was it sneaking about instead of being kept safe in a cage somewhere? What was it doing in the girl's dorms in the first place? It wasn't like there was much food there.

I couldn't help but think Osmond should have just taken better care of his pets in the first place, though he was obviously greatly saddened. I did feel a little guilty. Only a little, though.

"Oh, Osmond." Professor Colbert looked on in sympathy.

"The things we saw, together!" He sobbed loudly. "You can't even imagine."

"What happened to the body?" A woman I hadn't met before spoke up. She was dressed in a severe, professional manner with long green hair, and was quite pretty.

"...Raphtalia ate it." Louise answered her.

I heard my name, so I guessed they were talking about me. But why did the secretary then give me such a strange look?

"Eaten!" Osmond cried out with renewed despair. "He was my familiar for six decades, and I can't even bury him!"

"Really?" Then Colbert looked at me strangely.

It was a mouse! Of course I killed it. What else was I supposed to do?

Louise coughed. "I was surprised too. She's had a growth spurt of sorts, so I guess she's hungry."

"Growth spurt?" He was leaning closer and peering over his glasses at me. It wasn't like he was leering, but his gaze was starting to unnerve me. "In just a few days?"

"She's taller now by a good few inches than when I summoned her."

"How interesting."

The woman cleared her throat. "Well, what did you want to do about this then, Osmond?"

"I just don't know!" The old man broke into renewed sobs. "If only someone would hold me, I might be able to calm down a little and think this through."

She heaved a long sigh, before walking over and putting a hand on his shoulder. The old man seized the limb to pull her into an awkwardly close hug that pressed her chest to his. The woman immediately jerked out of it and shot him an angry look.

"Oh, Chuchu. Even in death you're memory will guide me in our shared quest for years to come." The oldman wiped the tears from his eyes and seemed to compose himself. "Honestly, I just don't think there's anything to do about it."

Colbert nodded. "I agree. She probably saw, uh, Chuchu in the room, and thought of it as just a pest."

"Or a snack." Osmond muttered something.

Louise breathed out a subtle sigh, that I seemed to be the only one to notice.

"My only question is why he was in the girls dorm in the first place?" The woman gave a long look at Osmond.

"W-What I want to know, is why we can't, er, ask young Raphtalia here about these events directly?" Osmond was looking at me now.
"What do you mean, sir?" Louise subtly stepped forward so she was between me and the old man. What was going on? Were they talking about punishing me?

"Well, surely someone could cast a translation spell for the poor girl?"

Suddenly they were all looking at Louise.

"I-I'm not sure I can cast the spell on her safely, sir." What was on the floor that Louise suddenly found so interesting?

"Ah, I see." Osmond stepped forward. "Than if you don't mind, I can?"

"S-sure." Louise turned towards me and put a hand on my shoulder. Using Tristainian words I understood, she tried to explain what was happening in a calm voice. "Colbert cast spell."

"Hurts?" I asked

"No." She shook her head. "Good spell."

"Promise?"

"Yes."

I was still feeling nervous, but I didn't think Louise was likely to lie to me. She put her hands on my shoulders and steered me so I was between her and Colbert. He began to chant something I didn't recognise, leaving a hint of hot sparks trailing from his staff. His chant ended and he pointed the tip of it towards me. One of the sparks shot out of the staff and I flinched as it seemingly passed straight through me.

"There." Colbert looked satisfied. "Do you understand me, now?"

I blinked in shock. "Y-Yes." Somehow the words he spoke sounded completely natural to my ears. It was just like I was speaking Melomarcian, but I could identify the different sounds and their meanings without any hesitation.

"Excellent. The translation spell seems to be working fine." He turned to Osmond."

"You can cast a translation spell?" I blurted out. The only magic I knew of capable of that was one of the cardinal or vassal weapons.

"Why, yes I can." He smiled at me. "I would have done it sooner if I'd thought of it."

I turned towards Louise, who hesitated before smiling at me sadly. "I was worried I might hurt you by accident if I tried casting it."

I nodded slowly in understanding. "Well, it's nice to finally be able to talk to you."

"Yes, we'll have a lot to talk about."

"For now, it's past time I introduced myself, young miss. I'm Osmond, the headmaster of this academy." He stated it somewhat grandly, his voice carrying the weight of age.

"I'm Raphtalia." I answered simply, bowing my head low when I did. Obviously I wanted to ask more, but Louise was looking a little nervous for some reason. Maybe it would be best to hold my questions for Louise when we got back to our room?

"I wanted to ask you about why you killed my familiar, Chuchu?"

"The mouse?" At his nod I continued. "It was in our room, and it's unhygienic." Then I added after a moment. "Also for the experience."

"The experience?" Colbert repeated the word in a confused tone.

"That's right."

"The experience of killing a mouse?" He sounded like he didn't believe it.
"I know it's not a lot, but yes."

All three of them looked at each other, slightly confused. The woman was the one to answer. "Louise said you might have been hungry?"

At the mere mention of food my stomach started growling, and I blushed in embarrassment. "Y-yes. Is dinner soon?"

Again they all looked to each other. "Louise, why don't you take Raphtalia down to dinner, while we decide what's to be done?" The woman suggested.

AN: And here I thought the translation spell would help clear up the misunderstandings.

Someone shared a source with me that said Raphtalia's height is 170 cm, so she'd be as tall as Kirche. I wasn't very far off at all with my guess. It might be fanon, but I'll work with that. Louise would be a full head shorter than her.

Please inform me of any mistakes I've made.