Château de Tours, France
After the mission in Loches castle, the quartet went on their way and with that they left the city and went towards the next one in a northwest route in the intention of trying to find something from Chariot Belmont, in two days of travelling by cart, they stopped in a city to rest and then followed the path towards the next one. Where by there they will have another surprise somewhat for another mission call while they thought things were quiet.
As usual the quartet was always talking in a very relaxed way, usually with Sucy always staying in front of the cart since she could not stand Marianne and Akko always talking or singing in a relaxed way, especially after the two used the gold coins to buy musical instruments, being a flute and a guitar which both play badly, and this way the Manbavaran had to endure, but one thing that made her more relieved was hearing Lotte's voice, that at least Yanson had a wonderful voice.
The quartet is that afternoon approaching another city, until then had no danger of creatures of the night, just the good old road as usual, passing by people and from time to time giving that save in robberies that happened from time to time along the way, giving a good lesson in bandits by the way they passed. As they approached the city of Tours, they began to observe a very strange activity, books were flying all around a castle, which is on the banks of a river. The people were running and once again it was the call for a mission when one of the books goes towards the quartet and almost didn't cause much damage when it opened, since Akko attacked when it opened revealing that it hid weapons inside wanting to attack the people.
Lotte: Cursed books, apparently it's going to be the call for another mission.
Sucy: As long as the reward comes fat I will love doing a literature class with each of these books.
Marianne: If you do not exclude me from this mission I thank you.
Akko: We are not going, you are a useful part of our plans, we will leave the wagon in a stable with our cargo being kept safe.
The quartet follows the path through the city, when entering there people were running out of it and soon they arrive at a stable, where they manage to leave the cart and horses safe for a price a little more salty since the owner was afraid, but soon the four give the warning that they will be able to solve this problem.
And that's what they are doing through the city has a little generalized panic, it is possible to note that the books attack some people and these died with spears and swords that came out of them, only that the quartet is going to attack, this time they were even more prepared, since Akko passed in a blacksmith to give a tune up on her Katana, besides Marianne get a dagger and a better whip to perform her attacks, even wanted a sword like Kagari's, but it would take time to be made.
The quartet notices that the movement is all going towards the city's castle and with that when they get close they are kind of barred by the guards.
Guard#1: Halt! Where do you think you're going? This is a noble restricted area.
Akko: I believe that the books killing people are not making the same distinction as you, so we are here to nip it in the bud.
The guards are still pushing the quartet back, but one of the books goes towards them, which soon make a point of defending themselves from the books, and this way the guard finally decided to free the way, noticing that this could be the only possible chance of surviving these violent attacks.
The quartet goes to the inside of the castle, there things were tighter, people in panic and terrified were running everywhere without wanting to be hit or killed by the creatures. There
were skeletons, bushes, books, imps and ghosts all causing chaos, so the quartet went on the attack. Sucy was shooting arrows towards the books and bushes, Lotte was casting fireball spells towards the skeletons, and Akko and Marianne were hitting the goblins and books that came close. Kagari was as always in her style of pretending to be clumsy to fool her opponent, while Leblanc was really being clumsy but lucky at the same time, with her whip winding up in torches and hitting some of the books, in attacks that she had no idea hit more than one simultaneously.
Sucy: When I say that this girl was born with her ass turned to the moon you really don't believe me.
Lotte: More creatures are appearing here, we have a lot more to summon around here, which is great, but I wonder what happened here.
The girls go on, Yanson goes on trying to somehow absorb the soul of the books to acquire another summoning spell that in this case involved the invocation of the books, the three girls go on attacking, with Manbavaran getting slightly irritated having her arrows destroyed by hitting the hard cover of the books, since the only way to cause damage was with a precise arrow on the inside of the book, since poison was not efficient at all, only fire and the others besides the Finnish girl barely knew magic and even less how to launch a fireball. Little by
little it was getting a quieter way, since the guards and some of the people of the castle were slowly taking care of the service also thanks to the help of the quartet and this way they were even smiling to the group by the way they managed to alleviate the situation.
Noble#1: Those things come from the castle library.
Sucy: You swear the books will come from the library? I thought they came from hell.
Lotte: Sucy technically yes, those are cursed books.
Sucy: Stop breaking my sarcasm Lotte! Ahhhhhh!
Marianne and Akko just laughed at their discussion and then followed to where the nobles pointed that was the library, but this way they were dealing with more creatures that were coming towards them, these were known as flea men, small hunchbacked humans that are jumping and moving fast and can cause some pain when they touch the person.
These were tricky for Sucy to hit with the arrow since they were agile, like Lotte using spells, she could barely hit a fireball, so she concentrated on another spell, making a point of quickly flipping through her book.
Books also began to float towards them indicating the imminent danger. Marianne and Akko were having to put up with those flea men jumping from one side to the other, getting slightly irritated and the books only made the situation worse.
Akko: Damn, I never thought little creatures like that would be so annoying, it's easier to kill an ogre than to cut these little buggers.
The same flea men from time to time punched the two girls who attacked from close range, even with all the luck Leblanc has, it was getting to be a complicated battle and it was only the entrance to the castle, just one of the corridors that led to the library, but hope is the last thing to die, when all seemed lost Lotte used a spell to save the girls' skins.
Lotte: Soul Steal!
At that moment she uses a spell that steals the souls of the creatures around her and kills some of them and this way these souls are used as a cure for the girls that are recovering and this way they can continue walking around the castle, the way was much freer with the flea men dying and leaving only the books that were easily destroyed by Akko and Marianne. They
were followed by the nobles and guards indicating the way to the library on the next floor, thanks to the presence of the same even facilitated a little, although some flea men are really annoying, especially when they arrive in a corridor of the castle and see them carrying axes and also containing armor protecting the body.
Akko: Holy shit, the normal ones are already unbearable, now these will be even more complicated to kill.
Lotte: I don't have that much magic, it will take a while to charge back to use a Soul Steal again and we only have this corridor, I'm sure it leads to the castle library.
The flea men hadn't seen the girls yet, but some books had and they were already attacking them and with that Sucy was already preparing herself, she prepared some poisoned arrows and stayed on the hide aiming from far away, to the last of the flea men and this way, launched the first arrow, hitting it and making the others stay jumping trying to discover from where came the other arrow.
The four hid themselves, Marianne was clearly terrified, mainly when those creatures passed to their side going forward, the Leblanc was getting more terrified when one of them looked to the quartet and this way she was running terrified and the trio was following her so that the worst wouldn't happen.
The clumsy girl ended up tripping on the carpet, which hit a table, which knocked down a vase that pulled a lever that lowered a grid of the castle and that way isolated that part of the castle from the flea men that couldn't move forward since the space of the bars was too small for them.
Sucy: I was going to say it's silly and I hate to admit it, but you've saved our bacon now.
Marianne: You are welcome too.
Akko: Look I don't know what to say, but something must be related to your luck, now let's go before things get worse.
Sucy takes a vial of poison from her bag, and from there she throws it towards the flea men in armor, she not only throws one but several while they are jumping like crazy trying to pass the fence and even hit them with their axes.
The quartet continued on their way and this time they opened the huge gate of the library and could see that from there came out books that were becoming cursed, while they heard the sound of something emanating from there, the sound of someone facing the books.
But they couldn't even get close, the path was full of books trying to attack them and so they tried the way they found to kill those books, which were even a little stronger, with harder covers, which made Sucy's arrows useless and even frustrated Manbavaran.
Sucy: It's simply more worthwhile for me to keep throwing potions here than throwing arrows, but then I'll waste my time because books don't feel the power of poison, unless...
Sucy takes some lamp oil from her bag, she looks at a torch and gives it to Marianne, who gets confused and shrugs her shoulders. Lotte already had the dimension of what she was going to do, the Leblanc goes trying to attack one of the books, but ends up tripping on the shelf, this way knocking it down and with that Sucy throws the vial containing lamp oil on it, with the small fire that was making.
Akko holds the Frenchwoman and jumps to the other side, the bottle catches the shelf causing an explosion and this way even managing to destroy most of the books that were in the way, but at the same time causing a slight fire in the library. What they could hear was a scream at the same time someone casting a spell to extinguish the fire. A girl of short stature, blond hair, purple eyes, wearing a black dress, carrying a book with a magic pen went towards them.
? : No! You're going to burn down the whole library like that, we have to finish the main book, it's the one that started this whole curse, come with me, by the way call me Annabel.
The girls went without questioning much and followed the way where Annabel was going, she had an efficient way of opening the way, using the magic pen, she made creatures and traces to come out of the book attacking what was ahead, added to the help of the quartet, it was getting calmer, the books that were going towards them were getting as a smaller problem.
Even so Marianne was still clumsy
and sometimes she stumbled on torches and lanterns causing small fires, which also killed a good part of the cursed books, but annoyed the witch librarian immensely, who put out the fire, which Leblanc was trying to avoid and even started using a dagger to attack without causing fire and trying to help in some way.
On the way the books were increasing more and more, what was bothering Lotte a
lot, until the creatures were appearing, and precisely the flea men in armor, they came running after the group of girls, but soon Annabel shows her powers, she draws a sword with the magic pen that is huge, hitting them and managing to open a path that even leaves them well shocked, but still the biggest book kept invoking those creatures. Sucy takes an arrow noticing that the book is open, ties a cloth soaked with lamp oil and passes near inside one of them, aims inside the book, but has her arrow erased and this way ends up failing, what leaves the Manbavaran extremely angry because who ended up erasing was the librarian.
Sucy: Are you crazy? The only and best way to defeat these books by the weak point is to set fire to the paper which is highly inflammable, you want to kill us that way?
Annabel: Look at the size of this book, if by any chance it starts a fire and then catches fire, it will cause a fire of enormous proportions, this castle will collapse, so use some of your head, we can't cause a fire that will cause more deaths than saving lives, if this book catches fire it will kill us with the smoke it will release, you think not, but the smoke that these books release is extremely toxic, do you think I haven't tried? One of the guards died just by inhaling the smoke when I tried to set that book on fire.
Akko: What are we going to do then?
Annabel: Girl of the book, you help me, let's together remove the soul from this book, but for that we will need some people to stay around and protect us, we will be kind of without any defense this way.
That way the girls prepare a defense, Sucy even joins by taking the spear of the soldier who is lying on the ground, since that way she would have a short-range weapon and would not be so disadvantaged. Lotte and Annabel open her books and start from there the soul sucking spell as soon as the librarian draws a glyph of soul draining which releases necrotic hands that go towards the biggest book and goes this way pulling the souls of the same in the way that was possible. Around them the trio of girls with combat weapons dealt with the book by summoning different creatures.
First it was the books that were easy to handle, Sucy simply managed to use the spear very well, knowing how to throw it and also take it back to attack, the same thing Marianne was doing, she found the spear of a fallen soldier and unintentionally ended up bumping into the Manbavaran causing a bottle with lamp oil to fall, But luckily a bucket of water was thrown and at that moment Akko puts his hand on his chin remembering something else.
Akko: Water! The books have another weak point which is not only fire, we can attack with water too.
Annabel: How come I didn't think of it before, getting the book wet might weaken its power and not cause a fire, excellent sword eyed girl, but where there is water is a bit far from here.
Marianne: I offer to try to get water and bring it here, but where is there water.
Annabel: The nearest place is the river facing the castle, but we are on the second floor and there is also one of the count's bathrooms, but I think it would be difficult to find, where it is, I don't remember very well.
Marianne picks up a sledgehammer and simply throws it on the ceiling, this way she ends up causing a bathtub with water to fall and goes right on top of the biggest book that gives a nice weakening, but at the same time tries to revert, only that the creatures invoked, are feeling the same effect, are getting more wrinkled, besides being easier for Akko and Sucy to attack, That way Leblanc was running up the shelves, going one by one towards the bathroom, to see if there is more water, but she was dodging books and creatures, even bats attacking her, but as she is so lucky she just managed to go up to the top floor with jumps that were given at the last moment.
The French girl managed to reach the count's bathroom and noticed that there was only the normal things of any bathroom, only the stinky latrine and the rest of the floor, since it is a castle still on the old way, this way she leaves that bathroom and goes to the other side, where she finds another bathtub with water, a little bit dirty, she pushes as hard as she can but she only reaches the half of the way.
Marianne: Ahhhh what the hell, I am such a wimp, how am I going to manage to defeat it with these arms, I will never manage to push this tub like this, but I can't give up, my friends are depending on my help.
At the library, Akko and Sucy were getting into a lot of trouble, they had to face the flea men with axes and armor, which was making it a little difficult without the hand of Marianne, who was still trying to push that tub, still arriving at the entrance of the bathroom, doing everything alone, the book was slowly drying up, the flea men were getting more complicated to kill, which could be the end for the duo of warriors and also for the two witches that were trying their best with the book in hands.
But miraculously Marianne succeeds, she throws the bathtub with dirty water towards the book that ends up shriveling again and in the same way throws creatures of the night towards the girl that quickly takes a wooden plate to defend herself, but in time is defended by a group of guards that hit them with a spear.
Guard #2: Are you okay girl?
Marianne: Water! Let's throw water on that book! We can defeat all that if we wet the book, water weakens the book.
The guards understood Leblanc's message and this way Leblanc with the dagger in hands looks at the ground and then closes her eyes jumping towards it and this way she hits with the dagger right on top of one of the books that flies towards the bigger one that this way makes Leblanc fall on the side of the pages and with the dagger go tearing the leaf of the book as it falls and this way she opens her eye noticing how the book gave a beautiful weakened, to see her friends being able to attack with more facility those creatures that were being invoked by the pages of the same one.
Marianne: Whew, I made it out of this alive, now I have to help the girls.
At the same time she was almost hit by the axe of a flea man, but she dodged it in time and went running towards it, but she stumbled, hitting with the dagger a book that could almost hit in a fatal way both Lotte and Annabel, the two are slowly getting to catch the soul of the book, then buckets of water are being thrown in the direction of the book that is weakening, showing that all the attack and help are working.
Marianne continues to defend, taking a spear that she found on the ground and attacking the books that were coming towards the two witches, Sucy and Akko dealt with the flea men that were getting weaker and weaker, the book was no longer able to summon creatures strong enough, It was already possible to see it moving, its shadow leaving the book, which showed that they were winning, the soldiers kept throwing buckets of water, the book was getting more and more dirty, it was getting wetter and weaker. The wetting plan was working, the total opposite of the fire was proving to be another efficient weapon against it.
Akko: We can attack the pages now.
Sucy agrees with the head, and goes with Akko towards the middle of the book, managing to kill each creature as it came close as if it was nothing, already showing how the book was losing, Marianne alone could handle the books and also the flea men, easily using a spear, the same ones barely got close to the two witches, already the soul of the book was more pulled by the witches. The water continued to be constantly thrown, leaving even the floor of the library somewhat soaked.
Akko and Sucy reached the book and started tearing the pages with their weapons, with simply the greatest ease in the world, the book was getting simply too weak to strike back, and then it was closing in front of the girls that were caught by Marianne's whip that pulled them back in time before they were squeezed by the pages of it.
The moment the book closes the two witches managed to suck the soul out of it, and this way that thing is dissolving in the air, slowly destroying itself, marking this way the end and saving the library for good, besides the castle, the girls even sit relieved, at the same time Lotte is impressed to get a tremendous power in her spellbook and even opens a smile on her face to have in the invocation part of her book the presence of the cursed books, this way to the control of it.
Akko: Who knew books were capable of all that, I never thought it would be so much work to defeat a single giant book, but it was kind of a fun challenge.
Sucy: I will never touch a book again in my life after that one.
Marianne: We have achieved one more mission! Play here! Our team is the best of creature hunters of the night! We are a wonderful quartet!
The girls touch Marianne's hand, still a little afraid, the first being Akko who always makes a point of joining in with Leblanc's more relaxed and charismatic manner, then the others, even Annabel who breathes a relieved breath, but then when looking at the destruction of the library she even gets a little weepy, kind of sad to see those knocked down shelves, the girls put their hand on her shoulder, with the exception of Sucy who always keeps her arms crossed.
Annabel: My biggest inspiration for writing the Night Fall books is now destroyed, the world I always went deep into, all those books, where I learned to use magic, all because of a book that appeared here out of nowhere.
Lotte: Night Fall? Are you Annabel Crème? How incredible! I can't believe you are here in the flesh right in front of me, I am meeting the wonderful writer who even helped me to learn other languages, I learned French and English because of your books! You are wonderful.
Annabel: How wonderful, at least knowing that I have readers around the world cheers me up, I didn't know that copies of my book had reached you, you don't seem to be from here, you I'm sure are from Scandinavia, just by your accent it can be noticed that you must be a Swede, or somewhere like that, I don't know where you two are from, I've heard of a place where people have faces like yours, far away from here, distant lands in the east, and the girl with black hair, you are French, there's no way I don't suspect that, I think I know that face from somewhere, you seem to be related to Count Bernhardt of Chateaumorand.
Marianne: I am just a servant of that palace that was destroyed by the same creatures of the night that you always bother so much, they also came to our palace to cause chaos and destruction, unfortunately the count and the countess died, now who takes over the county is their daughter Sarah, my good friend, I decided to go out alone on a journey, I want to end with this terror that are these creatures of the night, they killed my mother right in front of me these wretches.
Annabel: Oh my condolences to the Count and Countess of Chateaumorand, and also to your mother, I can imagine how horrible a situation that must be. Well, anyway welcome to Tours Castle, I will speak to the Duke, you are the ones who saved the palace from the hands of the cursed book that invaded the library.
After talking a little, the quartet goes with Annabel, where they explain the whole situation to the count that was scared to death of the whole situation, also discovering that the count Crème is nothing more than Annabel's own father, who allows the girls to stay in the palace to spend that night, and also win a reward in gold, which already grows Sucy's eyes.
Later in the rooms the group takes a rest and they decide to talk a bit, mainly about Marianne, something that really intrigued everyone around there.
Akko: I don't want to bother you or anything Mari, but one thing I noticed a lot, you and Countess Bernhardt are too similar, not only your red hair, but your face, you have a very obvious resemblance, are you just her servant or something else happened?
Sucy: They are nobles, do you really think that a nobleman would lie with a servant girl and have a child with her? A nobleman wouldn't go to such a low point, even if he does he would do his best not to get pregnant.
Lotte and Akko: Sucy!
Marianne laughing: Sucy is right, that's exactly what happened, ahhh, Sarah's father is not an example of a husband or a man, unfortunately one day he slept with my mother, that was when Sarah was still a baby, so she doesn't even know about this story, neither does her mother, everything was led to believe that my mother got pregnant by one of the servants of the palace and she was paid well to keep this lie, but from me she never hid it and always asked me to keep it a secret.
Akko: And why are you telling us now? And why did you leave without telling Sarah? Or does she know about it?
Marianne: I chose not to tell Sarah about it, it's the best I could think of doing, she has this image that her dad is the hero, that he's a great man and he would never do that, she has this idea of the perfect prince and model husband in him, by the way I'm telling you this now, because I trust you, wanting it or not this little time that we know each other made me create a trust in you, I'm managing to appreciate every moment that I'm spending being your friend.
Sucy: Meh what an exaggeration, but an interesting stall, well my suspicion was right, you can already pay me the gold coins Lotte, my bet was right, Marianne is a bastard daughter of a nobleman.
Lotte and Sucy: Sucy!
Marianne: I prefer to consider myself Melina Leblanc's daughter, she died with honour and she was always a present and wonderful mother, especially as a servant, she always did everything in the best way she could, she always exceeded a lot in what she did, don't put me as Antoine Bernhardt's daughter, I prefer to forget that other part of me, as my mother always told me, despite all the luxury, all the stewardship, nobility is an empty post, when you get there, you sacrifice everything, even the person you are in the name of keeping yourself in a reputation and acceptance of people who are only interested in what you have, The best of all is to remain a simple person, but still have that spark of knowing that I'm being myself, that I don't need to give in to pressure from others to keep a place that will only give me a comfortable bed to sleep in and a tasty food that by the way I don't need to make much effort, I may not have any talent with swords or weapons, but I learned to cook very well, I always had talent and dreamed of being the great cook of the palace.
Akko: I never thought I would get to know this side of you too Mari, you are so much more than just a funny friend who we exchange ideas about Chariot Belmont, you are an interesting person, as interesting as we are and really when it comes to cooking you really excel, I can't wait to eat those cooked frogs you make again, they are delicious.
One more mission was accomplished, the castle of Tours, they managed to defeat a cursed book, along with other things, Lotte could meet a writer that she has great admiration that was all the time in that place making the books and from time to time using her magic to get copies of it. That was a night full of revelations for the group that each day is getting to know each other more, creating a greater affinity, especially Marianne.
See you, library witches...