It's kind of funny how Angeloids despite being 'machines' in a way, picked up so many human traits, for example, walking up and down when frustrated.

Like Nymph was doing right now.

"Come one now Nymph, you make us invisible and we shoot her with Prometheus, it's not that hard." The younger of the two Harpies said. She had green hair, and that was the only thing that really distinguished her from her older sister, who had yellow hair.

"If it really is that easy, then why didn't it work when she annihilated eighty-five percent of the Synapse?!" Nymph snapped back at her, upon request they finally received some intel on the enemy and they didn't like it, the idea of a faulty warfare-class that literally rampaged through the heavens uncomfortable to say the least, not to mention they were to keep away from major human populations which limited them severely. "And besides, we still have no idea what exactly she is up to." Nymph reminded her companions. "You don't just drain the main core revealing your position, that wouldn't make any sense."

Kuru had a look of realization on her face. "Maybe she was hoping the blackout would make it fall."

Nymph gave her the most deadpan look as she answered. "The synapse is in a stable orbit around this planet, and angeloids don't need air, so please enlighten me how would that help her in any way."

The yellow-haired harpy got a timid look at that. "I was just making suggestions…."

Nymph groaned at that. "Nevermind."

"...Damn Zero! How can she have ties to the royal family?" Suddenly they heard an enraged male voice from below. "She and her stupid fake angel will pay for this, I swear!"

"Hello there, my sweet opportunity." Nymph said in a seductive voice.

"What are you planning to do now?" Gomo asked interestedly.

"Look and learn…."


Guiche was furious, it was supposed to be perfect, Louise and her familiar would walk on the stage and he would find the right moment to call them out on the heresy to get them disgraced in front of her majesty, he even had the inquisition present for it as planned.

But no, apparently she was close friends with the princess.

"Well, hello there." Guiche was not expecting to be spoken to, it was late in the night and he knew the paths of the patrolling guards and teachers. That was how he was able to meet with his lovers at night.

He turned around and was met with… absolutely nothing.

"Eyes up, pretty boy..." So he did, and there she was. One of the most beautiful being he ever laid eyes on. She had beautiful long blue hair that was made together into twintails, she was flying above him, the twin moons illuminating her transparent wings in two colors of the moon.

"Careful with leaving your mouth so wide open, something might fly in."

Guiche quickly regained his composure and took his trademark pose. "My what a night, that gives me the honor to be in the presence of such a unworldly beauty?"

Nymph had to bring up all her effort to not cringe away at the display. "I heard you talk about an angel. The angel in mention does not, by any chance, have pink wings?" Nymph said while slowly spinning around in the air.

To a random observer, Nymph's actions would seem to be random, but the truth was far from that. She was a Warfare-Angeloid, of the last few remaining. Every move she did, no matter how tiny, served its own purpose, to let her opponents think completely what she wanted. The image she currently sending out was one of pure innocence, coupled with an underlying sense of being alien. Add to that the fact that Guiche was already a slave to the other gender… Nymph already had him completely wrapped around her finger before she even said the first word.

"Why, of course I have seen her. In fact, I see her every day, as she's constantly with one of the other students." Guiche said while holding his rose up. "But I have to ask, why are you looking for her?"

"She is a friend of mine, and I have been looking for her since a few days as she just… well, vanished." Nymph said while shrugging. "I'm her younger sister and I am worried for her." She floated closer and folded her hands together. "Can you PLEASE help me?"

"Why, of course I will help you, who am I to deny a maiden like you?"He exclaimed with determination.

Guiche would never know what he had gotten himself into.


The first thing Louise noticed when she woke up, was that she was completely fine. As strange as that sounded, that should not be the case as she clearly remembered the long dagger that had gotten stuck in her shoulder.

At the memory of that, she panicked and quickly tried to sit upright, which proved itself to be a mistake as that made her experience, while very late, the pain of being stabbed.

And because Louise was a stranger to pain, as such her natural reaction was to curl up and start whimpering.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch,..." Her pain-induced reaction was cut short by a sudden howl of laughter that originated from the other end of the bed.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Louise screamed out in anger.

"Sorry, it's just that it has been so long since I have seen THAT reaction." Only now Louise recognized the head of Princess Henrietta's musketeers.

"Now, what is that supposed to mean?" The pinkette asked her while slowly rubbing the still hurting spot.

"Normally, when a soldier, or anyone for that matter, gets seriously injured for the first time, that can be quite the traumatic experience." Agnes said in a didactic tone. "As the Captain, it is my job to minimize that as much as possible. That and..." Agnes bowed down deep. "I have to thank you, without your brave sacrifice Princess Henrietta could very well be dead. I and the whole country of Tristram stand in your debt."

"Thank you." Louise said quietly. "But it isn't much of a sacrifice if I am still here, is it?" She said with a small smile.

"Not many would throw themselves in harm's way for someone, regardless if it is your duty or not, and that scar will never go away." The captain said while pointing at Louise's shoulder.

At that, The girl looked beneath her shirt and, indeed, there it was a very clear line that marked the spot where the knife had gone into her shoulder. "The knife went into your shoulder and slightly nicked a blood vessel before it was stopped by a bone that prevented it from exiting. The princess instantly applied healing magic, the scar could have been prevented if we had healed you more carefully but, to be honest, no one cared about that at the time."

Louise got a smile at that. "It's ok, now I can brag that I saved a princess and show the prove."

Agnes was about to say something back but was Interrupted by the door being blown off its hinges by a pink winged Angeloid.

Agnes, as a reaction, instantly had her sword out and pointed at the door, but had to take a double check at what she was seeing because Ikaros already was next to Louise, on the bed, with her face not even centimeters away from her.

"Ikaros!" Louise screamed out before trying to back up a bit, not that it helped as Ikaros closed in exactly as much as the poor girl backed off.

"Master, are you ok?" Closer. "How is your wound?" Closer. "Has Agnes held her promise of psychological comfort?" Too close. "Master, why is your heart rate increasing?" WAY TOO CLOSE.

"I'm sorry Louise... we tried to stop… stop her but she simply rushed out of the room." Henrietta said breathlessly while she ran in shortly after Ikaros. She was accompanied by Tabitha, Kirche, Professor Colbert and the Headmaster. Surprisingly, Henrietta was the only one who was breathing heavily.

The first thing everybody noticed was how Louise was being pressed down by her familiar while having a beat red face.

Naturally, everyone reacted differently.

"Oho, Louise, if you wanted some alone-time with Ikaros, then you could have said so." Kirche.

"I have to agree, acts such as these should be done in private." Osmond.

"I must protest, Miss Vallière barely woke up and her body has to recover from what happened." Colbert.

"L-Louise, I-I d-didn't know you had i-interests like this, but as your f-friend I d-don't mind." Henrietta.

Tabitha only gave a short look and a thumb up.

While Louise tried, and failed, to explain the situation, Agnes was simply happy to see that her job was done for now. Founder knew she had to deal with enough soldiers that would instantly lose it when they heard the clank of metal on metal.

Despite what many believed, knights are as far from all the fame and glory as it can be, and, in many cases, the difference between a good and a bad knight is simply that the former are still sane enough to follow orders.

Louise most likely didn't even grasp the fact that she very well could have died just a few hours ago. If she was lucky, she never would.

"Master, may I ask you a question?" All was interrupted by Ikaros, who was still on the bed, speaking up unexpectedly.

"Of course!" Louise said swiftly, she still didn't know very much about her familiar, despite having her for about three weeks, and took advantage of every opportunity she could get.

"Why did you save the Princess?" That was not the question she was expecting.

"Why? She is my friend and I didn't want her to die." Louise said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's what I don't understand Master. Over the past three weeks that I have been with you, I have watched and learned all I could about human behavior." Ikaros continued while her eyes turned green and started to spin. "My observations have deduced that humans, similar to wolf, form groups that are split into different positions of authority and social standing, your kind does this unconsciously, always moving to the bigger groups, females are drawn to males in higher authorities, males do everything to raise their social standing. The biggest difference that I could identify between most pack animals and humans, is that humans very often do not care for the safety of a fellow human when they are presented with the opportunity to increase their power." Many in the room, who had experience with that, flinched.

"But at the same time, I have met some humans who have absolutely nothing to gain from certain actions yet still do them to help fellow humans. That's one of the things that confuses me the most. And I was not able to subdivide between good and evil despite many claiming that it is possible. As an example, Anabel, the first grader, is what you humans refer to as 'bully' as she enforces her social standing with acts of aggression. Normally that would categorize her as the later but, despite this, she constantly helps one of her classmates doing her enchanting work using valuable time and effort, helping a person whose existence she would not even recognize under other circumstances." Colbert made a mental note to look a bit closer into this Anabel person. "As such, I fail to comprehend why many of you do certain things. You are the best example for that, as without your involvement princess Henrietta would have died. But in this whole country, you are one of the people who would benefit the most from her death. Why did you save her?"

The room was silent, digesting all the information, until Louise finally cut the tension. "W-What are you saying there, Ikaros? What do I have to gain from Henrietta DYING!?" Naturally she was visibly freaked out.

"Princess Henrietta's death would make the country leaderless and unstable, to remedy that a new King or Queen would need to be chosen and there is only one close relative to the current leading bloodline: Duke de La Vallière, your father. If the orderly approach fails and the Country elects the leader by force, then the strongest mage of the country would become Monarch, and that is your mother, Karin Désirée de La Vallière, the Heavy Wind. Both outcomes would result in you being the immediate heir to the throne. Because your oldest sister is not interested in ruling, and the other one is too sick, there is a seventy-six percent chance that you would one day be Queen of Tristan."

Again, the room was silent digesting the freight train of words that they just got bombarded with. For Louise, it already was a train wreck that made her head spin as she passed out again.

"Ah, Louise are you ok?"

"Master?"

"Miss Vallière!"

After everyone calmed down, and Louise woke up again, only Henrietta, Tabitha, and Kirche were still in the room with her. The others had their own matters to attend to.

"Humans are irrational." Tabitha finally said, breaking the silence. "We do things that don't make sense, for things we don't understand, in an attempt to bring some comfort into our lives." She said, answering Ikaros questions.

"That's kind of a bleak outlook." Kirche threw in. "I just do things that I enjoy. You never know when things can get worse, so better to have fun while you can."

"A ruler sadly can't afford that kind of life." Henrietta said with her head low. "I live for Tristan, all my decisions have to be made with the country's well-being as the first priority, no matter what my intentions are, the country has to come first, no matter the cost."

Ikaros didn't say anything but turned her head to Louise, awaiting her answer.

"I just do… what I think is the right thing to do." She said struggling to find the right words.

Ikaros didn't really know what to do with that answer.

Louise, for her part, was still digesting what had happened. At first, she simply was planning how to impress the princess and teachers by making a good show. Next thing she knows the princess is dead and she is thrown back in time with her familiar only for her to end up in a hospital bed and Ikaros being slammed into a wall. Well Henrietta, was ok, and that made everything ok... for…

"Ikaros! Are you ok?" Louise was feeling horrible for forgetting how her familiar was practically slammed into a wall. Just the memory of it made her want to throw up.

"Yes master, but why are you suddenly in such a turmoil?" Ikarus asked in a surprised manner.

"You literally got slammed into the academy wall by multiple tonnes of living rock!" Louise screamed out. "Have the water mages looked at you? Are you injured somewhere?"

"It's ok master, at no point was I in any danger during the confrontation." She answered plainly

That got a twitch out of Louise's eye.

"How tough are you?" A surprised Kirche asked. "I can understand lifting a salamander but a triangle class golem is 'no danger'?"

"This body has a pressure limit of 350 kg/cm² and can lift up to 12000 kg."

...

"That… is a big amount of tough."

Suddenly the door opened and in came an irritated Agnes.

"Agnes! Have you found anything?" The Princess asked as the captain bowed down.

"The prisoner refuses to utter a single word, saying that she would only speak to you." Agnes' face got an annoyed twitch. "As if anyone would fall for such a cheap trick. She probably has some form of suicide spell up her a..."

"Agnes!" Henrietta interrupted her before she could say some unladylike words. "Thank you for informing me. I'll be with you shortly."

"Yes, your Highness. I am sorry your highness." Agnes said bowing down even deeper.

"You have to excuse Agnes, she has the mouth of a sailor if you don't keep her in check." Said captain just got a red faced at that.

"What will you do with miss Longville, princess?" Kirche asked.

"She will very likely be executed for attempted murder on royalty." Henrietta stated in a cold voice. "Am I a bad person for being glad about it?" She asked into the room.

"She tried to kill you and harmed your friend." Tabitha answered while not bothering to lift her gaze from her book. "Humans do worse for less."

Henrietta knew very well that was not an answer to her question, but a statement.

That still left the problem of what to do with said prisoner. After all, she as a princess, couldn't really risk her live like that but, on the other hand, there was a chance that the prisoner had some information that she really needed. Considering what was going on in Albion, she was almost one-hundred percent sure that the assassin had been sent from there.

Henrietta wished that she could just have some impenetrable wall between herself and her would-be-killer for the questioning. 'If I had someone like Louise's familiar that would be easy.' she thought as she looked at her friend, but she immediately wanted to look away and resisted the urge to slap herself. Her friend has just been stabbed because of her, she would not even think about making such a request after…

"We will do it!" … Wait what? "I know exactly what you were thinking just now!" Louise said pridefully with her arms crossed, "So don't try to hide it. Also, if that golem couldn't even scratch Ikaros, then I doubt that Longville will be able to do so now."

"But Louise! I must protest" Henrietta said as she stood up. "You already did way more then a friend should ever have to do for me."

Louise just gave her a flat look. "Then your definition of the word 'friend' is flawed." She said while she starting to smile. "And as such, it is my duty to educate you, we can't have a queen who doesn't understand simple definitions." Her smile got even wider as she got out of bed and moved her arm. To her satisfaction, the pain was nearly completely gone, ah, the wonders of magic "Ikaros!"

"Yes, Master?"

"I want you to protect Princess Henrietta de Tristram while she interrogates miss Longville, and prevent any harm that might come to her." Henrietta had a shocked face at that but that quickly morphed into her game face.

"Agnes!" She said in a commanding voice.

"Yes, your highness?"

"I want you to prevent Ikaros and Louise from exiting this room." She ordered. Agnes just looked at the two and judged them, Louise without a wand she could manage, but Ikaros? Well, she was a bit unsure about that.

Louise, meanwhile, just looked at the princess with a smile that never left her face. Henrietta, thinking herself victorious, started to leave the room despite how unnerving Louise's smile was.

She managed to make a few steps after she left the room before she heard the sound of surprise, and saw Ikaros calmly walking outside with her most trusted and strongest knight clinging to her neck in a futile attempt to prevent the angeloid from moving. But the only thing Agnes accomplished was getting dragged along.

Ikaros didn't even break a sweat and came to a halt in front of Henrietta looking down at her with those cold eyes that didn't even acknowledge the captain of the guard who was still trying to move the walking fortress. Behind her, Louise calmly left the room and gave her that look, this one very special look that Henrietta would learn to dread, that 'I have a familiar that doesn't consider a square-class golem as a threat and there is nothing you can do to stop me.' look.

Agnes, meanwhile, got an idea. She couldn't move Ikaros, that was for sure, but there was nothing preventing her from moving the master of said angeloid. And so, with a newfound resolve, she started to walk towards Louise, who came to the same thought after seeing the determination in Agnes' eyes.

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard and Agnes felt something holding her shoulder. She looked down and saw that it was a feminine looking hand, and, as she traced the hand back to its owner, she stared into the eyes of an angry angeloid. She wasn't so sure about her actions anymore.

Her eyes glowing green with anger, and a face set into primal rage promising the opening of the hell gates, ready to unleash eternal suffering at a moment's notice. The last time Agnes had been this scared was a long time ago.

"Your Highness, I suggest that we allow lady Louise and her familiar to accompany us. After all, you can never be too sure." Agnes said while looking at Henrietta with please-save-me eyes.

The princess just looked at the spectacle with one of her eyes twitching."You know Louise, I could count that as treason."

"I know." Louise answered without missing a beat, leaving the 'but you won't' unsaid.

Kirche and Tabitha just watched the spectacle from the side, Kirche barely managing not to break into maniacal laughter after watching little Louse completely outplaying her own monarch. Even Tabitha had to hide her own smirk behind a book as she watched a silently-cursing princess leaving, tailed by her captain, Louise and Ikaros.


Louise didn't even know that the school had a dungeon, much less did she expect it to be exactly like she imagined it. Everything that was made of metal was rusty, every piece of wood was brittle, and it smelled like the place hadn't gotten cleaned in the last century.

The way to the cell holding Longville was not very long, it was, after all it was only a very small dungeon. She had chains binding her legs together, shackles that chained her to the wall, and her clothing had been reduced to a plain white sheet. The knights had searched her very thoroughly.

"Funny, I didn't actually expect you to come." She said lifting her head slightly. "And you brought friends."

Henrietta flinched slightly from her place behind Ikaros. "You asked for me. Now, speak." She said in the best authoritative voice she could muster.

"Yes, I want to offer you something." Longville said while standing up."It's information about a traitor in your ranks."

Henrietta raised a eyebrow at that."If this is some cheap plan to seed distrust then you are wasting my time, also your faith is already sealed so don't hope to buy your way out."

"Haha, that my faith is sealed I know, however what you need to understand is that I didn't want to kill you." She started to explain."I was forced to because they have someone precious to me and now that I am of no use to them I want some revenge, I know it's petty and probably won't work but one can try."

Henrietta didn't like that she couldn't find a single lie in her words.

In the end Henrietta found that there wasn't anything she could do but hear her out.

If she found the information useless she could just discard it and her would be assassin would be dead anyway."Speak then, who is this supposed traitor?"

"To make this short, I was contracted by an organisation called Reconquista, I don't think I need to tell you much about them."

"Refresh my memory." She knew very well about the Reconquista but what she did want to know was the difference between her own knowledge and Longueville.

"Reconquista, a group of nobles that are planning to united Halkegenia and invade the Elves to retake the holy land. The leader is a man named Oliver Cromwell. They are currently taking over Albion." Not much of a difference between what they knew. "Anyway that is not the funny part, the next bit of info will be way more juicy for you." She said with a smirk. "The agent they send after me was named Viscount Wardes, ring any bells?"

"Balant lies!" Louise exploded."There is no way Lord Wardes is a traitor!" her emotions ran wild with the sheer possibility of her promised being a traitor.

"What if I could prove it?" she asked with a sly smile.

"What prove could you possibly have to support such a claim." Agnes asked with a raised eyebrow, accusations were nothing new to her and many proves could very easily be crafted.

"You can find it in one of my hideout" She explained. "You will find it if you follow the west roads and continue straight forwards at the first turn through the woods. A letter that he meant to send to Reconquista, that I intercepted. It contains information that you will find very interesting."

"As if we believed any of that!" Louise snapped, still angry at the accusation.

"Believe what you want, I have made my peace."

"Whaaattt? Not even gonna beg for your freedom?" Agnes mocked kicking the bars.

"Go suck one." Longville bit back."I have nothing more to say to you, now if you excuse me I have a glorious escape to plan."

Agnes looked at her impassively for a moment before she got a idea accompanied by a smug grin. She turned to the door and shouted."Margret!"

"Yes Captain?" the guard at the door saluted.

"You searched her thoroughly, correct?" she asked not bothering to hide her grin.

"Of course Capitan, everything was checked."

"Are you sure?" Agnes asked with the smugness now amplified while Longvilles face only showed raising dread."Those mages are crafty after all."

By now Henrietta caught up as well and quickly pushed Louise out of the dungeon with Ikaros following.

"Be a dear and bring me a few things Margret." was the last thing Louise heard as they left.

As they reached the outside Henrietta sighed in relief while Louise repeated the whole encounter in her mind.

"Longville is going to die." she came to the somber realization."She is going to die and wasn't even a tiny bit worried."

"Trust me she was." Henrietta said, she saw the facade of many who faced the axe. Those that truly didn't fear it were a rarity that Longville was not part of.

"And she supposedly did it for someone she loved, that has to be a joke, right?" Louise asked desperately.

"I am afraid it's not." Henrietta truly wished she could tell Louise something differently."I don't think she lied."

"Then it truly is a joke." Louise said bitterly not wanting to accept that someone who attempted to murder her friend cared about someone.

"I am afraid it's not." a bitter laugh left Henritta's libs as she remembered something. "It's really strange, isn't it? We get raised by parents who do their best to protect us from evil but the thing that finally made me feel like an adult myself was the realization that there is no such thing as true evil."

Louise thought on that for a moment before asking "Then why do we fight each other?"