Chapter 5: Proving Oneself

"Ahn?!"

I immediately get up to my feet, facing the doorway and readying to use my power. Louise and I are in her room, late night planning what to do tomorrow morning in order to impress the princess, who apparently is chums with Louise.

"Behind me. Someone's coming."

"How can you tell?"

"Just…"

I look at my right hand. It's like I can feel it when there's another one of these nearby. The thickness in the air that makes it feel like a hundred people are moving as one. The stench of blood in the air. It's here again...

"No, actually, get under the bed."

"R… right!"

I heard Louise scurry to get underneath there as I quietly move behind a dresser where I can still peer over by the door. It should be locked…

...but I can hear it slowly unlocking. From the sounds of it, it's not a key. I can also make out two sets of feet underneath the door. This isn't good. I'll have to try to assess which one to deal with first.

I continue to watch as the door slowly opens. Two cloaked figures, hoods up. No weapons on the exterior. Could be using knives or swords under there. I should be able to take them out easily.

Doesn't look like they were expecting resistance, either. Only the one in the back is tensed up. Might be a guard? Who the hell is in here, then?

Either way, I should take her out first.

They close the door. I wait for the right moment when they pass by to fly out and attack the one in the back, swinging my fist the first chance I get.

It never connects as they quickly react and manage to move their head in time before punching me in the face. I recoil, stumbling back, before recovering in time to catch the swipe coming for my head. Judging by the feel, probably female.

I yank them forward into a headbutt, with my opponent momentarily stunned.

Without a second thought, I activate Assiah and prepare to cut down my opponent.

But at the last possible second…

...what I'm about to do runs through my mind. I've never taken a human life before. I've beaten people up on the streets, acted like a thug, the like, but despite all my time on the streets I never once killed anyone.

But once I activated Assiah, it's like bloodlust completely overtook me for a second. Like this thing in my hand was made for death. Part of me is glad to have stopped myself, though...

...my hesitation costs me as whoever this is quickly picks up on it and suddenly leaps up, knee slamming into my chin. I tumble backwards, falling down on my as—what the hell, when did she get a gun?! When was she—!

I don't hesitate to try to cut it with my ability. As soon I try though, something ridiculous happens.

The gun is not cut. If anything it's simply batted aside, as if I took a baseball bat to push the gun away from facing me.

"What the he—"

I don't get to finish as an explosion rocks the room, sending the assailant into the wall. As I'm already on the ground, all I feel is my teeth shaking in my mouth. Not a pleasant feeling.

My eyes immediately look towards the bed. Louise is already quickly crawling out from underneath, keeping her wand pointed at other hooded figure.

"Don't… hands up in t-the air, or I'll do that to you t, too!"

Points for trying, Louise.

"You didn't tell me you learned how to use magic properly, Louise!"

Louise lets her guard down at the voice of one of the hooded figures, but I scramble to my feet and get in between Louise and the other hooded figure, keeping an eye out on the one who's currently peeling herself off a wall. The one who isn't currently doing a bad impression of a painting quickly removes her hood—

"Prin… cess…?"

Long story short, the princess decided the best course of action would be to definitely sneak in here all suspiciously. Her personal bodyguard, the one I fought and is now glumly sitting to the side nursing her left shoulder (despite the princess healing it with water magic, which apparently is the healing element of this place), opened the door, but wasn't expecting an attack.

Also the princess (or, as Louise said, "That's Princess Henrietta to you") has purple hair. And is incredibly stacked for someone her age. I think she's like, seventeen, eighteen? Seventeen and eighteen year olds don't have that kind of figure. I swear that has to be a lie. Either that or we're living in one of those books Dane always used to read. Well, 'read', because they were pretty much picture books containing pretty lewd stuff.

"Sorry about that." I mutter, now that we're all situated to her guard, to Agnes. With her hood down now, she has her blonde, short hair revealed. Doesn't come up to even the shoulders. The expression on her face definitely is one of someone who's been through stuff.

"Don't be. It's what I would've done." she replies in a curt, stoic and professional voice as she undoes her cloak. Underneath is what looks like a uniform. Black shorts, green split-dress thing that gives her legs some mobility, also covers her top as well, plus some armored boots.

"You sure you're not cold in that, though?"

"Keep your eyes up, idiot."

"I'm just saying, it's chilly out there and you're wearing shorts. 'Course I'm going to notice it."

"I have a winter uniform if that's what you're asking."

"Just being courteous." I say as I seem the princess tease and play with Louise's hair.

She snorts at this. "So, familiar, huh?"

We both watch as the two girls quickly start fielding complaints to each other, mainly about their lives. Apparently there's a lot of shenanigans going around with the royalty.

"How'd you tell?"

"Runes on your hand. You should consider buying some gloves or something to hide them."

"Helps in getting around, though."

"I suppose. By the way, not bad."

"Hm?" I ask, turning my attention away from the two childhood friends.

"You're not a bad fighter. Good instinct. Rough on the edges. With a bit of training you'd be a lot better, though?"

"That an offer?"

"Just an observation. You hesitated, though."

I sigh, leaning back against the wall. "...never killed before."

She raises an eyebrow at that, clearly not believing me.

"Like, I've fought before. I was what you would call a street urchin, I guess. I've threatened to kill people, beat 'em up, that sort of thing. But I never killed. Never really could follow through with it, I guess."

"Ah, I see."

She nods to herself, as if understanding me.

"Well, you should fix that soon. If you've kept up with any of the recent events in this world, and seeing that Lady Vallerie is quite close to the princess, it's likely you'll find yourself dragged into the conflict. And I'm sure you'll find not everyone is willing to give in after you only 'beat them up'."

I close my eyes and sigh, knowing she's probably right.

"...though, hey."

"What is it?"

"That thing you used… you can't summon it, right? If you could, you probably would've have against me."

I narrow my eyes at her, but since she seems so knowledgeable…

"What's it to you?"

"You won't really have much hope using it unless you can summon it. It's powerful on its own right. After all, even a commoner, if they had something like this, can stand up to a mage, but… against a mage of any decent caliber, you'll be killed." She gives a wave of her left hand as if to cut me off. "Maybe after the familiar festival. I should have a bit of time on my hands. Your Majesty."

"Hm? Agnes, yes, what is it?"

"Do you mind if we stay here about a day or two after the familiar festival? It might help out in rooting out Foquet."

"Oh, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind. I'm sure the school is busy with the festival, so if you could get to them after everything has calmed down, that would be for the best."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Smooth." I mutter as Agnes gives me a small smirk.

"It's all about knowing how to play your cards." she says back as Henrietta and Louise go back to talking.

"Who the hell is Foquet, anyways?"

"'The Crumbling Dirt' as she's been called, recently. Bit of a phantom thief, is all. We're trying to catch her, so this familiar festival is rather well timed. If you want to catch a fish, you're going to need some bait."

"I see…"

"Either way, good luck in the festival. I'm sure you can at least claim bronze."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

She snorts, pushing back off the wall as Henrietta comes over with Louise.

"Come, Agnes, we're off. Ah, yes, fa—er, Ahn, yes, was it?" I nod, with the princess giving a big, friendly smile. Seems genuine, too. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Louise has told me plenty about you tonight."

"Nothing good, I take it."

She laughs, with Louise looking suddenly embarrassed. The princess then extends her right hand, though uh, definitely not for a handshake? Oh, I see, right, this happens in all those fancy movie things.

"Uh, Vallerie, culture crash course."

"She's offering her hand to kiss, idiot."

"Just wanted to check, I figured that was the case."

"Hehehe, perhaps Louise will have to teach you about court manners, Ahn. Ah, you don't mind me calling you that, do you?"

"It's my name, so, not really." I say, gently taking her hand and lifting it to my lips, giving it a small peck before letting go of her hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Princess Henrietta. Have a good night."

This is normally where I think you're supposed to smile, but trying to force one right now would probably just kill the mood. I don't really think I look nice while smiling, anyways. So, I decide just to give a curt nod and step back.

Agnes falls in line behind her and they leave through the door, closing it behind them. I hear Louise exhale in relief, flopping on the bed.

"Hey, I didn't get to say it earlier, but that was pretty brave of you."

"Huh?"

I hear her suddenly roll in the sheets, looking up at me. I look Louise dead in the eye before repeating myself.

"It was very brave of you, earlier. When you cast your spell at Agnes. I mean, it hit me as well, but it's the intent that mattered. You just have to learn how to use it effectively, is all."

Louise beams for a second, looking incredibly happy. Geez, what are you, a small puppy?

"Just be sure not to confuse bravery with stupidity. Gauge it a little better, you know? If that other one hadn't been the princess, then you would have revealed yourself to an enemy." I tap my head with my right pointer finger. "Sometimes you can't really know, so you just gotta use your gut or pay closer attention. But still, the fact you were willing to do that takes guts. And thanks for the save."

"M-mhm!"

"Anyways, let's get some sleep. That festival's tomorrow and I want to be well rested for that…"

"Oh shi—"

My performance at the familiar festival was mostly inoffensive. For the most part I just cut things up with my mystical invisible sword thing. At least it looked cool, but uh, no way are we taking first place. I'm going to bet miss Blue Hair Blue Dragon is going to take that.

Regardless, Louise and I decided to take a peaceful walk around the campus afterwards. Or at least, that was the plan, before all this happened.

"Vallerie, get back!" I say as multiple grotesque humanoid figures made of mud advance towards us. Four of them, slow movers, shouldn't be too hard to deal with them. They're no bronze women things, after all.

The more important thing is that they're currently in the way of us getting to what is clearly someone escaping on an even bigger mud creature that seems to have punched a big-ass hole in the castle wall. However, the key difference is the small fry look more like mud-sludge-slime creatures, while the bigger one looks like it's dried mud or some kind of stone, looking much hardier than what's approaching. First off, how the fuck do we not have any guards reporting this and are we the only ones seeing this?

One of them lurches forward while we're deciding what to do. I quickly push Louise out of the way and counterattack with Assiah—

But despite being able to cut through fifteen planks of wood and that pretty boy's metallic creatures, the cut only goes about an inch and a half deep into its arm.

My instincts scream for me to get away and I immediately do so, tuck and rolling off to the side as I don't have the drawback of a physical weapon. I'm able to dodge a small fist of mud that shoots out from the mud-slime-thing's stomach, but that was far too close for comfort.

I see Louise start chanting, but it's taking far longer than before. I don't know how the syllables go exactly, but I can hear her continuously stammer and have to start things over based on the constant repeated fragments I can hear. She's also getting tunnel vision, not noticing that two of them are encroaching in on her.

I charge right for Louise, tackling her and taking us right in between the two golems that are about to glomp down on her. Unfortunately for us, Louise's spell goes off while she happens to be looking more towards the ground due to my tackling of her, the small explosion sending us hurling through the air. I hug Louise as tightly as I can before positioning myself to take the brunt of the impact as we land in the dirt and skid along.

"You a'ight?"

"I-I had them!"

"You were about to get mudded, don't give me that!" I say, pushing her to her feet before I get up.

The situation's bad. I can't cut these guys down as easily as the bronze-women things. They might be a cut above them, someone who's better at magic or something.

"Against a mage of any decent caliber, you'll be killed."

Agnes' words ring in my head. So Assiah's only good enough for some folks, like a student learning how to use magic who relies on targeting those without it. But against someone who clearly knows what they're doing, there's too much of a gap to rely purely on Assiah.

Louise isn't capable of casting in combat yet. She doesn't have the awareness of fighting and she's clearly nervous. At this point if I have to keep defending her, it's going to cost us. That means only one thing.

"Make a break for it, get some help! I'll hold them off and keep whoever's here occupied!"

"A mage would nev—"

"Screw that noise, we can't handle this!" I say, trying to telegraph to Louise we're both way out of our league here.

Only one thing left to do. Get help. But one of us has to stay here and slow them down and buy time for the people who can help to get here and deal with this. It'll be no good if we both run, get help, and then this person here has completely vanished.

"But—!"

I turn and see the guilt on Louise's face. No, not guilt, desire. She wants this. She wants to solve a problem for once. Something out of her league. She doesn't want to be the failure that everyone's accused her of being. If she can win here, she can rise above it all.

But unfortunately, there's a line between 'something you can push yourself to achieve' and 'completely hopeless'. We happen to be on the side of the latter.

"Run." I say firmly as she digs her heels into the ground. "Run, and get help, Vallerie."

"Then you have to run, too!"

It's not just that we'll both share the blame. I can tell Louise is scared, her legs are shaking and her fingers are trembling. Sure, it'd be a success if we won. But what happens if she runs and I die here? It'll be the complete opposite, instead. A complete and utter failure, that her familiar was killed. Perhaps, from what I've heard from the kids here, that isn't too big a deal. Just summon another one.

But I'm not just "any other" familiar, based on what Colbert has told me. If Louise hadn't managed to summon me, she'd have been kicked out of the school. I'm a walking miracle of sorts. If I die because Louise left me, even if I told her to, she'll see it as a failure on her part. And let's be honest, Louise was one major failure away from completely snapping out here.

"Vallerie, listen to me. Someone has to stay here and at least slow whoever this is down. You've rarely been in a real fight, so it falls on you to get help while I hold them down."

"But you'll—"

"I'm not gonna die." I say, grabbing her wrist and further retreating away from the small mud golems. "There's no shame in asking for help if you really need it! Now get help, and I'll be right here when you return with it, got it?!"

"Don't worry. After all, we have yet to give you your birthday present."

I grimace, remembering the words mom said to me that night.

"I'm not gonna die, Vallerie. Now go!"

I see Louise bite her lip before I give her a shove to get going.

"...You better not die, you stupid familiar!"

"I won't." I say to no one in particular, almost laughing at Louise's outburst. She must be pretty angry to fall back on that, or maybe she's just hiding her concern. Louise seems like the time to do that, anyways. That girl's never been allowed to live honestly. The truth must be pretty terrifying to her.

I charge at the first creature, using my momentum to deliver what should be a clean slice through roughly where its head should be.

I already know it probably won't cut through, but I just had to try again to see if I could brute force it. And just as I predicted, I fail to cut through it and am forced to roll to the side to avoid a counterattack.

I try to take another look at the situation. The mud-dirt-stone thing that's near the tower that someone is scaling has absolutely no way for me to easily grip onto it. It's likely that I dunno, the person using it has control over it, so they can make grips as they go. They'll be able to shake me off and then leave me at the mercy of their mud creatures here, so I pretty much just have to stall for time.

My thoughts clear up for a second, giving me another approach. When I hit pretty boy the other day, his cries of pain seemed to coincide with me hitting his creations. Maybe…

I weave through the four mud creatures and make a beeline for the big one. I might not be able to do any damage, but if I can just harass them long enough—

"Ch...!"

It's not quite a cry of pain I hear up above me as I leave a glancing slash mark, maybe a fourth of an inch deep, along the ankles of the creature, but it's something that was felt. So this thing causes feedback, huh?

I don't get much time to think further on it as I immediately throw myself away from the bigger mud creature to avoid getting stomped on. I think some guys might be into that, but count me out of it. Not exactly a fan of my bones being ground into dust.

Granted, I also don't get much time to think on it because I'm now caught between a rock and a hard place. I've got Queen Stompsalot ready to pound me into oblivion, but I've also got those mud creatures catching up. It's going to be a game of keep away, huh?

Or it would be, if this were a video game boss fight. As soon as I weave through the mud creatures to get some breathing room, I notice they don't really follow me and are instead, just guarding the feet of the golem. While I appreciate her having at least a basic understanding of cause and effect, it doesn't mean it isn't a pain in the ass to deal with.

Alright, let's try this one on for size.

I've felt lighter, strong, overall better once I started using this thing. I'll push myself just for a bit.

I run in a curve for the wall, trying to align myself to almost be parallel with it. At the right moment, I push up and almost run along the wall; with my speed, it's almost like being able to run along it for a brief second before I push myself off and fling my hand out, trying to use Assiah to at least leave a hit behind.

I manage to leave a passing slash mark on her knee. I hear a grunt and a crash, followed by some angry swearing, right before I myself crash into the ground, rolling around and trying to quickly regain my sense of orientation along with a defensive stance.

By the time I get back up, I notice that the golems haven't moved towards me. I guess she doesn't need to actually take me out. I'm just a small fly that's buzzing in her ear compared to an actual threat, so there's no need to waste time fighting me.

I try the hit and run strategy again. I don't hear anything this time around, but maybe they're ready for it. The golems seem a lot less responsive, too.

Like last time, I tumble to the ground and manage to recover faster this time, getting my stance ready to deal with any incoming attacks. However, there are none, so I prepare for another strike.

Before I can try another hit-and-run, a bright red bolt of fire whizzes out and strikes the small fry, taking them all out in a bright fireball.

"Are you all right?" A distant voice asks.

"Don't worry about me, after whoever that was!" I say to Colbert as he lands next to me, apparently having been the voice I heard.

However, as I say this, the bigger golem disappears. I see him go up, but he quickly returns back down to me.

"They got away?"

"I couldn't see anyone. They might be in the general area, but they're camouflaged if that's the case."

"They've got mud-spell-things. Maybe they're hiding themselves underground. Could try a burn, you've got fire after all."

"Setting fire to the countryside isn't an option for one thief. What's more important is that you aren't hurt."

A real heroic type, huh?

"I'm fine." I say, getting up and dusting myself off. They must have already been over the wall by the time I hit the third time. The crash might have been them smacking the ground on my second attack, but ultimately they had more than enough time to get away by the time Colbert finished flying over.

"Ahn, Ahn!"

I turn my head, finding Louise running over to us, though she trips and falls facefirst into the dirt. I calmly walk over and help her to her feet, brushing off some of the dirt and grass from her clothes. Her blouse is stained with mud, so that's going to need a washing.

"Le… let go, Ahn." Louise says, trying to go back to her usual persona.

"You're going to just collapse if I do." I say, pointing to her trembling legs.

Even if it's a bit forceful, I pull Louise over to one of the covered walkways, where she'll at least be sitting on stone rather than dirt. It'll make cleaning her tights easier, down the road.

"T… thank you. As expected of you."

"Sorry that there isn't a chair for you."

"It's fine…"

I sit down next to her before turning to Colbert, who seems to be talking with some of the other teachers that have arrived.

"I'm alive, Vallerie."

"I was scared, okay?!" She snaps back, apparently not caring for her noble persona. It seems to be a running trend that when she's emotional, she drops the whole noble thing.

"I know." I say, carefully putting an arm around her shoulder and pulling her in for a small hug. "I know."

"Ahn…?"

I close my eyes, remembering the day my normal everyday life went up in flames. The terror at running away. The beauty of my mother, becoming a shining angel at that moment. To be told "trust me, I'll be right behind you" and the terror of not knowing whether they'll keep that promise…

"Ahn?"

"Sorry. Oh, right, we're in public." I say, pulling my arm away. That's right, Louise has to show a different face in public. "Do you want to go back to your room?"

"That sounds nice…"

I get up to my feet first and offer a hand to Louise, pulling her up. I guide her past the students who are trying to get to the plaza-courtyard area while the teachers keep them away. I can understand Louise's fears, though.

Louise puts everything on herself. She's the kind of girl to shoulder the burden even when she doesn't have to, that's the feeling I get from her. Even if my death hadn't been her fault, because I said I could handle it, and knowing she didn't have any magic to deal with our enemies outside a lucky shot that could hurt me as well, she'd still blame herself. That she didn't learn magic despite being an anomaly. For being an anomaly in general. She'll start hating the fact that she's her. And that's an unhealthy way to start thinking.

I said I was going to help her out, or at least, I was going to stop her from going down the path I almost took. If it wasn't for the fact I had friends to dig me out of my grave, I wouldn't even be here. And that means helping her get over this whole schtick.

We make it to her room without much incident, mostly because I decided to put my game face on and glare down any student who looked like they were going to give us trouble. Louise changes out into her pajamas and lies down on her bed while I go and sit around.

"Hey, Ahn?"

"What's going on, Vallerie?"

"You seemed to know what I was going through, so…"

I close my eyes, walking over and sitting on the edge of her bed. I get what she wants to know. I've already started putting her through her paces, teaching her all sorts of things. Mostly getting rid of her sense of shame and need for validation from others. Everything in that regard, she's seen through example. I do what needs to be done, like defending Siesta despite it being an 'unpopular' thing to do. Giving zero shits about what the general student body thinks of me. It's because of such things Louise pays attention. I don't know if she wants to become like me, but from her position, it's probably better than paying attention to all the voices in her head trying to drag her down.

So she's looking for something in me to trust. That I'm not just spitting out empty words. That just like the rest of everything I've said, I back up with my actions.

"I watched my parents die."

I see Louise swallow hard at this. Not exactly anything glorious, huh?

"Something attacked the house. Hell if I know what it was. But my parents told me to run, because they wanted me to live." I tell her, thinking back to that night. "I made them promise they'd be right behind me."

"And they…"

I glance down at my right hand, where the runes are. "Mom said they'd be there. That they still had to give me my birthday present, after all. But well, I guess based on what we're talking about, you know how it ends?"

Louise nods.

"Sorry…"

"I thought mages weren't supposed to apologize to their familiars." I say dryly.

"This is different! Anyone… would be sad to have to remember that." Louise says rather harshly, desperation in her voice. "You're not like any other familiar."

"Well, glad to hear that much from you. Beats when we first met and you were treating me like a pet."

Louise looks rather embarrassed at this, which I find amusing. To the point I can't help but smile, and she promptly attempts to hit me with a pillow.

She resumes her 'noble' persona, keeping her head held high. "Well, it's obvious from how you keep getting yourself into trouble and not following my orders that you can think for yourself. Thus, I can't treat you like any normal household pet or familiar."

I snort at this while rolling my eyes. I'm glad that at least while she's in a private setting, Louise can be a little more honest with herself. And that more importantly she's got someone to trust. She might still hold herself above commoners and still crave being told 'good job' from others, but slowly and surely, Louise is reaching the point she can stand on her own two feet. Maybe the emotionally charged moment today helped, too.

"Get some rest, Vallerie."

"Hey, Ahn?" Louise asks as I get up.

"What'chu need?"

"Will there ever be a time, you know…"

"Someday, Vallerie. I can't tell you when, but I know it'll happen." I say, walking for the door. "Life's funny like that. Today, we had a choice. But in the future, we might not get a choice to face something completely out of our league. So don't worry about your growth. One day you will have to step up to the challenge. Today just wasn't that day."

"Okay…"

I nod, going for the door. Best to probably let her rest in peace for now.

When I open the door, I find Agnes outside, and quickly put a finger to my mouth to let her know to stay quiet. I then step outside and close the door behind me, hearing it lock behind me.

"They'd like to have Lady Vallerie there at the meeting, by the way."

"She's resting. Give the girl a break." I say, gesturing for her to start walking. "I'll be there to fill in for her."

"Got it. Good job, by the way."

"If you heard anything about it, I just got my ass kicked."

"Well, you discovered the theft happening. It's at least something."

"Gee, thanks. So…"

"So?" Agnes asks, raising an eyebrow as we turn a corner.

"This thing on my hand. How do I make it stronger? It wasn't enough for today and you seem knowledgeable enough."

"Hmm. Well, Vallerie's on the side of the princess, so I'll let you know. There's another stage, called Yetzirah. Whatever you can do now might not be enough, but if you can summon its true form, you'll find it'll probably be more effective."

"I see…" I say back, noting that it seems to match what Sheffield told me.

"It's not as easy as it sounds, though. I figured the situation earlier today would've awakened it for you, but I guess not."

"You were watching?" I ask in that half-accusational tone.

Agnes doesn't miss a beat in her response. "It's just what I heard from the others. I would have put a bullet between that thief's eyes."

"I see…"

"There's also another way. It'll strengthen you overall, really."

"And that way is…?"

To kill.

Kill and consume. Consume souls, to be precise, of the fallen. Agnes mentioned that was probably the reason I could feel 'more' people when Sheffield (whom I did not disclose her name) and Agnes came nearby. I was sensing all the souls that they're housing within their Ahnenerbes, which is what Sheffield called these things.

Agnes noted that I seemed to be an odd case. She mentioned that she could feel plenty of them within me already, but they were 'dormant'. To put it mathematically, it was like having a bunch of zeroes in me. They look like a lot, but ultimately amount to nothing.

The meeting wasn't exactly very complex. They gathered a few third year students, some of the 'elite' second year students, and most of the teachers into this small room with a table in the middle, having a round-table discussion of sorts. They asked me to give my statement and what I saw, and just cross examined it with a few other statements of these robberies.

As they suspected, it was this 'Foquet of the Crumbling Dirt', a thief who had come up recently. Apparently these mud golem things aren't exactly a new trick. She gets her name from being good at vanishing into dirt, so I suspect we could have nailed her earlier, it's just a matter of not knowing she could probably disguise herself in the ground. Which really sucks, too, because we're doing all of this without a full understanding of what she's capable of.

Long story short, there's a small forest nearby which is the only really viable place to hide for now, which we can get to in a few hours. Recent rumors say she's in there, but nothing definite. Since it'll take too long to mobilize a full search of the forest, a small strike team is being formed to enter the forest and track her down. The headmaster's secretary already left to prepare the carriages, with how short-notice this all is.

"As the crown has an interest in hunting down this thief, I will take on the mission." Agnes says as the teachers and some of the top students at the school continue to bicker about who should take it. After all, it's a shot of glory, and these kids all want their name on the front cover.

Save of course, for miss Blue Hair Eye-Glasses, who is just watching the spectacle unfold.

That seems to shut up most people as Agnes confidently takes a step forward. I can hear some of the students complain that she's a commoner, to which Agnes swiftly corrects them. She's a Chevalier, having earned that title through hard work. Not exactly noble family, but it's still a rank above commoner.

"I'll go." I say, also taking a step forward towards the operations table. "I've got a score to settle, anyways. And as one who's experienced what she has so far, I already know how to deal with it."

And just like that, most of the students back off. Seems no one wants to get in my way, still.

"Go."

The third voice is Tabitha, who is calmly raising her hand now that the chaos has subsided.

"Aerial visuals."

"That'd be useful in hunting down our thief." Agnes says, nodding at the blue haired girl. "I think that should be enough. We've got everything we need."

The headmaster of the school simply looks us over with a fair bit of concern before speaking, stroking his grey beard that's a clear indicator of his age. "Are you sure the three of you alone will fare well against this thief? And Tabitha, are you sure—"

"Will be fine. Thank you for concern, Headmaster."

"She's an accomplished Earth mage, surely…"

"We'll get the job done." Agnes says with a little more confidence than I find myself able to muster. "Don't worry about it, Headmaster. With all due respect, however, I think a bit more worry can be afforded into teaching your students that dealings like this aren't for glory. And a lot more worry for your familiar, who I have caught by the tail and will be releasing to you now. Please don't attempt to peek up any more skirts."

Without another word, Agnes leaves the room—albeit with the sounds of some squeaking that are coming from where she was standing. As soon as she's out of earshot, several of the teachers and students who came by start (angrily) whispering among themselves, mostly about who the hell Agnes thinks she is.

"You'll have to forgive Chevalier Agnes. She's strictly business, after all." Henrietta says with a calming smile. "But she's very effective and gets the job done, even if it means she always speaks her mind. Please find it in yourselves to forgive her."

I take this as a distraction to leave the room, with Tabitha following behind me. Honestly, I can understand the headmaster's concerns. From what I've picked up, there's several levels of mages. Dot, Line, Triangle, and Square. Each level is supposedly a real step above the last.

Pretty Boy's metallic women are pretty much 'Dot' level spells, based on what Louise has said when I asked about it. We're dealing with at least a line level person. If I struggled against Pretty Boy until I got Assiah, how much more for this thief?

"Don't die."

"I won't." I say to Tabitha, who still looks like she doesn't believe me. I see Agnes up ahead in the hall and call out to her, with Agnes turning around.

"Ready to deploy?" She asks us.

"Why just us?" I immediately ask back.

"I didn't need any gloryhounds on this mission, plus most of those kids hadn't seen a real fight before. Lady Tabitha, correct?" Tabitha nods to Agnes' call. "You were quiet enough that my gut told me you were a good choice. Also, it's true that we need an eye in the sky. Foquet's grounds are apparently forested, so we'll be relying on you if we need a quick escape."

"Not in the forest?"

"Do you consider yourself combat capable in the forest, ready to deal with an ambush and hand to hand combat? Also, Foquet's clearly an Earth mage. You'll have the advantage in the air as opposed to on the ground or in the trees."

"...understandable."

"Good. Anyways, that secretary, Longueville? She should be preparing the carriage now. Let's go and take this thief out. We've only got this one shot, after all."

Wew, I had to stop it there before this chapter ballooned to like, 20 pages lol

I had a lot of fun with chapter and coming back to write it. Meeting Agnes, establishing her Ahnenerbe, and then hitting right to the festival's big event—Foquet. I thought it was a good place to showcase Assiah's limitations for Ahn; plus it kind of doubled as foreshadowing/hinting to what FoZ's magic is all a part of.

Tackling Louise's character was by far the most fun part of this chapter. Giving her that "wanting to reach forward" mentality while also being crippled by a fear of losing was something I found interesting to write, along with Ahn's teachings to her. How Louise doesn't want to run away because she's got something to prove and all of that. Let me know what you guys thought of it, along with the rest of the chapter.

I doubt this story will be in my "punctual updates" list, but I've hit a recent stride of inspiration. I only paused writing the next chapter because I left my notes on a different computer that I didn't have access to at the time lmao.

Well, catch you guys next time!