Chapter 2: The Mysterious Student

During an early morning at Clock Tower, Gray was running some errands for Reines. She was looking for some eye drops for Reines' Mystic Eye sensitivity. Making sure that her hood was snugged tightly around her face, she walked around the premises with Add hidden under her jacket.

She took out a small list of items to get from her small notebook.

"Let's see, Reines also needs me to get some ingredients to fix Sir's hangover from last night. I hope he had fun with his friend. I wonder if Reines is trying to get me to meet other people instead of sticking with Sir all the time…"

Gray slowly walked towards a nearby store and saw Svin and Flat hanging out. They were playing around with a cat. She went closer towards them to check up on it. They were feeding it some canned fish.

"It's Gray! What are you doing here?"

"Flat. Svin."

Flat happily waved as she got closer to them. Svin was hiding his blush from her, trying to keep a serious face. The two of them were trying to figure out how to make the cat love them using Magecraft from Waver's lecture. Gray went towards the cat and brushed its fur. It purred happily as it ate its meal.

"Love Magecraft? But the cat already accepted the food. Does that mean it loves you now?"

Flat answered her question.

"We're not sure. The Big Ben London Star himself said that love has many different origins to use in Magecraft. If we don't keep giving it food, would the cat leave us? We'll have to see."

Svin looked to the side, trying to add to his answer.

"The Professor sure is something. Asking us about something like this. Wonder what he really wants us to learn. A concept so simple yet so complicated."

Gray thought to herself about it. What is love? How could love be used for Magecraft? Is it just a simple feeling? She blushed thinking about it. About Waver.

"Sir might be trying to be understanding. He is helping us learn it, after all."

Flat sneaked close to her ear to whisper something to her.

"By the way, we found someone that might help you with that. Care to listen?"

"Eh? About love?"

Svin quickly interrupted them. He pushed the two of them away from each other, hiding his blush from her. He glared at Flat before shaking his shoulders.

"Aren't we interrupting her errands enough, Flat? Tell her later!"

"Got it!"

Later that afternoon, Waver went to investigate on the broken Seal. It was inside the basement of the Clock Tower, where a section of the wing was used for storing books and conducting experiments. There was a faint smell of a foul odor, reeking of sulfur and coal. He went towards the floor to check up on any residue leftover from the scene.

"Reveal yourselves. Magecraft residue."

Waver drew a small magic circle around the room and put his hand on it, sensing for anything strange around the room. Strangely enough, there didn't seem to be any response. He went closer towards the unsealed box to reveal dust in a shape of a lips, painted on like lipstick.

"You just came here, Lord El Melloi II?"

"What do you want?"

He turned around to see Hishiri Adashino behind him. She was in her usual kimono attire and was checking up on him. Since Waver was still recovering from his hangover the other day, he didn't notice her sneaking up behind him.

"What does the Department of Policies want to do with this case? Leave me alone if you don't have anything for me."

"How rude. There is more to this mystery than what is in this room."

She pointed towards the disheveled books around them. Small stacks of scrolls were to the side of the room. There was another mark near the broken Seal, with many dust particles surrounding it. Waver immediately went towards it. He walked slowly with his slightly disheveled hair getting in the way of his sight.

"It looked like the entity escaped somewhere through there. It looks like it didn't cross through any Bounded Fields around Clock Tower. So, it could still be lurking around here."

"I don't know whether or not to be relieved with this kind of information, Adashino."

"How so? Can't you get it Sealed again?"

"…"

Waver then used the leftover magic residue to find a pattern within the room. There was still a mild scent left behind by the person. Whoever released it must still be around or near Clock Tower. The Magecraft was sparse, indicating that the mage user had been careful in not leaving behind much evidence.

There's something strange about this Magecraft. That kiss trademark was made way too obvious. It's like they wanted me to find it. What does this mage want?

"Adashino, did anyone come to this room recently? Even visitors would suffice."

He looked at the room around them. Something to this extent would have been obvious if someone wanted to break a Seal inside the room. To not know about an incident like this immediately felt strange. There could be more to this case than he anticipated.

"There has been mages that have come to this room, Lord El Melloi II. Do you already suspect them?"

"That's the first for suspects. They could still be around to see what happened to the entity. Otherwise, why would they want to go through all that trouble just to run away?"

Adashino chuckled at that remark. She hid her face with a sleeve of her kimono.

"Good point. It wouldn't be unexpected for the culprit to return to the scene of the crime."

Waver looked at her before he sighed. He still needed more time to investigate the room, but he would have to check the records of the mages that came around Clock Tower first. Adashino did try to help him, but she seemed to come out of nowhere. He didn't want to suspect her, due to the possibilities of other mages that could have done it. Mages were known to be scumbags, taking every opportunity they can to reach the Root. Something like this wouldn't be too far off for a typical mage.

"Then, get us go check out the Clock Tower's records, Adashino. But you don't have to come. I can go by myself."

"You don't want me going with you? That's fine. I have already bothered you enough."

Adashino smiled before she left him alone, inside the basement wing, full of books and a broken Seal that had disheveled and dirtied the room. Waver quickly went outside of the room and took a smoke near the front door. A few mages walked past him, carrying some boxes.

He leaned on the wall, taking a short break.

But the kiss trademark. I think I know who it is. But I'll really have to check the records to see if she really did come to Clock Tower. That form of Magecraft…

During the afternoon, Gray was looking around for the person who could help her with her feelings on love and Waver. Flat had told her that there was a student in Clock Tower who could reveal to her to see if her love is true or not or was just a feeling.

"Sir did mention that there were many forms of love from his lectures, but I just want to see if I could be loved or can love someone. Flat and Svin were really helpful in helping me understand it as Magecraft. Let's see what else is possible."

She took out her notebook again and followed a path that Flat had drawn for her around the area. A small flock of doves were gathering near a corner of a building. One of them flew past her, blowing her hood off.

Gray quickly put her hood back on.

"Wow! There's a lot of doves flocking around Clock Tower. Did someone put food crumbs all over here?"

Then she noticed a small girl hiding in the corner of a building, feeding some of the doves. She was hidden near an alley, with a small tent beside her. Gray couldn't see her face but didn't want to intrude too much. It could be who Flat was talking about.

"Do you know Flat Escardos? He said that you could tell me about love. I know it sounds strange and all, please forgive me."

The girl muttered a word.

"Yes."

"It's fine. You don't need to tell me more. I'll help you as best as I can."

She nudged Gray into the small tent. There was a crystal ball with a small table inside. The light was dim and had a reddish purple tone to it. It had an atmosphere of a traditional fortune telling séance. Gray sat down on the pillow on the floor, kneeling towards her. She quickly put the birdcage next to her. She felt a faint sense of something foul but ignored it, not wanting to cause anything towards the girl.

"Does doing this kind of activity help with anything? We already learn Magecraft in the Clock Tower."

The little girl shook her head and didn't say anything.

"Ah! I'm sorry! My name is Gray, and I haven't asked yours yet."

"Maribel. Maribel Ellen. I'm a Clock Tower student from the Botany Department."

She showed Gray a little bit of her face, which had some gray streaks around her hair. She quickly hid her orange hair, making Gray notice that she tended to hide her face as well.

"It's still interesting to do those things that non-magi students do in school. Even if there's no Magecraft involved, it's kind of like a form of play."

She touched the crystal ball and made the inside of it glow with mana. After giving Gray a small light show with it, she offered to do what she asked from Flat.

"So, you want to know about love? The perks of teenage adolescence…"

"Ah!"

Gray blushed, keeping quiet from Maribel's remarks. The two of them stayed in the tent for at least an hour, before she gave her something to take home. It looked like a small bag of treats.

"Take this. It would help you on understanding what love is. You don't know what kind of love you're feeling, right? May you will see your true feelings."

"I don't know. I haven't told Sir about it yet. And his lectures can be confusing sometimes. I need to learn a lot from him…"

Gray shook her head and took the bag from Maribel's hand. She could talk to Flat about her encounter with Maribel and see what he thinks about it. Taking her birdcage with her, Maribel asked what was inside it.

"It's Add. He doesn't talk much, so sometimes I hide him with a piece of cloth over the birdcage. Thanks for your service, Maribel."

Meanwhile, Waver was checking the Clock Tower records near the reception wing. A receptionist mage was busy checking on the mage's movements from inside and outside the Clock Tower. Waver, taking a smoke, waited around to see the results and on any anomalies happening around the premises.

"Lord El Melloi II, here are the records you asked for."

Waver took a look at them, checking for any suspicious visitors that came to Clock Tower. A few names caught his eye as he flipped through the inventory. But there was one suspicious name that appeared on the front page.

"Belle von Fransica. A mage from France."