Special thanks to Muset for proof-reading this chapter. Some lines in this chapter won't be as good as they are if I didn't get corrected every now and then. So not all the praises (if there's any to begin with) should go to me.
VERY IMPORTANT: I post The Wizard in Time's rewrite in Archive of Our Own as well! Under the same author's name. Now why do I tell you this? Well, Ao3 allows images to be attached in chapters, and I've tried my hand on it a few days ago and got it working properly. There's only one image so far. It's in the first chapter, right after Michelle and Holbrooke's scene. It's my latest drawing of Jericho and I hope it helps you picture him better as you read this fanfic from this point on. So yeah check that out and give me your thoughts if you'd like.
In the future, I'm planning to illustrate some of the scenes I find amusing. So if you like the sound of that, be sure to follow my adventure in Ao3 as well so you don't miss that. And if you stick to this site, that's fine, I'll just write in the author's notes in chapters that have illustrations on them telling you to check it out.
For you PC readers! For the best reading experience, larger and change the fonts to your taste, narrow the paragraphs to 3/4 or 1/2 (seriously these first two are important it makes the page look like a book) and keep a healthy distance for your eyes.
"Nice, Lemmy, Shammy!" Akko cheers.
Akko is having fun at her own corner of the room with her golems, happily teaching them to doodle and scribble on her book (which is supposed to be used for important class notes).
Lotte smiles, delighted to see her friend's joy. Akko is eccentric and could be overwhelming, but Lotte is growing accustomed to her surprisingly quickly.
But something still worries Lotte. So, she visits Sucy in her corner of the room, well out of Akko's earshot, and talks to the pale witch, comfortably on her bed with her nose buried in a book.
"Do you think it's okay, Sucy?"
"What do you mean?" Sucy responds without looking up from her book.
"I mean, aren't you worried that Akko's magic might be exhausted if she keeps a golem like that around?"
Sucy nods. "You're right. She'd been even more tired in class lately, but I think its more because she's losing sleep than the golems. Akko's golem is small enough it shouldn't bother her for long, and the second golem's not even hers, so her magic's not at stake by that one".
Lotte finds Sucy's argument convincing and sighs in relief.
But something else bothers Sucy, so she adds, "Well, everything will be fine as long as Akko can keep her golem away from more clay or soil. Luckily, we don't have any clay here. As long as she keeps it out of the golem storage room we'd be fine".
"I suppose you're right". Lotte nods, but her smile is still uncertain. "I'll keep that in mind and watch out for that".
And so Lotte returns to Akko and joins whatever shenanigans she has in store.
The quiet Sucy looks at them thoughtfully for a moment, then up at the shelf that houses her books and potted plants and shrooms (both for alchemic purposes).
"I should at least hide those. The soil could attract the golems", she remarks.
But the bed's embrace proves too mighty for the pale witch, and she finds its embrace too comforting to be disturbed. So Sucy returns to her book and shrugs.
"Maybe sometime later".
It's been three days since the golem went missing. Three days of restless nights and fearful days for Hannah. Fearing for her reputation, she never spent a day without sparing some time to search for her golem, liberally enlisting the help of her friends, and also Jericho's.
As Diana suggested, Hannah had been tracking her magical signature within her golem to find it (a standard method used by golem masters to find their golems). However, failure after failure mysteriously haunts Hannah's searches; she'd follow the signal but it always disappears or eludes her as she approaches.
It's been that way since the first day of the search and today is no exception. The stress of failure and the exhaustion from today's numerous classes is just too much to bear, and Hannah breaks down in the middle of today's search and refuses to continue.
"I did everything right!" wails Hannah sorrowfully. "I followed the signal, you guys saw it! I don't know what went wrong".
Hannah's teammates crowd around her to comfort her in their own ways.
"You shouldn't give up! We're not going anywhere, Hannah", entertains Barbara.
"You need to calm down, Hannah", advises the insightful Diana. "Maybe we need to adjust the spell. Let me take a look at your wand".
Hannah is blessed to have her friends. Diana's wise counsel always finds a way out of dead ends, Barbara's presence always soothes her, and Jericho? It's healthy for the human person to vent their negative emotions once in a while.
"If only that shitty wizard didn't destroy my golem. None of this would've happened if it wasn't for him", Hannah continues to wail. "What was Holbrooke thinking letting him into this school! We could've gotten much better, handsome wizards, but him?!"
Jericho sighs at Hannah's affectionate nickname for him but makes zero reply.
It's exactly for that reason that Jericho isn't with Barbara and Diana in comforting Hannah. This isn't the first time he's called that, and it certainly won't be the last.
Indeed, Hannah makes it clear numerous times that she thinks all this is his fault. Like a double-edged sword, this guilt-tripping motivates him to help as much as it dissuades him from helping.
I can kiss my chances with the blue team goodbye if I just tuck tails and refuse to take responsibility, thinks Jericho miserably as he stomachs the insults. I just need to be patient with Hannah and things will turn out alright.
And so here is Jericho as he always has since the golem problem began; standing at an arm's length from the blue team. Always unsure, always awkward, always staring somewhere and praying this ordeal will finish as soon as possible so they can go back to normalcy, before the golem ruined things.
"Hush now", says Diana. "Let's not put the blame on one another—that will get us nowhere. Let's just focus back and calm down and get this all over with".
"But I've done that again and again!" Hannah continues to wail. "I don't understand. Why is it so hard to find a golem? It's as if someone is playing a cruel joke on me!"
Upon that, an idea strikes Jericho that disrupts his train of thought.
Someone… a cruel joke...
Breaking his thoughtful silence, Jericho says, "What if the reason we can't find the golem is because someone's hiding it?"
The trio meet his idea with a uniform feeling of confusion and disbelief.
"Why would someone hide a monster?", replies Barbara, frowning with uncertainty. "You're not trying to distract us and shift the blame, are you?"
His breakthrough emboldens him. With a determined look, he finally joins the trio, as if all his previous hesitations never existed in the first place.
"It's a very plausible explanation to all Hannah's failures. We have Hannah using a tracking spell but the golem always disappears when we're close. The only explanation is that the golem knows we're coming, presumably by spotting us before we manage to spot it. But that would require it to be close to observe our movements, and I'm sure Hannah will easily notice if the golem was that close through her tracking spell, or one of us could simply spot its approach, but that never happened. The only way it could read our movement without being within observing distance is that someone else is keeping an eye on us in its place and moves or tells the golem to move before we arrive".
Jericho's idea strikes resonantly with Diana. She taps her chin and says, "For someone to watch over us and move the golem accordingly, that sounds possible".
This surprises and delights the young wizard, who feels more and more confident of his idea.
"But, we are talking about the same golem here, right? The violent golem?" Barbara asks, still unconvinced.
"Listen to Barbara, that's a good point!" exclaims Hannah. The slightest tremble of her lips tell of how terrified she is.
Hannah's previous vexation to Jericho is now replaced with anxiousness at the mention of the golem's violent tendency. Indeed, if there's one thing Hannah fears more than the threat to her family's name, it's her fear of the golem's aggressive violence. The young wizard couldn't blame Hannah's scepticism. The horrible first impression it instilled in Hannah is a strong and understandable reason.
"You're saying someone in this school had the bright idea to keep that golem and protect it? It's violent! You were there with me when it tried to hurt us and then those passersby!" continues Hannah.
To that, Jericho replies, "I mean there's a lot of possibilities. Maybe this golem likes this mysterious someone, making it non-violent, or maybe it was confused and panicked when it attacked us and has calmed down by now. Either way, it means that the idea of keeping it isn't so… dim".
"Still sounds dim to me", comments Barbara.
Barbara cringes as if she just tasted something bitter in her mouth. She says, "I mean, didn't you two also say it's ugly as hell?".
Jericho shrugs. "'Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder'".
Barbara looks at him blankly. "That's what ugly people say".
"Well, uh, that's why I was quoting, Parker".
Diana intervenes when she feels the discussion is on the brink of getting derailed.
"Very well. Jericho has proposed to us a striking argument. Lets entertain him; pretend our situation now is just as he said. Now the question is: who would keep such a golem?"
The four fall into a long thoughtful silence with each falling to their habits when thinking deeply; from tapping their foot to walking back and forth.
Like a metronome's beat going steadily faster, Hannah's tapping grows louder and faster as impatience grips her heart.
When impatience got the best of her, she irately plucks at her hair and lets her heart out. "I can't think of anyone! No good witch would keep a golem like a pet! On our level, it'd be like suicide!"
Barbara looks at her friend who's on the brink of giving up sadly. But then, Barbara's eyes glimmer as an idea strikes her. Jericho had his turn, now it's Barbara's turn to shine with her idea.
"No good witch, huh, Hannah?" She remarks, brows raising provocatively.
Hannah expertly reads that look in her best friend's eyes. She suddenly smirks, her past frustration banished immediately.
Hannah and Barbara both snap their fingers and answer in gleeful unison. "It must be Akko!"
But while this breakthrough delights Hannah and Barbara, it comes as a shock to Jericho.
"What, Akko? Why would you two say that?" he demands, but his question falls on deaf ears.
The culmination of all their anger, exhaustion, and frustration clouds Hannah and Barbara's judgement, robbing them of any patience or level-headedness.
In their fervour, they immediately believe Akko to be at must feel good for them; after so many frustrations and defeats they have someone to blame.
"This must be Akko trying to take revenge on us for that time Diana moved the statue! She must've felt jealous of Diana", says Barbara bitterly.
Through clenched teeth, Hannah says, "That girl. When I get my hands on her… oh, I'll teach her manners so hard that the next time she's in the cafeteria she'll use the silverware properly!"
"Then we have no time to lose. We should make way to Akko's room right away!" Barbara suggests.
"Onwards and upwards!" cheers Hannah.
Without waiting to hear Jericho and Diana's thoughts on the matter, Hannah and Barbara begin moving like a zealous mob.
Jericho refuses to follow at first. He thought this was a bad joke. But the further Hannah and Barbara go, the further Jericho's heart sinks to the pit of his stomach as he realizes they're serious.
Jericho swiftly catches up to Hannah and Barbara and pleads them to stop and reconsider.
"Hold on, don't you think we're jumping to conclusions too quickly? You two might dislike Akko for a good reason, but don't you think—"
"We don't have time to lose! She might be conspiring against us even as we speak!" interrupts Barbara.
"Do you want to find the golem or not?" Asks Hannah irritably, shooting him a frustrated glare.
"I want that as much as you do, Hannah, believe me, but isn't it cruel to accuse Akko so easily?"
The two girls stop and look at him with odd eyes, curious of his out-of-character stubbornness.
A sly smile tugs Barbara's lips. "Come on now. You're a smart boy. You know why we'd accuse her so easily".
A red flag—that's what Jericho sees in front of him. He has a strong gut feeling what Barbara is implying, and it makes his stomach turn.
Jericho remains fixated for a second. Control and impulse clashes in him, battling one another for supremacy in his heart. Unlucky him; his exhaustion and panic clouds his judgement, so that he lets his impulse slip for just one second.
With a terse voice, he argues,"No, I don't get it, Barbara. Explain why you think it's Akko you suspect?"
Barbara flinches under his glare and voice.
But Hannah is quick with her rebuke to aid her best friend.
"Because it makes sense. Akko's jealous of us and she hates us".
Hannah looks at Jericho with dangerously narrowed eyes
"Why are you defending her, anyway?"
Jericho's heart skips a beat. He stops the impulse to chew his lip and instead responds as quickly as he could to save himself from suspicion.
"Because I'm trying to be reasonable. Anyone reasonable would see the unfairness at hand here".
The voice of throat clearing cuts the intensity, interrupting the intense argument. The three turn to see Diana. Jericho's heart eases knowing reason will prevail now that the level-headed Diana will break her silence and take his side.
But luck is yet again not on his side.
"A golem is dangerous to be handled by a novice", begins Diana calmly. "That's why the teacher instructed us to destroy the golem. And us who grew up accustomed to these common knowledge know the dangers of golems, so we oblige easily".
Diana's argument delights Hannah and Barbara, who continues to emphasize their own points.
With winged words, Hannah says, "those basic procedures are something a non-witch wouldn't know. They'd think golems are toys".
Barbara nods delightfully. "Yep, yep! So it makes sense someone like Akko would try and keep them as pets".
Jericho's heart sinks, yet he has no time to wallow in grief for he's on thin ice. His eyes dart between the girls, and he realizes he's now under the spotlight for being the only contradicting person.
In response, as if instinctually, Jericho smiles and tears his gaze away.
"Y-you're right. Of course she wouldn't know!"
At this victory, Hannah and Barbara smile in delight.
But Diana seems concerned about something, and thus adds, like a consolation for the wizard,"I simply think there's no harm in checking on Akko first. If we're—".
But her effort proves futile, for Jericho already brushes past her and continues on his way before Diana could finish.
"Let's not waste time, then", he says without turning, beckoning them to follow.
Hannah and Barbara catch up to him with happy hearts.
"Now that's what I'm talking about! You're smarter than I expected after all," declares Barbara, elbowing him playfully.
"You're still a shitty wizard, but at least you're not a stupid wizard", Hannah adds, both looking delighted and disdainful at the same time.
However, their empty words are nothing but a blur to the young wizard, like an unmemorable song in a radio that one would ignore as they drive.
Jericho never turns to them or pauses his stride, always facing forward with a single thought clouding his mind.
Of course that's what they think about Akko. Why am I still surprised?
I guess I was just surprised to hear Diana say that openly.
Jericho becomes less troubled once he realizes how unsurprising all of this is.
Well, as if that's a problem. This is nothing new.
This time it's a close call—I'm glad I responded quickly and correctly.
Next time I should remember there's no point in changing their minds.
With his thoughts settled, Jericho feels a bit lighter and clear-headed. But he's still in no mood to converse so he lets Hannah and Barbara talk their hearts out.
Hannah and Barbara, blinded by their triumph, pays little heed to the wizard's silence. But the same can't be said for Diana. She remains further back, keeping an eye on the wizard's back and remaining in her own thoughtful silence.
And so the merry band continues on their journey, now with a fresh destination in mind. However, they soon realize none of them knows where the red team's room is. None of them ever went there before—none of them ever had any reason to! Luckily for them, a chance encounter with a certain shy witch saves them from being forever lost.
Upon spotting a ginger freckled girl, Hannah pauses. "Ah, Barbara, isn't that…"
"That's the girl from Norway, right?" replies Barbara.
"No, Finland", corrects Diana. "That's Lotte Yanson. And she's one of Akko's roommate".
A delighted (and no less devilish) smile graces Hannah's lips. "Lucky! Well now, time to go to work".
Hannah eagerly catches up to Lotte, with Barbara close behind, leaving the more patient Diana and Jericho behind to bite their dust. Diana soon follows them with a slightly apprehensive look. Looking at the way Hannah and Barbara corner Lotte now, Jericho can tell why.
Hannah and Barbara currently have Lotte cornered to the wall. They didn't need to do anything physical to achieve this; their mere presence was enough to make the Finn withdraw to such extent. It doesn't take a genius to know the power imbalance at hand.
"I don't know what you mean, Hannah", says the shy girl, eyes ever darting, as if looking for a way out or perhaps the right words to say.
"Come on now, Lotte", Hannah says. Her words are laced with benign choices of words and accompanied with a sweet smile; a mirage that beneath them hides bad intentions.
"My…. I mean adangerous golem is on the loose, and the last thing we need is someone not giving us information we need. So please, help us by telling us if Akko found and kept such a golem".
"I-I'm serious!" Lotte, having found the energy to be indignant, retorts louder than her usual voice. But the delicate girl withdraws soon after that strange outburst and her next words come out with much less confidence. "You have to ask someone else. I don't know anything".
"Really, you really look like you do, you know?" goads Barbara, adopting a similar benign approach as her friend's.
"No, I don't. I really don't know about any golems!"
Upon Lotte's continued stubbornness, the benign smiles Hannah and Barbara wore slowly sours into a black scowl. They're like a pair of wolves, flanking an abandoned fawn ready to pounce. However, their attack will never come for Diana arrives at the nick of time—like a lion among wolves—to save the vulnerable Lotte.
Diana addresses Lotte with a calm voice. "This isn't a matter of us against your team, Lotte. This is for the school's interest—the safety of the students could be threatened by a rogue and violent golem. So please, do not hide behind lies and give us the whole truth: does Akko have in her possession a missing golem?"
Diana's gentle words delight Lotte's heart, and for the first time since the conversation began, her shoulders relax and her eyes stop darting around. Far from impatient like her peers, Diana gives Lotte ample time to think, which the Finn graciously uses to think her answer through.
After a moment of fighting against herself, Lotte sighs softly and whispers her answer..
"Akko keeps two golems".
Barely masking her impatience, Hannah leans closer and demands, "What's that?"
Lotte blinks and repeats with a clearer voice. "Akko kept two golems in our room. The first one is Lemmy, the golem she created and refused to destroy from last golem-making class. The second is a random golem she ran into and decided to nurse, Shammy".
The answer equally shocks and delights Hannah and Barbara.
"Not only the missing golem…" begins Hannah, looking at Barbara.
"But even her own. Smuggled it out like a criminal", Barbara finishes, clicking her tongue.
"Looks like we're double right, Barbara", says Hannah.
"Double right!" agrees Barbara, nodding.
Upon this unexpected revelation, Diana's expression sours like she's just reminded of a foul memory. "I see. So she not only houses the missing golem, but also her own, both contradicting the teacher's instructions.
Diana shakes her head and sighs. "I noticedAkko had shown less magic lately. Remember earlier today when she fails to light a simple lantern with magic?"
"Exactly", Lotte replies, almost sounding eager that someone finally points that out. "It's all because of the golem that her magic had been depleted, but she won't listen!"
Lotte sighs morosely."I know it's not that substantial of a loss but it still worries me. I sometimes disagree with her but I don't have the heart to tell her. That's why I'm telling you all this; I thought you all will talk some sense with her, persuade her to return her golem to the teacher".
Upon hearing that, Diana's expression softens. "That's very high-minded of you, and no less brave. Thank you, Lotte".
Lotte's eyes widen at the praise, but unfortunately for the introverted Finn, she has no time to process what Diana says; rallied by this new revelation, Hannah and Barbara take Lotte by her hands and pull her into a fast walk, interrupting her conversation with Diana, too impatient for the red team's room.
"That's all we need to hear!" declares Hannah. "Now let's go. Show us the way to your room!"
"Go, go, go, go!" cheers Barbara.
Diana sighs and shakes her head. Soon after, she too starts following the three though in a much more reserved manner fitting for a proper lady. The young wizard—silence since the beginning—follows in a manner similar to Diana, not sharing Hannah and Barbara's enthusiasm.
This amuses Jericho.
Isn't she a lion among wolves? Remarks Jericho admirable. That could've gone worse. Thank God you're on our side, Diana.
But Jericho makes no effort to say this. Aside from how embarrassing expressing that sounds, he figures Diana must dislike compliments, judging from how frequently she ignores Hannah and Barbara's.
Lotte's knocks on the red team's door twice but receives no answer. Her brows twist into a frown when even a third try bears no response.
"I know Akko and Sucy are in there," she mutters.
It's only after the fourth knock does Lotte receive a response.
"W-who's there?"
It's Akko's voice, muffled and hesitant, unfitting of her reputation for confidence.
"Akko, it's me, Lotte. I'm with…"
Lotte glances at the four witches and a wizard that follow her. What a merry band they make! Lotte can't even begin to describe them.
"Look, Akko, there's someone here that wants to see you".
They hear the sound of rushed footsteps from inside. They're multiple and heavy, heavier than what an average girl's footsteps would sound like.
Next comes a heated yet indiscernible bickering.
Finally after what feels like an eternity, a new response comes from within the room. This time, however, they're surprised to hear Sucy's voice instead of Akko.
"Akko isn't here", Sucy's very annoyed voice calls out from inside.
Having enough of the red team's shenanigans, Hannah groans and, much to the horror of both Lotte and Jericho, brandishes her wand.
She cries, "enough of this, if you two won't open the door, I swear you'll have to buy a new one".
"I assure you she's not going to pay for it!" adds Barbara loudly.
Meanwhile, the horrified Jericho puts himself between the door and the two irate witches.
"Woah, woah, woah! Let's all calm down now!" he cries.
Fearing the wellbeing of her roommates (or her door, it's unclear), Lotte's knock on the door becomes frantic.
"Akko, please open up, you know this is what's good for you!"
"Stand clear, you two!" orders Hannah, wand aimed at the door, much to Jericho and Lotte's horror. "This isn't going to be pretty—"
But before Hannah could even cast anything, a loud noise interrupted them. It's like an explosion, the deafening sound of splintering woods and the cracking of stones, and it came from inside the room. It was loud enough that the entire dormitory could hear it.
The five force their way through the door to find out what happened. They find that the wall that should've divided the indoor and the outdoor is no more. The night sky and the dark forest are visible through what's formerly been the room's wall, now only a pile of broken stones and splintered wood on the floor. All onlookers' jaws are collectively dropped.
They found no sign of Akko anywhere in the room. There's only Sucy, laying on her bed with her nose buried in a book, indifferent to the existence of the newly formed hole in the wall. She only offers the visitors a quick glance.
"Wh-what happened, Akko, Sucy?!" Lotte cries, frantically scanning the scene of destruction.
"Akko grabbed her golems and escaped", Sucy replies with a level voice and gestures towards the hole in the wall. But then she shrugs. "Well, by how big Lemmy has become, it's honestly Lemmy that grabbed her".
The colour drains from Lotte's face. "Oh no! She must've known our intention and ran away before we could force her to dispel the golems!"
Everyone excluding Sucy looks down through the newly formed hole. They spot a large figure made of clay running to the direction of the forest, eliciting terrified screams from students who see, with a certain brown-haired girl clinging tightly onto its back.
"That's Akko", Diana cries. Her eyes narrow. "And... her golem has gotten so big!"
A clay pot rolls across the floor and stops at Jericho's feet. He initially ignored it. But it catches his attention once he notes what it contained. He follows where it rolled from and found in the corner of the room similar pots, all scattered and some broken on the floor, the last bits of their contents spilled onto the wooden floor.
Cold sweat rolls down Jericho's temple. "T-this is…"
"You have Akko to thank for that," Sucy remarks once she catches where his gaze went. "Left her golems unattended and Lemmy, the one that she made herself, ate the soil from my potted plants".
For a moment, Sucy's eyes darted to the side. She adds something barely audible to everyone in the room, "Which I forgot to hide…"
Jericho picks the emptied pot near his feet and begins inspecting it, noting its size and volume. He then counts the number of emptied pots scattered around the floor, taking into account the shattered ones as well.
Seeing what he's doing, Diana joins and listens to his counsel,
"That might explain this hole in the wall", Jericho explains to Diana, passing the pot in his hand to her. Jericho's face grimaces as he connects the dots. "With soil this many, the golem would be bigger than the average adult man and weight thrice. With this size in mind, it must've collapsed this wall without breaking a sweat".
Both Hannah and Barbara's eyes widen, and their jaws drop. The latter cries, "Wait, wait, wait, you're saying a golem made that hole?!"
"My golem was already bad when it's cat-sized, and now one of them is that huge?" Hannah cries.
"So it would seem", Diana responds with a level voice. "Akko wouldn't be able to summon a spell strong enough to do this".
While everyone else remains rooted and scared, Diana approaches the hole on the wall without hesitation to look outside, to the forest where she last saw the golem and its owner ran into.
Diana's vigilant eyes scan the vast forest before her, no doubt she's thinking of the next course of action. Even her silence isn't inactivity.
Jericho joins beside her, hugging one of the pots in front of his chest.
He says, "while heavy, golems aren't as slow as they seem to be when running. It could reach the edge of the forest before sunrise at most. Since it's late and cold now, I don't think it's a good idea to follow—"
"We have to follow them", Diana announces, interrupting him.
Everyone in the room (even Sucy) collectively loses their minds.
"What?!" they exclaim at the same time.
The white-faced Hannah and Barbara squeezes Diana's arm, as if fearing she'll leave them in a moment's notice.
"Diana! Didn't you hear what Jericho said? That monster just became even more monstrous!"
"I-I'm fine with it, really! Let's just forget about my golem for now. We can look for it another day!" Hannah says with a series of quick nods.
"It was just your golem at first, but now Akko's golem just became dangerous as well, and they're both on the loose! We have to follow it", Diana scolds the pair, and they're both immediately silenced.
Diana continues to run somewhere in the room, grabs a broom sitting in the corner, and returns.
"I'll be borrowing this", she says as she passes by Lotte and Sucy.
"Be our guests", the indifferent Sucy responds, nose still buried in her book but keenly observing Diana's actions.
Diana begins to busy herself with mounting her broom and making preparations. So when Jericho approaches her, worried and full of thoughts, she couldn't afford to talk too long or turn to him.
"Diana, you're facing another person's golem. You can't just dispel it. Should things go south, you will be forced to fight it".
"I can hold my own", she says. Then, she shoots him a surprisingly dashing smile which nearly makes him choke. "Self-defense magic is just another class for me".
Next, it's a very worried Lotte who comes to Diana.
"Are you really going after the golems?".
"I have to", Diana replies. "Even Akko's golem is a threat. You said it yourself".
To that, Lotte replies, "Yes, a threat to Akko's magic, but Akko's golem is not violent! Even the one she found isn't violent anymore! I think you shouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly when you get there".
This makes Diana stop and turn to face Lotte. With a slightly stern voice, she scolds Lotte, "I believe you're smart enough to know what should've happened to the golems in the first place, Lotte. They must be destroyed for Akko's sake. Don't let your feelings—that fondness of yours towards Akko and her golems—get in the way of your judgement. And as for the golem Akko found, that one's not for her to keep. She shouldn't resist its real owner from destroying their golem".
But Lotte remains uncharacteristically stubborn. "Then please, talk to Akko! Don't just barge in and destroy the golems. I know how childish and stubborn she is, but you gotta be patient and try to change Akko's mind and let her decide herself! Do it for Akko's sake".
This display of bravery surprises Sucy and Jericho, and Diana does not overlook this rare bravery.
Even though she would lose precious time, Diana pauses to think about Lotte's suggestion thoroughly. When she finds her conclusion, she nods and says,
"I'll keep that in mind".
Lotte releases a breath she'd been holding and nods.
Finally after so long delay, Diana kicks off and begins her ascend. She turns to Hannah and imparts to her an important message,
"Be on alert for my return. I'll return with your golem incapacitated and will need your help to dispel it permanently. For Akko's, I'll have her be responsible for her own golem".
Without another word, Diana steers her broom into the forest, leaving the safety of the school and beginning a dangerous pursuit while the rest are left with nothing but dust to bite.
Barbara runs to the edge of the room. With no way to stop Diana, Barbara could only watch as she flies away further and further towards the forest.
She turns to her best friend and cries, "Hannah, she really left! What are we going to do?"
But no reply came from Hannah. She remains rooted by her hesitation and fear, while her eyes are fixated on Diana's fleeting form.
Despite what Hannah said earlier about retreating, seeing Diana go makes her second guess.
Suddenly, Hannah yells loudly, surprising everyone in the room.
"Agh! Damn it all!"
All eyes turn to the girl as she stomps to where the red team stores their two remaining brooms and takes both.
Seeing this, Sucy barely mutters, "alright, alright, won't even ask to borrow them. Okay then". But Hannah ignores her completely.
Hannah returns to Barbara and Jericho and proceeds to shove one of the brooms into the latter's hands, eliciting a grimace from the boy.
"I don't have a say in this, do I?" he asks.
Barbara worries for Hannah, who keeps one of the brooms to herself.
"Hannah, you're going?"
Hannah turns to Barbara. "He said it himself; Diana won't be able to dispel my golem because it's mine!"
Barbara and Jericho both show protests against Hannah's decision. To that, Hannah says,
"This is my problem. I don't want Diana to take responsibility, so I'm going out there".
Barbara and Jericho frown. Their eyes dart away and they quickly lose their will to protest. They seem embarrassed they didn't think of it that way.
All thoughts of flight are gone in Jericho's heart, replaced with thoughts of fight.
"When you put it that way… I guess it's unsightly to let Diana deal with our mistakes", he says.
Hannah nods and makes for the hole in the wall. Halfway there, she turns around and says, "What do you mean our mistakes? It's your fault entirely, you shitty wizard".
"You literally just said this is not Diana's problem but yours— ah forget about it".
Once Hannah is out of earshot, Barbara pulls Jericho by his sleeves into a whisper.
"Jericho, are you good with self defense spells?" she asks.
Jericho blinks. "Hannah will be facing off against her golem so all she needs to do is dispel it—no need for fancy self-defence spells. For Akko's golem, though, I'm sure Diana or Akko will have it handled by the time we arrive".
But Barbara remains worried for her best friend. "I-I still feel not okay about this, so let me follow you two!"
Despite this, Barbara's legs quiver under her. This does not go unnoticed by Jericho, who is about to turn down her brave offer. But Sucy takes the word right out of his mouth when she suddenly breaks out of her passivity and approaches them.
"Then I guess I'm more fit for the job", remarks the pale witch.
Barbara and Jericho turn to Sucy, their eyes wide with disbelief.
Sucy shrugs. "What? I have stakes in this too, you know? I don't want my guinea pig to be destroyed out there".
"The golem?" remarks Barbara. "You were using it for your experiments?"
To that, Sucy chuckles sardonically. "Haha, yeah, good one, Barbara".
Jericho calls out to Hannah, "Hey, Hannah, Akko's friend coming with us. This is great, we can use any help we can get".
Hannah turns and narrows her eyes suspiciously at the pale girl. But Hannah soon experiences a change of heart.
Jericho's right; Hannah would feel somewhat safer if there's someone like Sucy to be dispensed as bait should the golem rampage and need a distraction.
"Alright, then", Hannah remarks with a sly smirk. "We can all use more manpower".
Sucy and Jericho both frown at the girl, both having strong guesses about what she imagined behind that sly smirk.
Then, Jericho hands Sucy the broom Hannah gave him.
"Hey, Akko's friend, you should take this".
Sucy raises her brows. Feeling the inevitable question arising, Jericho explains,
"I mean, it would be impolite for me to fly your broom, right?"
Sucy shrugs and takes the broom without much questions, much to the young wizard's delight.
"Fair. But I'll drop you if you even think of touching me".
"Of course, of course!", replies Jericho.
Once Sucy is out of earshot, he clutches his chest and sighs in relief.
I did it. I barely dodged that bullet—I thought I'm about to be forced to fly tonight!