Here is Chapter 4.
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The next morning in Louise's room. Louise gets up from bed rubbing her eyes. Her eyes go wide, remembering that in two days is the exhibition where all the second year students will show off their familiars in front of the whole academy. She then hurries over to where Jinkuro is sleeping, and begins to shake him awake. Jinkuro immediately awakens at being shook. He looks at Louise saying "What is the problem Louise that you needed to shake me awake?".
"The exhibition is in two days!" she replies to him.
"Exhibition?" he says with an eyebrow raised. She then proceeds to tell him about the exhibition.
"The exhibition is a gathering that happens every year. All the second year students will exhibit their summoned familiars to the whole Academy" she says to him.
Jinkuro then says to her "So I'm guessing you want me to show off a little huh".
She blushes a little and nods. "Well I guess I could show a little of what I can do besides the things that the other students have already seen" he says, then stands up stretching with a few cracks being heard from his back. "Man sleeping on the floor is not good for the back, the hay doesn't make much of a cushion either" he says.
Louise looks at him then the floor, and then back at him again a blush forming on her face at what she is about to suggest. "If it helps, you can sleep in my bed with me" she says looking down with a huge blush on her face.
Jinkuro looks at her with a raised eyebrow and says "You sure? I don't want to accept if it would make you uncomfortable to have me sleeping next to you".
"I'm fine with it as long as you keep your hands to yourself" she says to him.
"I accept your generous offer then" he says.
Later while Louise is in class, Jinkuro is laying outside on the grass with his eyes closed thinking about what he should do for the exhibition. He then pulls Derflinger out of his scabbard and talks to him. "Hey Derf, is there anything special you can do?" he asks the sword.
"Nope, unfortunately I'm more of a practical use model" Derf replies.
Jinkuro then notices the shadow of a person next to him. He turns looking at the person that has walked up to him and sees that it is Siesta. "Hi Jinkuro. What are you doing?" she says to him.
He stands up and replies "I was just thinking about what I should do for the exhibition".
"Hopefully you think up something fantastic, because this year Lady Henrietta will be coming as well" she says.
"Lady Henrietta? Who's that?" he asks.
"Well she is the princess of Tristein" Siesta replies.
Meanwhile in the headmaster's office, Miss. Longueville and Osmond talk about the preparations for the exhibition. "About the preparations for the exhibition… From cleaning all areas of the academy, setup of the guest seats, preparations for the banquest… Under Mr. Colbert's guidiance, everything is moving along without delay. Concerning other potential problems…"she says to Osmond, then she stops her boot down attempting to stomp on Osmond's mouse familiar who is trying to peek up her skirt. The mouse runs to Osmond in fear.
"That was rather close, Motsognir. So, today's color is…?" he asks the mouse. Motsognir shakes its head no in reply telling Osmond that he wasn't able to see. Osmond and the mouse then look up to see Miss. Longueville looking at them with a creepy smile. The sound of Osmond getting beaten can be heard.
Students can be seen practicing with their familiars as Jinkuro and Siesta walk by talking. "I see". So the princess will be coming to watch all the students show off the familiars they summoned" Jinkuro says to Siesta.
"Lady Henrietta is a symbolic existence to all the citizenry ever since the king passed away" she says.
"So she is loved by the people, which is a good thing if you are a ruler of a country" he says to her.
"We're terribly busy getting ready for her arrival. So I'll see you later Jinkuro" she says.
"See you later Siesta" he replies and Siesta walks off to do her duties.
The next day, everyone is standing there awaiting the arrival of the princess. "Princess of the Kingdom of Tristein. Her highness, Lady Henrietta has arrived!" someone shouts and a procession rolls past everyone and stops at the front steps of the academy. Waiting at the bottom of the steps is the headmaster and professors of the academy. The princess is helped out of the carriage she is in. All the students awe and gasp at the beauty of the princess. In the crowd, Jinkuro stands there with Louise looking at the princess. Upon seeing the princess Jinkuro thinks to himself 'The princess is quite beautiful'. The princess walks up to the headmaster and professors. They all kneel to the princess.
"Mr. Osman, I apologize for this sudden selfish request" the princess says.
"Not at all your highness. The students and I have been eagerly awaiting your arrival" Osman replies.
"This year, I really wanted to see it with my own eyes" she says.
Later that evening in Louise's room, Jinkuro is sitting in a chair polishing his first sword, having already polished Derf earlier, while Louise sits on the bed in her nightgown watching him polish his sword. Once done, he puts the sword back in its sheathe and asks Louise "So you ready for the exhibition tomorrow". Before she can reply there is a knock at the door. Jinkro raises and eyebrow thinking 'Who could that be so late at night', and gets up to open the door. Walking over to the door, he opens it. After barely opening the door a tiny bit, the door swings wide open with a cloaked figure rushing in and closing the door behind them. Jinkuro immediately jumps back and draws his sword, pointing it at the intruder.
Before he can ask the cloaked figure who they are, Louise beats him to it. "Who are you?" Louise says to them.
"Its been a while… Louise Francoise!" the figure replies rushing forward, their cloak falling away as they hug Louise. Jinkuro is about to strike as the figure rushes forward, but stops once he sees the cloak fall away revealing the figure to be the princess.
Louise then pushes the princess back holding her arms and says"You shouldn't princess!" then kneels and continues "To come to such a humble abode by yourself!".
"Stop with those formalities, Louise Francoise. You are my friend" the princess replies.
"Princess, those words are too much for me…" Louise says.
Jinkuro then chooses to butt into the conversation at that point as he puts away his sword. "So how do you two know each other?" he says.
"When the princess was a young girl, I was honored to be her playmate" Louise replies.
"Oh how I've wanted to see you after all this time" the princess says with tears in her eyes.
"Princess…" Louise says with a worried look on her face.
"I'm sorry. Ever since father passed away, I haven't had anyone that I could open my heart to" she replies.
Louise then says "Princess, I was surprised when I received a letter from you".
"Is that another reason why you wanted me to show off at exhibition?" Jinkuro asks Louise. Louise blushes and nods.
"Oh Louise, is this your familiar?" the princess asks.
"Yes, his name is Jinkuro" Louise replies.
The princess looks to Jinkuro and says "Hello Jinkuro, I am Princess Henrietta", "A pleasure to meet you".
Jinkuro then gets down on one knee taking one of the princess's hands and kisses it saying "The pleasure is all mine, being able to meet a beauty such as yourself princess".
The princess places her other hand on her chest blushing at the compliment, then turns and says to Louise "Oh my, your familiar is quite the flatterer and gentleman isn't he". Jinkuro then releases her hand and stands up. Louise just nods in agreement.
The princess then says to Louise "I'm guessing that he is the same Jinkuro that stood up to Count Mott. I had been looking forward to meeting. As I had wondered what kind of person he was that stood up to a nobleman".
"Princess…" Louise says, but is cut off by the princess.
"Rest assured Louise. It caused quite a stir within the palace, but there will be no punishment. Remember Louise, I promised you a long time ago that I would help you out when you were in a bind. I am a princess for now you know" the princess says to Louise.
Louise bows down and says "There is no way that I can thank you!".
"Louise, you summoned a splendid familiar" the princess says.
Louise smiles and says "I know princess, and I have no regrets about summoning him".
The next day, everyone is seated in front of the stage that the exhibition will take place. Jinkuro and Louise stand at the side of the stage watching as one student after another displays their familiars for everyone to see. Then they both hear Professor Colbert call out the next person which is Louise. "Well it looks like its my turn to give them a show" Jinkuro says to Louise and they both walk up onto the stage. Louise introduces him and everyone stares at Jinkuro waiting to see what he will do. Jinkuro holds out his hand and aims it at the center of the stage and he shouts "Condense" and water begins to collect till a ball of water the size of a small boulder forms.
He then shouts "Freeze" and the ball of water becomes frozen. Lastly, he shouts "Construct" and the ball of ice begins to change shape. Once the ice is done changing shape, he lowers it down onto the stage and says "In honor of her highness's visit, I present this ice sculpture". Everyone gasps and stares in awe at the ice ball that is now a highly detailed ice sculpture of the princess. Jinkuro then bows and walks off the stage with Louise along with everyone else clapping. The princess who is sitting to the side can be seen with a large blush on her face after seeing Jinkuro make an ice sculpture of her.
Meanwhile over by the treasure vault, a cloaked figure can be seen standing outside the tower. The cloaked figure places their hand on the ground and forms a golem made of earth, having it attack the tower trying to break in.
Jinkuro and Louise are walking as they talk, having left the exhibition area before they could announce who had the best display. "You did well Jinkuro. Though I didn't expect you to make an ice sculpture of the princess" she says to him.
"Well I…" he says, but bumps into her before he can say any further. He looks to Louise and looks to where she is looking, and sees a giant earth golem. "Uh Louise, is that suppose to be here?" he asks her, but before she can answer him they hear a voice shout out "You're out of luck". The golem stretches out its giant hand to grab them, but fails to grab them as Jinkuro grabbed Louise and jumped out of the way. Louise then pulls out her wand and chants the words for a fireball spell. The spell backfires and a explosion hits the side of the tower damaging it.
The cloaked figure on top of the golem says to Louse "What part of that was suppose to be a fireball?". The figure then notices that the wall of the tower is cracked and falling apart. The golem then punches the wall on command from the figure shaking the ground and breaking the wall of the treasure vault.
The figure enters the vault and climbs back on top of the golem with a large case in her hands. The cloaked figure then creates another golem and has it attack while they escape on the first golem. The newly created golem attempts to crush Louise with its hand. Jinkuro immediately rushes forward, drawing his sword slashing at the golem's hand destroying it. He then aims his left hand at the golem shouting "Oblivion" and a dark ball of energy forms, flying at the golem digging into its chest till it reaches the center and detonates. Once the ball of energy detonates it creates a mini black hole, which causes the golem to implode on itself. Once there is nothing left of the golem the black hole dissipates. Jinkuro then looks around for the cloaked figure and the other golem that they were riding. "Damn looks like they managed to get away" he says. People begin to arrive from the exhibition after hearing all the commotion. Jinkuro and Louise explain what happened to the headmaster and princess.
The next day, Louise, Jinkuro, Tabitha, and Kirche are in the headmaster's office, along with Miss. Longueville, Osmond, professor Colbert and several other professors. "Upon questioning various folks around town, we have gathered information about sightings of a suspicious person entering and leaving a deserted shack deep in the woods" says Miss. Longueville.
"You sure are quick with your job Miss. Longueville" says Osmond.
She nods and continues speaking "From those testimonies, I attempted to sketch it out", then hands Osmond a scroll. He unrolls the scroll and turns it to show them the picture.
Jinkuro immediately recognizes the figure that is drawn and says "That is definitely the person who stole the staff of destruction".
"Let's report this to the palace immediately. We can ask the royal guard to send men there" says Colbert.
"If we wait for the royal guard to send men, Fouquet will surely catch onto our plans. We must get back the staff of destruction with our own hands to regain the academy's honor that was tarnished by that thief!" says Osmond. He then asks those in the room if there are any up to the challenge of going to retrieve the staff of destruction. He looks at those in the room seeing who will step forward. Seeing no one answering he says "No one? Are there no nobles that want to raise their fame by capturing Fouquet?".
Louise then raises her wand and says "I'll go!". Followed by Kirche and Tabitha raising theirs as well.
"I'm going as well. Can't let you beautiful ladies get hurt facing Fouquet" Jinkuro says winking at them. Both Louise and Kirche along with the normally emotionless Tabitha, blush at what he says.
Osmond chuckles and says "Then I leave it to you four. Louise and her familiar Jinkuro have witnessed Fouquet. On top of that, Miss. Tabitha is a chevalier knight at such a young age" says Osmond.
"A knight?!" shout a surprised Louise and Kirche. Kirche asks Tabitha if what the headmaster is saying is true. Tabitha just nods her head yes in reply.
"Furthermore, Miss. Zerbst is from an established military family in Germania. I also hear that her fire magic is very strong as well" says Osmond. Kirche has a smug look on her face at what Osmond says. He then looks Louise and says "Miss. Valliere over here is a daughter of the Valliere family, which has had several excellent mages, and has summoned a very powerful familiar never seen before" he says. Louise looks a bit smug hearing what Osmond says. "Finally we have Jinkuro. The powerful familiar summoned by Louise, who is a skilled swordsman and a powerful mage. Who also overwhelmed Guiche de Grammont, the son of General Grammont!" says Osmond.
"That's right! He has the legendary Gund-" says Colbert, but stops himself before he could say any further.
"The Academy of Magic will be looking forward to your hard work and duties as nobles! Now go and retrieve the staff of destruction" says Osmond.
"Old Osman, I will serve as their guide" Miss Longueville says to him.
Later, after a short cart ride through the forest they arrive at the deserted shack. While the four ladies are hiding behind a bush looking at the shack, Jinkuro is at the entrance to the shack. He casts several protection spells on himself just to be prepared for anything upon entering. He then pulls out his sword and places a hand on the door forming a magic circle on the door. Stepping back from the door he snaps his fingers and the magic circle glows and explodes blowing inwards destroying the door. Jinkuro then rushes in casting a detection spell for traps while he looks around. Upon seeing that no one is in the shack, he signals the all clear and Kirche and Tabitha heading inside while Louise stands guard outside keeping an eye out for Fouquet. No one notices Miss. Longueville sneak off. As they look around the inside of the shack, Tabitha notices a large chest sitting in the corner.
Just as they are about to head back outside, Tabitha says to them "Staff of destruction". Jinkuro and Kirche turn to Tabitha and see the case holding the staff of destruction. Then they all hear Louise scream, and the roof of the shack is ripped away to reveal a earth golem. Tabitha rushes forward and casts a wind spell, but it does nothing to the golem. After seeing Tabitha's spell do nothing to the golem, Kirche casts a fire spell at the golem which causes it to stagger back a little. The golem puts out the fire and reveals that it took no damage as well from the fire spell.
Jinkuro himself, then aims his hand at the golem shouting "Flame Vortex", and a powerful flaming vortex flies at the golem destroying its head along with most of the torso causing it to crumble. Tabitha and Kirche go wide eyed at seeing Jinkuro cast the powerful spell. Jinkuro then runs over to where Louise is asking her if she is okay, with her responding that she is fine. He then notices that someone is missing and says "Wait where is Miss. Longueville?". They all look around not seeing her. "Seems awful convenient that the golem shows up the moment she disappears" he says.
Miss. Longueville then runs up to them saying "Are you guys alright?".
"We're alright Miss. Longueville" says the girls.
Jinkuro then points his sword at Miss. Longueville and says "You're not really Miss. Longueville are you? You're real name is Fouquet". Miss. Longueville looks at him wide eyed. "If you want to prove your innocence, you won't mind me using a little spell to determine if you are telling the truth" he says to Longueville. She begins to sweat and has a nervous look on her face. Jinkuro begins to cast a spell and Miss. Longueville immediately reaches for her wand, but finds out that she can't move the moment she reaches for her wand.
"Can't move? Wouldn't be surprised since I cast a paralysis spell on you. Don't worry though the spell should wear off by the time they throw you in the dungeon" says Jinkuro.
"Damn you Gundolf" is all Fouquet says. He then looks to Tabitha and has her call for Sylpheed to take them back to the academy. Back at the academy, all four are in the headmaster's office.
"We have handed Fouquet over to the palace guards, and the staff of destruction is once again secure in the vault. That puts an end to the matter. You are all the guests of honor for tonight's banquet" Osmond says to them.
Kirche just smugly says "That is to be expected".
Osmond continues talking "The palace thinks very highly of this incident. I am sure that they will reward the three of you".
"A reward from the palace?! Amazing!" shouts Kirche.
Louise then steps forward saying "Three? That means that Jinkuro…".
Osmond looks down with his eyes closed and says "Unfortunately, since he is not a nobleman…".
"I see" Louise says looking a little sad. Jinkuro places a hand on her shoulder. She turns to look at him upon feeling him place a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay Louise. I didn't help looking for a reward. I helped because it was the right thing to do" he says to her with a small smile. Later that evening at the banquet, people can be seen talking and eating enjoying themselves. Kirche herself as always is surrounded by men, while Tabitha is busy at the food table cutting herself a large slice of the slab of meat. Jinkuro himself is standing on a balcony looking out at the stars.
Derf slides out of his sheathe and says to Jinkuro "Aren't you gonna enjoy the party".
"No, I never was a fan of big fancy banquets and parties" Jinkuro replies, then he hears trumpets and announcement that Louise has arrived. He can hear people gasp and awe as they see Louise walk past them.
Once he is able to see Louise, he is in awe of how beautiful she looks and thinks to himself 'She looks quite stunning this evening'. As Louise walks towards where he is, noblemen she passes ask her for a dance, but she turns them down continuing on her way to him.
Once she reaches him, she looks down with a blush on her face and asks him "So how do I look".
"You look absolutely stunning and beautiful in that dress" he replies. Her blush intensifies at what he says. The lights then dim with music beginning to play, and people start pairing up and dancing. Jinkuro then bows slightly holding out a gloved hand and asks "Will you do me the honor of having this dance with me". She just nods with a blush on her face and places her hand in his, and he leads her onto the dance floor. He places one hand around her waist, while the other holds her hand and they begin to dance.
As the dance goes on, Louise leans her head on his chest while they continue to dance. Louise then says "I'm glad to have met you Jinkuro".
"I'm glad to have met you as well Louise" he replies. She looks up at Jinkuro staring into his eyes with Jinkuro doing the same staring into her eyes. Slowly they begin to tune out the world around them as they dance, their faces getting close, with their eyes slowly closing and their lips meet in a kiss.
