Some of you might notice that I've started using a little bit of Japanese in this chapter, but I felt it was about time since the show is from Japan. When I've been doing my research I keep coming across titles and such in Japanese, so I decided to start putting them in. It won't be a whole lot since I don't actually speak very much of it, but there'll be a little more than before.

NOTE: I have since realized that this was a stupid idea thanks to you my dear readers, and will not feature after this chapter. I thought it was a good idea after poking through the ZnT wikis, I was wrong.

I also wanted to thank you guys for being so supportive of my writing. I know I've been ranting a lot about it, but it just makes me so happy! I don't want to be the guy who doesn't listen to his reviewers, which I've sometimes encountered myself as a reader, so I just wanted to say how grateful I am.

You all rock!

Disclaimer: Should I put something silly here? Nah, you guys know how things work.

Chapter 4

Worry not, my fair Lady!

The ticking of the antique grandfather clock in the Headmaster's office seemed to fill the entire room with its steady, ceaseless beat. Steam wafted lazily from cooling, amber liquid that sat untouched in their teacups.

Miss Longueville had left soon after serving the two men who now sat in quiet contemplation, wisely choosing to make herself scarce as the atmosphere had become too much even for her. They had been sitting like this ever since Colbert had returned from overseeing the duel earlier that morning, a full two hours ago, and no amount of lame attempts at jokes or talk of paperwork seemed to budge them.

Old Osmond hadn't even moved a single inch beyond stroking Motsognir every so often when she leaned over to pour the tea, putting her shapely rear well within reach. Normally she had to beat him off with a stick! Professor Colbert likewise had just been sitting there, his hands folded with his elbows resting on his legs. Staring into the now-lukewarm tea as if it held all the answers to the universe and everything.

So she had excused herself and left under the pretense of some random task, her heels clicking against the stones as she hurried out of the room. This would be a perfect opportunity to check the seals on the Academy vault, she told herself. But even then her heart wasn't even in it, seeing the events of the duel had shaken her, as well.

They had both watched the duel through the Magic Mirror that the Headmaster possessed, and had both witnessed the destruction wrought by the Black Golems. It had completely eclipsed any expectations or predictions either of the three had about the power of miss Vallière's familiar.

What kind of place had these things come from that required such awesome destructive forces, this land of Nod?

"How is de Gramont doing?" Osmond asked at last when the tea had finally cooled enough that no steam could longer be seen coming from the two cups.

"He's doing well, all things considered." Colbert responded, having awaited the question since he visited the boy in the Infirmary.

"The Head Physician told me that the bullet had missed all vital organs and arteries." he said in the detached tone of someone who had seen much worse. "Healing him required no more than the standard reagents, he should be fine after he's had some rest."

"Good, good..." the aging Headmaster said, more satisfied that one of his students hadn't had to have a life on her conscience than any medical bill. Founder only knew how she was feeling right now after such a violent event. "And the shrapnel from his golems?"

Colbert seemed to relax a little as he had finally had the chance to make his report plus how well Osmond appeared to be taking it. "All of it skin-deep, he made a bit of a fuss when they removed it and he'll have a few scars, but nothing that can't be corrected later."

He reached into the pocket of his robes and produced a handful of copper nuggets that he set on the desk. "I was also able to recover these from the Vestri court. The ones that struck de Gramont's golems and the walls were too damaged from the force of the impact, but i found these stuck in the ground."

"Hmm? These resemble no musket balls I've ever seen." the older man remarked. "Why would they make them out of copper?" he wondered, but got his answer as he went to pick one up.

First of all they were far heavier than a lump of copper in the same size should be. And as he rolled it between his thumb and index finger, he found a shallow hole in what he assumed to be the tip in which he could see a blueish-gray kind of color. Lead?

"When I split one of them I found that only the outer layer is copper, and the rest of it is filled up with lead just like that of a regular musket ball." Colbert explained to him. "I can only speculate why they're made this way, but I think it may be to improve the way it moves through the air."

"What about these strange grooves that have been cut all the way along the sides?"

"I honestly don't know sir, they're as much a mystery to me as they are to you. But I was thinking I'd call these types of projectiles 'copper-robed'." the Professor said.

"Copper-robed, eh? I was thinking of 'copper-mantled', myself!"

"But a mantle or cape is worn open in the front, robes cover you completely."

"What about 'copper-jacketed'?"

The two men paused for a few seconds to ponder this and then simultaneously shook their heads. That just sounded stupid!

Eventually, the Headmaster let out a deep sigh before finally picking up his cup of tea and took a long sip of it. Not caring that it was now basically room temperature, he drained the cup halfway before setting it down on the saucer with a faint click.

"Headmaster..."

"Yes, Mr. Colbert?"

"What do you want to do about miss Vallière's familiar?" he asked, finally having the courage to ask the loaded question on his mind. "It's obviously very dangerous, but at the same time..." he trailed off.

"Neither she nor it truly did anything wrong." the older man agreed, slowly stroking his beard. "She followed the rules of the engagement to the letter and proved through Animus Domini that they were who she said they were. She even spared the boy even though she was well within her right to kill him."

Such were the rules of dueling that whoever had accepted a duel were at the mercy of the winner, as said to be penned by the Founder Brimir's own hand. Therefore it was held above the standard law in all Brimiric countries and dying in a duel was considered the same as falling in battle.

It did prove a good judge of character, however. Not many had the strength to resist the urge to strike down one who had tormented them when they had a chance to do so without repercussion.

"Perhaps this will not turn out as bad as I'd feared." Colbert thought with a certain measure of hope.

"Although we cannot simply allow this event to slide." Osmond continued, "Even if we do not punish her for it, this will be an excellent time to teach her that there are always consequences to your actions."

"True enough. What would you suggest us do, then?"

As the older mage hmmed and hemmed as he thought about the issue, Colbert went back to studying the little piece of metal that had caused so much destruction. The grooves were indeed a mystery, although there was a nagging thought in the back of his head that they must add to their stability somehow.

"I think," Colbert's head snapped back up to the elderly Headmaster as he suddenly spoke. "that this whole mess was not about whether or not she won, but about a sense of helplessness. The inability to defend yourself."

"Er... you think so?" he was pretty certain it had something to do with de Gramont's tendency for two-timing, possibly involving that maid, but he thought he'd let Osmond finish.

"Indeed! I believe that since miss Vallière's magic is not at all suited for self defense, she felt the need to take radical action through her familiar."

The Professor had to raise an eyebrow at this. Louise was easily the most destructive person in the entire school if you didn't count the teachers, having caused more damage than any other student he knew of.

"Are you... sure, Headmaster? With her explosions she could probably hold off an entire team of bandits all on her own."

"Ah, but that's exactly it!" Osmond exclaimed, holding one finger up in the air. "From all the classrooms she'd demolished, I am certain that if she cast it on another person the results would be horrific!"

"I... hm. You may have a point." he reluctantly agreed, having seen firsthand the destruction wrought by a single spell. And that wasn't even counting the borderline cataclysmic event that was her familiar summoning.

"Therefore I believe that it would be within everyone's best interests if we could give her a weapon of some kind. It wouldn't have to be anything big, a knife or perhaps a rapier would probably suffice."

Now it was Colbert's time to sigh.

"Old Osmond and his crazy ideas! I don't see how this could possibly end well." he thought to himself, out loud he said: "You think it might make her feel better by instilling a sense of safety knowing she is armed?"

"Yes! And I would be most pleased if you could accompany her in order to make sure she gets something that fits her."

Seeing that he would have no chance of changing the Headmaster's mind, Colbert decided to just humor the old man. Maybe it might actually work?

"Alright then, I'll go out with her on the Day of the Void." he finally agreed.

"Splendid!" Osmond said, clapping his hands together as if to seal the deal. "Oh, and make sure you get one that looks nice!"

"Of course, sir."

"And not too expensive!"

"Yes."

"Good! Now, where did miss Longueville run off to?" he asked out of the blue, suddenly remembering he never saw her leave. "Have you seen her, Mr. Compton?"

"It's Colbert!"

The faint rattle of porcelain and the steady creak of little wheels echoed down one of the many corridors of the student dorms. Lady Vallière had vanished after the duel in the Vestri Court, and no one had seen as much of a glimpse of her since. Lunch had been a very quiet affair as nearly all students had opted to eat in their rooms, scared out of their wits that Louise might come after them next. Even people who had never even said as much as a word to her in the entire time they had been in the school together felt this, including those who had only heard of the duel second-hand.

They were all terrified that at any moment, those terrifying Black Golems would show up and fill the air with thunder and death. It far outpaced any fear of punishment for missing classes, as serving detentions for the rest of the semester was still a preferable alternative to death.

However when both lunch and tea-time came and went without any rumors, screams, explosions or the roar of automatic weapons people slowly started peeking out of their rooms. Students ran across and down the halls in full sprints in order to reach the relative safety of their friends, and rumors flowed like the rivers in spring.

When the clock struck for dinner, they finally dared to slowly and cautiously make their way towards the Alvíss Dining Hall.

Jumping at even the slightest of noises. They all felt like rabbits caught in the middle of the night out in the deepest parts of the forest, knowing that a fox or wolf might appear at any time. Not only that, but they were probably working together in order to be able to better catch them off guard!

So when the students finally did arrive, they did so pale and sweaty from stress and fear. The serving staff watched this with no small amount of humor, since la Vallière had fought and almost killed for the sake of one of their own they had no fear of her.

Indeed, the Head Chef had even been boasting in the kitchen how it was his superb cooking that had led to her decisive victory, calling her things like "Our Shield" and "The Great Defender". They actually had to try and calm him down so that the skittish Nobles that finally came for dinner wouldn't hear him. Who knows what kind of panic would ensue if they heard someone shouting?

Maybe they'd even soil themselves where they stood and then trample each other in their panicked rush to escape. The servants didn't even want to imagine the kind of mess that would cause!

Thus, dinner was a very quiet, very careful affair. They all made sure to wear padded shoes and move with deliberate, carefully controlled amounts of noise. Some of them jumped anyway when the servants appeared with the food, but in doing this they successfully avoided any serious panic.

None of them even voiced their usual complaints and actually made very polite requests for their desired dishes. Their voices were quiet and lacked nearly all of their normal, passive scorn, and sat completely still as the servants set out their orders for them.

Heck, they even thanked them afterwards!

All discussions were made in hushed voices where many were shushed by their neighbors for talking too loud. After they had eaten, they all got up and left back to their dorms leaving the servants to bring away the dirty dishes and clean up.

All in all, it was probably the easiest day they'd ever experienced while working for the Academy.

However, the guest of honor herself had never shown up which was why Siesta was now taking a trolley loaded with all of Louise's favorite foods to her room.

Many of them had been made personally by Marteau himself, insisting that he had promised to cook for her did she win. He even went down to the cellar and got one of the best wines they had, a bottle of Chateau de Tristain. A small stock of this most prestigious of all wines was kept by the Academy in case they were receiving Royalty or other Nobles of high acclaim. This was wine made from grapes grown, hand picked and expertly prepared in the Royal Wineyard in the capitol of Tristania.

Originally built to accommodate only the Royalty, the wineyards had grown in size and skill over the centuries until the supply eclipsed the demand. Therefore it was also sold to the common man, provided of course they could afford it.

Nonetheless it was beyond the shadow of a doubt an excellent vintage rich in taste and flavor, and Siesta really hoped that she would appreciate it.

Once she finally arrived, she gave the door the customary three knocks and called out to the person on the other side.

"Lady Vallière, I have brought you your dinner."

Several seconds passed and no answer came. This normally meant that the person in question was out somewhere or asleep, but she knew this was not the case this time. If living with 7 younger siblings had taught her anything, it was how to tell when someone was only pretending in order to be left alone.

"Lady Vallière, I know you can hear me. Please open the door."

"Go 'way." came the muffled response at last, making Siesta smile in triumph.

"Got you."

"Please, you haven't eaten since early this morning and I know for a fact you haven't gone outside the door since. You must be absolutely famished by now, and I've got all your favorite dishes right here!"

On the other side of the door, Louise bit her lip hard as she tried to ignore not only the painful hole that was her stomach, but also that evil siren's song! The commoner maid was completely right on both accounts, having been lying in bed since she got back from the duel. She'd lain there for over 12 hours straight, thinking of the duel and what she had done.

How could she show her face when she did the equivalent of smashing an ant with a fireball?

But she really was hungry. Enormously hungry. She had access to water in her room so at least she was staying hydrated, but what she really wanted right now was some nice, hot foot.

"Everything's been prepared by Chief Marteau himself." came the voice of the siren again.

The hunger pangs came back with full force as she was reminded of the delicious food she had that morning.

Damn that sweet-sounding voice of hers! Telling her all the things she wanted to hear!

"I even brought some Cookberry Pie for dessert."

Ouch, now that was just the low-blows of low-blows. Had she no mercy? At least, Louise reassured herself, she knew that they only made her favorite cookberry pie twice a week. It was most likely only what was left from the last batch.

Trying to tempt her with leftovers. Evil truly knew no bounds! She would never surrender to such dastardly tricks!

"Freshly made, just for you!"

"A low blow!" she thought miserably as she flailed helplessly between the sheets. "Strikes below the belt is not allowed! I call foul! Foooooooul!"

"Alright! Alright!" she cried miserably. "I give up, you can come in!"

"Score!" Siesta thought with a grin, quickly pumping her fist once as the handle turned and the door began to open.

However, it was not Louise that opened it.

Siesta was no longer afraid of Louise as a Noble. She wasn't.

If you had asked her a couple days before the duel went down, she would have responded without hesitation that she was scared of Louise de La Vallière. She had a temper matched only in volatility by her magic mishaps, which was a bad combo where a Noble that did something to a commoner could do so unpunished. That sentiment had now changed and Siesta was of the full belief that Louise was a good person who got a lot of flak for some really dumb reasons.

And it was completely true.

But when she looked into the polished, crimson face-plate of the Black Golem that stood before her, her blood ran cold.

This was not a person.

It could not be tricked, it could not be manipulated, and it could not be bought.

The black armor that covered every inch of its body seemed to drink in the light from the torches behind her, making it seem like some kind of demon to her. She could see the beige strip of cloth running diagonally down its chest that secured that deadly, potent weapon which she had seen in use this morning.

This was a killing machine, pure and simple.

It felt no pain. It could not be reasoned with.

She was just seriously contemplating to say to hell with this and take off at a full sprint when Louise's voice successfully derailed her train of thought.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" she asked tiredly.

"N-no! I apologize!" she said quickly as the Black Golem stepped to the side, allowing her to roll the trolley inside.

The inside of the room was dark, and after rolling the trolley inside she went over to Louise's bedside and lit the kerosene lamp there. The poor girl looked like she had been crying and Siesta perfectly understood that sometimes, you just wanted to stay in bed. So she simply offered the Noble a gentle smile and went to pick up the serving tray which every room had one of and set it on the bed in front of her.

As the maid started setting out various dishes, Louise felt an intense burst of gratitude for the commoner. She was used to servants catering to her every need growing up at the Vallière estates, so getting a meal in bed was nothing special.

But she was just so hungry and the maid was so efficient in her work placing out each and every plate and utensil that she just couldn't help it! Half of her (which, also sounded like Éléonore onee-sama for some reason) wanted to berate herself for needing the help of a commoner. She didn't need their help!

...But on the other hand, there was also the half (which sounded just like her beloved Chi-nee-sama) that encouraged this.

The commoners are the ones that stand knee-deep in the mud so that we, the Nobility, don't have to. It seemed to tell her. Even if you will not thank them, there's no need to be cruel to them for theirs is already a hard lot.

Her older sister Cattleya had once told her that when Louise had ranted to her favorite sister about a servant accidentally dropping a tray loaded with tea and pie on the floor. She had been absolutely furious and had yelled at the poor, thoroughly apologetic servant for ten minutes before storming off. For some reason, even though she didn't always treat commoners much better, the words had stayed with her.

"Chi-see-sama..."

Siesta was startled when after she had laid everything out for the young lady, tears had started rolling down her cheeks! She had a moment of panic where she thought she'd done something wrong, and made all haste to try and correct it.

"L-lady Vallière!" she stammered, feeling as if the eyes of the Black Golems were on her now. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No, no." Louise sniffed as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her sleeve. Siesta noted that it looked quite soiled already. "I-I just got something in my eye, that's all!"

"Ah, I understand." she said kindly and reached into the front pocket of her uniform, producing a cloth napkin she always kept just in case and offered it to her. "Here, this might help."

Louise took the napkin and dabbed her cheeks with it, wincing a little at how sore they felt. Then she unfolded it and loudly blew her nose in it, much to Siesta's chagrin.

"Oh well." she thought as she watched the little Noble clean herself off with it. "It's what it's for, it can be washed."

"Thank you, commoner." Louise said with a small sniff as she handed back the soiled napkin to the maid. "I feel a little better now."

"I'm happy to be of service." Siesta said with a smile as she took it back and then covertly dropped it in the dirty clothes hamper. She'd have to clean it properly once she was done here.

"Would you like some wine with your meal?"

Louise had just picked up the silverware and dug into her delicious meal when she was asked, and she nodded with a mouth full of food.

The maid nodded and with the ease borne of long practice she popped the cork of the wine, and noisily poured a long stream of the rich, purple liquid into the lead-crystal wine glass.

For most liquids you ideally wanted to pour it with as little interruption as possible to avoid splashing. Wine on the other hand needed to be oxygenated to bring out its full flavor. Most people would simply open a bottle and then let it sit for a certain amount of time before pouring, but many Nobles would refuse to drink from a bottle they had not seen being unsealed. You never knew when someone would try to poison you for some petty reason, after all.

There was little risk of such a thing happening in the Tristain Academy of Magic, but it had become a custom to always allow the recipient to be present for the opening of a bottle.

To counter the inevitable splashing of wine, not only because it was expensive but also because it was a pain to wash out, special glasses had been designed for it. All glasses were made by hand, but many specialized in making fine wine glasses for the nobility.

And since glass was fragile and often broke, it was a very profitable industry indeed.

By the time Siesta had finished pouring the wine, Louise had already finished one plate and she hurried to both set the glass and bottle down as well as picking up the empty plate. It wasn't easy, but she took pride in her skills as a maid!

To Louise this was an absolute bliss, a piece of Heaven in every bite. Not only was this her favorite foods but they had also been prepared by an excellent chef. She was practically swimming in endorphins that her brain was releasing in response to her blood sugar, which had been getting very low, was rising once more. To top this off there was also this amazing vintage that she had just been poured a generous helping of.

"By the Founder!" she breathed, feeling a bit light-headed from practically inhaling the food. "I didn't even know the Academy had food this good. And this wine is absolutely perfect!"

Siesta smiled and bowed her head at the praise. "We all wanted to show our gratitude for your actions, Lady Vallière."

Louise had just cut a piece of cookberry pie and was bringing it to her mouth when the maid brought up the reason she was in here. Suddenly not feeling very hungry anymore, she closed her mouth and set the fork back down on the plate.

"Yes... the duel." she said quietly, having actually forgotten about it there for a while.

If the maid noticed her change in mood, she gave no indication as she continued with her head still bowed. "If you had not been there, Lady Vallière, I would surely have lost my job at the Academy."

She straightened back up to look the suddenly morose Noble in the eyes, wishing to show her just how much her actions had meant to her. "I come from a large family of simple farmers, my Lady. I send all the money I earn here at the Academy so that they can afford to feed themselves." she explained with a certain amount of pride.

Louise opened her mouth to say something, but Siesta continued. "Had you not been there last night, my family would have starved!" this made the Noble close her mouth with a click. "If not for you..." she trailed off, pressing her lips together tightly as she fought the urge to cry at the thought of her precious family starving to death.

"I am very grateful!" she said loudly, at the waist as deeply as she could in respect to the surprised girl. "Me and my entire family is indebted to you, Lady Vallière! If there's anything I can do for you, you simply need to ask!"

Louise was both humbled by the sheer amount of gratitude coming from the older woman, and a tiny bit elated knowing that she had in fact not only done harm. She could just imagine Cattleya smiling at her, tilting her head in the way she always did whenever Louise did something good.

"I did not fail you this time, Chi-nee-sama!"

Just as she was about to respond, a new voice cut into her thoughts.

"Oh my, I didn't know you were so good at attracting women, Louise."

Siesta froze like a deer in the headlights and Louise snapped her head over where she knew the table and chairs she normally sat in whenever she felt the need to relax with a good book were set. A moment later the kerosene lamp she had put there in order to see the text was lit, revealing Kirche and Tabitha sitting there.

Tabitha had her gnarled staff leaning against the side of her chair and light glinted off her glasses as she read from her ever-present book. Most likely she had been dragged here by Kirche (as usual!) who were sitting across from her, her elbow on her table as she sat with one long leg crossed over the other. Fire was her element and she was known as Kirche the Ardent, famous in the school for her fiery passion and drive.

Louise would never admit it, but until she summoned Legion she was probably the closest thing she had to a friend in the Academy. Nor would she admit in 67 trillion years that the orange-reddish glow of the lamp nicely complemented her dark skin and bright red hair.

She'd rather punch Princess Henrietta, join a rebellion and get executed for high treason!

"Zerbst!" she shouted. "How long have you been sitting there?!"

The buxom Germanian grinned and held up two fingers in a V-sign. "Three hours!"

"They snuck into the room while you were eating, Master." Legion's voice stated helpfully, and she realized she hadn't heard it since this morning.

Time passed quickly even when you weren't having fun, it seemed.

"Nothing suggested them to be hostile so I did not stop them from entering. Had they tried to assault either you or your servant, I would have acted accordingly and executed them immediately."

Despite herself, she felt the need to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. She saw in her mind's eye the surprise on the two girls' faces as they were gunned down in the thunderous roar of the repeating muskets that her familiars (maybe familiars' familiars would be more accurate?) used. Guiche's golems stood no chance before them, and she shuddered to imagine what they would do to bodies not made from bronze.

She didn't want to tell them that with the maid in the room, but she'd let them know eventually. Oh yes.

"Liar." Tabitha spoke up in a monotone, only to have Kirche try to hush her.

"Shh! Don't ruin it!" Louise heard her whisper, and she just sighed.

"What do you want, Kirche?" she asked, suddenly feeling very tired. "Don't you know better than to sneak into other people's rooms?"

"Nope!" came the cheerful response. "I do it all the time!"

As Louise face-palmed, Kirche went on to motion to the bluenette sitting next to her. "I regularly visit Tabitha like that, I have to make sure she doesn't bury herself in her books!"

"It is true, no amounts of locks will keep her out." the younger girl confirmed, turning a page.

The Germanian laughed that fake-sounding "Ohohohoho!"-laugh of hers as she leaned back in her seat, thrusting her absurd chest out towards Louise. "I can't help it if the locks in this place can't stand up to my fiery passion!"

"Fire nothing to do with it, adept lock-picker. Could probably make living breaking into people's homes."

"You wound me, Tabitha!"

Louise moaned in exasperation and covered her face with both hands as Siesta, who had since raised herself back up was just looking confused.

"Um... Lady Vallière?"

"Yes, commoner?"

"Would you like me to draw you a bath before bed?" she asked, not wanting to spend any more time in the crossfire than necessary.

"Yes please, that would be lovely." Louise sighed as she dropped her hands back into her lap.

Siesta dutifully placed all the dirty dishes on the trolley, put the serving tray back where it belonged and with quick steps went into the large bathroom each Noble had in connection to where they slept.

As expected of the Academy of Magic, no expense were spared on the students from the often rich Noble families. The bathroom was furnished in tasteful, lacquered wood with carvings laid with gold leaf. All surfaces meant to be exposed to water such as the bathtub, sink and even the toilet were made from polished marble. All taps, knobs, the shower-head and even the towel rack were made from silver (although much of the inside parts were of other, harder metals) and were polished and cleaned daily.

She breathed a small sigh of relief as she closed the bathroom door behind her and walked across the soft bathroom carpet to turn the taps for hot and cold water on to fill the bathtub. Being in the middle of two nobles arguing was stressful in the best of days, and these two were well-known for not getting along.

As she tested the water with her hand and put in the wooden plug in the drain of the tub, her mind wandered to what miss Zerbst had said. She knew it was simply idly talk and she had never found another woman particularly attractive beyond the stage of cute. But at the same time, Lady Vallière had stood up for her, allowed her to keep her job at the Academy and had actually drawn the blood of another Noble for her sake.

She realized now that she had been exaggerating a little when she said her family would have starved without her income. There were always paying jobs to be found, but few of them would have paid as much as the one she had now. It would have been tough and maybe she'd have to go to her cousin Jessica over in the capitol, but she would have preserved.

Still, she thought as the tub started filling up, although the Noble was hardly a knight in shining armor she was thankful to her. Resolving right then and there that although she could not reward her in the same way she would had Lady Vallière been a man, she would support her nonetheless.

Nodding to herself, she set her face in resolution to her silent pledge while curling her hand into a fist. She would not fail!

Ignorant to the thoughts of the maid, Louise and Kirche were still bantering back and forth while Tabitha kept reading. Louise had swung her legs out and were now sitting on the side of the bed while Kirche had remained in her seat.

She had given up on trying to convince the Germanian that she did not do it for the maid's favor, and was now just trying to get them to leave. There was simply now way she was going to change out of her clothes with those two in there!

"Don't be such a prude, Vallière! I bet you don't have anything you haven't seen before." her nemesis said with a smirk. "Unless you're trying to hide the fact that you're actually a boy~"

"I am not getting naked while you're watching and that's final!" she said loudly, folding her arms over her chest.

"So you're not arguing the fact that you're a boy?" Kirche said, smirking as the other girl fell in her word-trap.

"For Brimir's sake, I'm not a boy!" she shouted, slightly red in the face from embarassment.

"So then it should be fine if I check to make sure."

Tabitha looked up from her book as Louise started vibrating from indignation and embarrassment, quickly looking around. She doubted Kirche had noticed it, but all of the four Black golems were in the room with them, and had been all this time. Although she was a mage skilled in both her ice magic and combat, she had seen the ease with which they had taken down Guiche's golems.

All of Guiche's golems, to be precise.

She could have defeated him in a similar manner, but not quite as effectively as they had. Thus she was very wary when she noticed that they now had their compact, rapid-fire muskets in their hands. They were held in a relaxed manner with their fingers flat over the side of the trigger-guard, but she knew they could snap them up to aim at them in a moment's notice.

These things were extraordinarily dangerous, her senses told her.

Even had she not watched the duel that morning, the lone fact that they carried firearms was alarming in itself. Golems normally did not need weapons due to their inherent sturdyness compared to humans, and when they did they carried some form of edged or blunt weapons.

These ones had muskets.

Very effective muskets.

All of this went through her mind as she watched Kirche smirk and take another breath for another jab at the younger noble. With that in mind, she went through a dozen different scenarios to defend them and/or incapacitate their foes. However in the end, she went with the easy alternative.

"Ow!" Kirche cried as Tabitha bonked her on the head with her staff, her hands going up to cradle the spot. "What was that for?"

"You were getting too loud."

Before the Germanian had a chance to retort, Tabitha stood up and gave the surprised Louise a short bow. "Aplogize."

"But-"

"Apo-lo-gize." the blank-faced girl spelled out to her.

"Alright, sheesh. Don't get your panties in a bunch." Kirche grumbled before turning back to their host, who was watching this with one eyebrow raised.

"I'm sorry for calling you a boy, Vallière." she said in the most dishonest tone Louise had ever heard.

"I don't believe you." she retorted.

"Well if- ow!" Kirche started only to be cut of again as Tabitha grabbed her by the ear and started leading her towards the door.

"Leaving."

"But, hey! Tabitha!" she whined as the younger girl led her out of the room.

Louise massaged her brow for a moment in annoyance once they finally left. Stupid Zerbst.

"Is that bath ready yet?" she called.

"Yes Lady Vallière!" came the response a moment later as Siesta opened the bathroom door. Giving a short bow in the doorway she folded her hands in front of her and smiled at her.

"Do you require anything more, my Lady?"

Being undressed and bathed by a maid was similarly nothing special and was often abused by some people. She however didn't really feel like it today and just shook her head no.

"I'll be fine on my own, thank you for bringing me dinner."

Siesta nodded in response to the gratitude and walked over to the trolley, which she then began to wheel out of the room. "As you wish. Have a good night, Lady Vallière."

Once the maid had left and one of her golems, her Militants she corrected herself, closed the door after her she unleashed a long yawn and stretched her arms over her head. A nice hot bath would be just what she needed after today, she reasoned as she stood up and started removing her clothes. Maybe it'd help her get a good night's rest tonight.

As the humming of the maid echoing down the hallway faded, Montmorency stood motionless behind the pillar where she'd hidden when she heard the maid commoner coming towards her. She hadn't intended to eavesdrop at first, but neither her nor that airhead Kirche had bothered closing the door properly.

She had just been heading to her own room after visiting Guiche in the Infirmary when she came across them, and saw no reason to leave once they'd started talking. The doors weren't marked and she hadn't even known Louise's room were in this corridor, or she might have taken another one.

She had been feeling very conflicted over the whole deal, as on one hand Guiche had been hurt but on the other it had been because he had been two-timing. She didn't really have a grudge against the Vallière girl for beating him, but just like the rest of the school she was terrified of those Black Golems of her.

Most of the staff and students referred to them simply as the Black Golems, but a new name for them were being passed around the school in hushed whispers.

Thunder Warriors.

Named after the sound of their weapons, they were the true reason Montmorency had waited that long, especially once she had confirmation that they were just inside the door. Waiting to drag any unsuspecting student in to be room so that la Vallière could judge them with her own, twisted logic! The very thought sent chills down her spine, and it had to be why Guiche was acting so strangely after the duel.

Earlier that day

It was noontime, Montmorency had been sitting to the left of the bed Guiche was resting in, carefully peeling an apple with a small knife. The sun had now risen high into the sky and it's life-giving rays were shining through the tall windows of the Infirmary. One of them was slightly ajar, and she could smell the scents of spring fighting against the antiseptic scents so common in places of healing.

Guiche de Gramont was lying in one of the beds, bandages peeking through the plain shirt they'd put on him. It was completely open from the top so that it could be pulled down upon any patient, and then tied together twice on each side.

He had quite a few scars littering the lower right side of his face and neck from where the shrapnel from his golems had hit him. The healer had said they would fade in time on their own, and that if he wanted to have them removed he'd still need to wait a few weeks.

The musket ball that had struck him in his left side had left a nasty wound but had mostly gone all the way through, the doctors said. It too was now healed and just like the other scars were covered in bandages to protect the thin, new skin.

However, it was his mind that Montmorency was worried about, not his body.

Ever since he had awoken after the procedures, he had just been sitting there, staring out of the window with blank eyes. She had been reassured that this was normal for someone who had been seriously hurt for the first time, and too would fade given time.

Thus it was to her surprise that when she was carefully cutting the apple into slices, he spoke to her.

"Where did we go so wrong?" he asked, right out of the blue.

"I'm sorry?" she replied in confusion. "What?"

"Where did we go wrong, Montmorency?" he asked again, adding her name this time.

"About what, Guiche?" It did worry her quite a bit he was using her complete name.

He hadn't done that since they first started dating.

He'd repeated it once and called it beautiful, and then immediately shortened it to Monmon which he'd used ever since. That he was suddenly pronouncing it in its entirety now all of a sudden was... very strange.

"How did we ever come to the conclusion that Louise de La Vallière was a useless mage?"

She was a little taken aback by this question. He had previously been one the most vocal antagonists of the Zero and never missed a chance to belittle her. She knew some people became different after a defeat, but this was just absurd!

"Because" she said slowly. "all her spells to date have failed. You know this Guiche, they explode!"

When he didn't respond, she continued.

"I'll admit that her summoning didn't actually explode, sure. But I would hardly call it a proper one, either."

"But it worked. She summoned something."

Montmorency rolled her eyes as she set the knife down to better focus on him, not wanting to cut herself.

"Yes Guiche, she summoned a bug." she said offhandedly, making him turn his bandaged face to look at her. There was a sort of... mature look in his eyes that wasn't there before. She wasn't sure what she thought of it at that moment.

"That was no bug, Monmon!" despite his tone, she relaxed slightly at the familiar nickname.

"A bug does not grow to that size. A bug does not summon golems." he said, completely serious.

She held his gaze for a moment. "What are you getting at?" she finally asked.

He looked away once more, and they sat quietly for a few minutes before he finally responded.

"She's not a failure." he muttered.

She sighed, starting to see where he was going with this. "Because she beat you?"

"Because she beat me."

"Oh come on, Guiche" she tried to reason with him. "a lot of people far better than her have-"

"And that's exactly it!" he interrupted her, to her annoyance. She was pleased he was starting to show emotion again, but...

"A lot of better people have done that." he stressed. "And she didn't just beat me, she did so without a scratch! Do you know how many people have done that?"

"Yes" she blinked. "if I recall your father did that quite- oh."

His father. General Gramont.

"Exactly." he sighed, slumping where he sat against the headboard. "And when did anyone last compare La Vallière with father?"

They did not.

Guiche put his face in his hands and for a moment she was afraid he'd start sobbing, she honestly couldn't blame him. But no, he just held them there for a few moments before dropping them.

"If we were wrong about her, what else were we wrong about, Monmon?" he asked, sounding almost horrified.

"What else was I wrong about?"

She'd found that she had no good answers to give to him after that, and after sitting in silence for what felt like hours he asked to be allowed to rest. So she left, and didn't come back until after dinner. However he had appeared unresponsive and possibly asleep at that point and she didn't want to disturb him.

So she had wandered around for a while before finally deciding to return to her room for the night, which brought her to the current situation. At this point it had been several minutes since the maid left and the hallway was dark and silent. She drew her wand just in case before sneaking past the door of Louise the Zero Tolerance on her tiptoes.

Better safe than sorry.

The Day of the Void dawned bright and early and to Louise, it felt awfully good. As she laid there between the sheets, warm and comfortable, she tried to figure out why. It took her mind a good couple minutes to wake up enough for her to realize why; she didn't have any weird dreams this time.

Of course she had dreams that she could only vaguely remember, but they had been ordinary dreams. Something about her mother threatening her with a bullwhip unless she cleaned the corner of a round tower.

Odd, but pretty normal compared to the other ones.

Sitting up she stretched and yawned before pointing at one of her black-armored golems that had stood guard over her all night long. Maybe that was why she'd slept so well?

"Lay out my clothes for me while I get ready for the day!" she commanded.

"Complying." it responded in the metallic drone she'd come to associate with them, immediately going for her closet.

Humming a tune to herself, she hopped out of bed and almost skipped towards the bathroom while removing her nightgown and panties, dropping them on the floor. After washing herself, she came out feeling a lot fresher and more awake than before.

Her golems were waiting for her as instructed and helped her get dressed without complaint nor comment. In other words, the perfect attendants! They weren't much in ways of conversation sure, and her clothes were still lying on the floor but that was acceptable.

It was only the first day after all, they couldn't be expected to follow orders she hadn't given them. Right?

She beamed when they opened the door for her as she approached it, without even having to ask them! Stepping outside, she waited smugly for the Baneful Redhead to appear from the door opposite of hers. She'd show her this time!

But when it didn't open after waiting on it for a few minutes, she finally got tired of holding her pose and shrugged. The sun would rise tomorrow as well, and today was the Day of Void. Maybe she slept in?

No matter! Turning sideways she started down the hallway to the Alvíss Dining Hall for breakfast to start the day, hearing the steady beats of her golems' booted feet as they followed her. Nothing could ruin this day of days!

But fate had a tendency to punish people who defied it, and today was no exception.

The moment she stepped foot in to the bustling dining hall, all movement stopped. Everyone froze at the sight of her and her black golems, no one talked, no one moved. People even stopped chewing and she saw quite a few piece of food falling off of forks and out of people's mouths. She even saw one person who was in the middle of drinking and stopped swallowing, the liquid pouring down his lap in twin streams from the sides of his mouth.

"THUNDER WARRIORS!" someone shouted, and all hell broke loose.

Suddenly there were movement everywhere as everyone scrambled to get out of their seats and out of the large room as quickly as humanly possible. It was the exact situation that the serving staff had feared would happen the night before, although possibly to a lesser degree.

Students screamed as they ran, pushed, crawled and jumped over tables in sprays of food and drink. Lucky the dining hall had plenty of entrances and exists so trampling was not quite as big of a problem as they'd feared, but she still saw some stragglers limping as quickly as possible at the end of the mob.

In less than five minutes, everyone save the bewildered serving staff had left the building, leaving behind a humongous mess.

Louise was completely stunned at this sudden display of terror, what could she possibly have done to deserve such a response? She only defeated some faceless golems for Founder's sake! She never even implied that she'd take on anyone else!

"Wha-what's going on?" she asked the almost empty hall. "Where's everyone going?"

"Away from you, I'd wager." came the gruff response from the door of the kitchens.

"Head Chef!"

Marteau was looking at her with a face she wasn't sure how she should interpret from where he stood in the doorway. He wasn't looking at her the way he had the other morning, like she'd just conquered his lands and was demanding tribute. But he didn't have the look of fear that she'd gotten out of her classmates, either.

"Did... what just happened, exactly?"

He didn't answer for quite a few moments, he just looked at her as if trying to find something without being completely sure what he was looking for. Finally, he did respond.

"There's no reason to sugarcoat it so I'll just tell it to you straight: you scare the crap out of them."

"Huuuh?!" was her unintelligible response.

"Those golems of yours" he motioned to the black-armored men standing behind her. "the things they did in the battle against Lord Gramont's golems has made them all fear for their lives."

"But, but, but..." she stammered. "I didn't hurt anyone!" she cried in dismay. "Their targets was his golems!"

"It wasn't what you did, it was how you did it."

"What... do you mean?"

He worked his jaw a few times as he thought of a good way to put it, in the end he just sighed. "Sit down and I'll get you something to eat, I'll tell you then."

She nodded quietly and as he went back into the kitchen, she looked around for a suitable place to sit. Most of the tables were a mess after the mad scramble earlier and several maids and servants were already working to clear them. She noted with some amount of disgust that some people had even wet themselves in the process of escaping, finding yellow pools of urine here and there.

Eventually she did find a spot and as one of her golems pushed her chair in for her, Marteau reappeared with a plate of pie. To her surprise he also sat down across from her and folded his hands on the table as he looked at her with a serious expression.

"As I was saying, it was how you did it. Tell me, do you know how you normally disable a golem?" he asked her.

She was a little taken aback from the question, as it was not something they normally covered in class.

"Well... they seemed to drop after their helmets were destroyed?"

"Hm. The answer is the same way as you take down a human, only much harder." he explained. "Sometimes they will only go down if you take them apart completely, or kill their summoner."

He paused for a moment as he watched her reaction closely, when she didn't interject with anything, he continued.

"You, miss Vallière, tore them to shreds."

She swallowed, nodding as she recalled the way they were turned into glittering flakes that caught the morning light. Now that she thought about it, this probably didn't happen very often.

"I've only ever heard of that happening to earth golems, never to metallic golems." he stressed.

She nodded again, bowing her head to look at the table. She could understand now why everyone ran at the sight of her, they were probably scared she'd do the same thing to them.

Marteau felt a little bad for telling the poor girl this, but he felt she had needed to know why they did what they did. Otherwise she might have spent years pondering it, possibly coming to a bad conclusion and that might have been bad for everyone.

Still, it broke his heart to see her wilting like a flower, and he had to take off his chef's hat and run his hand through his short-cropped hair a few times before he could formulate a response. He really wasn't good at this sort of thing.

"They'll come around, miss Vallière." he tried, a little more gently.

She simply nodded in response, so he tried again.

"Not everyone is afraid of you my Lady." he said, making her slowly look up at him and he gave her a grin in return. "The serving staff hasn't given up on you yet!"

She smiled weakly at this, hesitantly even.

"I'll be honest with you" the large man said. "those Thunder Warriors of yours are pretty scary, I won't deny that." his face softened a little. "But you fought for Siesta's sake, and that's something neither I nor anyone else will forget."

"Thank you. It's just... I'm used to being told I was no good as a mage." she said somberly. "All the spells I'd ever tried until the summoning ritual had just exploded, one way or another."

"And I could handle that, but this..." she trailed off.

"But now everyone is just straight-up frightened of you?" he asked, seeing where she was going with it and earning a nod in return.

Louise set her elbows on the table and slid them forward until her chin was resting on her crossed wrists. "Yes. I think this is even worse than the insults and the teasing!"

Marteau looked on her sympathetically as she buried her face in her arms with a groan. "I never asked for this."

"No one does, miss Vallière."

They sat in silence after that, while the rest of the serving staff bustled around them to clean everything up. By the time Colbert arrived, the place actually looked quite decent and he found Louise sitting alone with the four golems standing at parade rest behind her.

The Head Chef had been forced to excuse himself eventually since plans for lunch needed to be made, and she just hadn't felt like moving since she got there. The cold slice of pie he had brought her in the beginning was still sitting in front of her, untouched.

Colbert wasn't sure if he really wanted to disturb his student at first, but once he saw the dullness in her eyes he knew he had to. He'd noticed it the moment he came in that the dining hall was empty of all people besides the servants and her. It didn't take a genius (or an Academy Professor) to realize that something had happened and that she was feeling bad over it.

"Poor girl, it's just one thing after another with her."

Steeling himself, he took one look at the Black Golems standing there in the most nonthreatening way he'd seen thus far before walking over to her. They didn't seem to mind it when he approached, although he felt like they were watching him very closely as he reached out and touched Louise's shoulder.

"Miss Vallière?"

A faint grunt was his first response until she reluctantly pulled herself out of it to look up at the balding Professor. The dull look in her eyes made him wince on the inside, those were the eyes of someone who's hopes had been beaten, flogged, flayed, crushed and then shot.

"Yes, Professor?"

Legion had told her of his approach of course, but she just hadn't felt like doing anything about it. There was nowhere for her to go all day, anyway.

"Would you like to come to the city with me? It's a nice day out and you look like you could use some change of scenery." he asked gently, skipping the part where he had been ordered to do so by the Headmaster.

Louise blinked a few times, out of all the things he could have said this was not one she expected.

"To the capitol, Professor?" Colbert nodded.

"We should be able to make the trip and back before sundown, unless you have anything more pressing to do?"

"I, uh..." she fumbled with her words for a second, trying to think of any excuses. In the end she couldn't think of a single thing she had to do, or even could do at the moment. "No, I do not." she eventually admitted.

"Alright, then!" he said, sounding pleased with himself. "I have a carriage waiting outside, miss Vallière, let us leave immediately."

She nodded and sat up straighter, one of the golems stepping forward to pull her chair out for her, sliding it back in once she had stood up.

Colbert watched this curiously. What they did was nothing special from a human standpoint, but he'd never seen anyone use summons to do that for them before. The way they moved was so natural, so human, but at the same time he had seen the Animus Domini cast himself. These were definitely bound to Louise by means of magic.

There were other ways of gaining the same kind of magical trace on an item, sure. But he sincerely doubted she'd kept four black, armored gloves close to her person for the four months it took for such a magical residue to appear. Doing that in preparation for a ritual known for its unpredictability seemed awfully far-fetched to him, but was the only other possible alternative.

She was either the greatest tactical genius Halkegenia had ever seen, if she was able to predict events for a full four months in advance. Keeping those gloves near her and casting a massively powerful illusion spell to make it appear that she summoned something, and then equipped them on hired mercenaries.

Nevermind the fact that they'd have to be a perfect set of quintuple twins for them to all be of the same height and body structure.

And that didn't even account for their impossible, repeating muskets!

"No" he thought to himself as his student took a moment to nod her head at a maid they passed on their way to the carriage, earning a smile in return. "there is no doubt that these were indeed summoned by miss Vallière's own hand. Where from I cannot say, but I have a nagging suspicion they are not from this world." he mused to himself as his legs carried him on autopilot.

"I thought at first they might be from some unexplored land across the ocean to the west, but chances are if they are so advanced then they would have found us first." He reasoned, rubbing his chin. And he very nearly walked into one of the Black Golems as he found they had arrived already.

An uneducated person would have referred to the stables, carriage houses and the living quarters for the coachmen and stable personnel as just stables, or perhaps a stable yard or something.

But any noble worth his name and title knew that a range of stables, usually with carriage houses (called remises) and living quarters built around a yard, court or street, was called Mews.

The Academy Mews had been constructed not only to accommodate the Noble children that studied there, but also for any friends and relatives to them that might visit. Since it was the only Academy in Tristain they also often got visits from the Royalty, which necessitated the ability to look after animals and carriages of the highest quality.

There was also a smithy ran by a large man named Amadieu who was well-known in the Academy and surrounding area for his skill with hammer and tongs, as well as never being seen without a leather apron on. Together with his two assistants he could fully re-shoe a horse in 20 minutes, which was quite a feat as each shoe had to fit a different hoof! He was also the one that made, repaired and sharpened the tools for the common staff of the Academy, including the various knives and cleavers for the cooking staff.

Besides the Head Chef Marteau himself, he was the most respected commoner in the whole Academy of magic, both for the important work he did and the money he collected. One would think that such a hard-working man would do no more than what was necessary, but the truth was that as all good craftsmen he was passionate about his work. Even on his time off he could be heard hammering away in his forge, trying out new designs and materials.

These tended to be tools or knives, which was then sent to the closest market to be sold or sold directly to people stopping by at the Academy. While not the best smith in Tristain, if he was he'd be working for the Royalty, but he was more than good enough to make a profit, much of it going to the Academy. Some asked him why he didn't just leave and start his own business, but as he would often explain with a certain bit of mirth, it was the Academy that supplied him with the metals he needed.

Why would he leave a place where they paid him not only in Ecu but also raw materials to do what he loved?

"Ah, good!" Colbert said at the sight of the Academy carriage, now where was the coachman? Normally he would be waiting right outside the carriage by the horses but this time he... was not.

Louise had noticed this as well, and looked back at him questioningly. "Professor?"

"One moment, miss Vallière." he said as he walked over to the stables, where he could see a young man shuffling dung into a wheelbarrow.

"Stable boy!" he called out to get his attention, and the young man looked up at him. "Yes, my Lord?" he responded as he set the shovel against a low wall. "Did you need something else?"

"Have you seen the coachman? I was told he'd be waiting when I spoke to André this morning."

The boy winced and drew in a short breath through his teeth with a troubled expression while rubbing his hands together to get some of the dirt off of them. "Were you not told, my Lord? Mister Claude had an accident less than an hour before you came." he explained.

"No I did not." Colbert said, rubbing his chin. "What happened?"

"One of the horses was spooked by something while he was taking it to the carriage, Lord. Kicked him right in the face and we had to carry him to the Infirmary."

Now it was Colbert's turn to wince, horses were unpredictable creatures and such things did sometimes happen without obvious reason. "My sympathies. Will he make a full recover?"

He heard footsteps to his left as Louise, finally tired of standing around, had come up to stand next to him to better hear what was being said. She too was well aware of the dangers surrounding horses, having been told many stories of accidents as a child.

The stable boy inclined his head in greeting to her before answering the Professor's question. "The healers said he'd be alright, he was only hit by one of its front hooves but he got quite the concussion from it."

"Thank Brimir for that." Colbert said. "Is there any other coachmen available?"

"Not at this time, Lord."

Louise rubbed her chin as her teacher muttered an oath and the stable boy went back to shoveling manure. She hadn't been very enthusiastic about it at first, but now she found she was actually disappointed. "Well, I guess it can't be helped unless we can find someone else." she mused to herself.

"Master, I believe I can offer a solution to this problem."

She raised an eyebrow at her familiar's words, turning away from the Professor who was looking at the carriage as if he wanted to try driving it himself.

"You can drive a carriage?" she asked him quietly, not sure if she liked that idea.

"Not directly. However, I possess the total sum of human knowledge from my world which includes all information pertaining horses and their traditional roles in society. I can upload the information required to preform the desired action to the mechanoids in your service."

She blinked at this sudden bit of information. She felt like she should be more surprised that he had that much knowledge within him, but it didn't surprise her too much. He'd struck her from the start as something along the lines of a sentient library with a somewhat odd focus on fighting, but she didn't know it was literally that way.

"Professor Colbert would probably have a field day if he knew." she thought to herself, and giggled a little as she imagined him frothing at the mouth while trying to write down everything.

Yep, that seemed likely.

"Alright, Legion. Give them the information they need and I'll tell Professor Colbert."

"Acknowledged. Beginning upload."

All of her golems bowed their heads for a moment and she raised an eyebrow as she heard a faint, sort of low-pitched chattering noise in her head. Well whatever, it wouldn't be the first time she heard something odd since she summoned him.

"Professor Colbert!" she called out to the man who was now pacing in front of the carriage, watching as his head snapped up at the sound of his name, pausing almost mid-step. "My familiar will drive the carriage."

"Your golems?" he asked, a little worried as he watched them stand with their heads bowed like statues before they suddenly raised them back up. Three stepped forward and with quick, efficient movements climbed the carriage until they were all seated on the two tiers meant for the coachman and his attendants. The fourth walked over to the door of the carriage to hold it open to them and they were both struck by how... familiar it all was.

"Well" Colbert said, pleasantly surprised. "I see you weren't kidding, miss Vallière."

She smiled happily in return, pleased with the way her Familiar was handling himself. "Thank you, Professor!"

He nodded and returned the smile, also happy that her mood had improved. "After you then, miss Vallière." he said, motioning for the carriage.

She gracefully accepted the firm hand of her golem, its black hand warm to the touch from the sun's rays as it helped her up and into the carriage. Colbert followed her a moment later, choosing to climb in on his own and sat on the other seat across from her. Once they were both inside, the golem climbed in as well and closed the door before turning his head towards Louise.

"Input directive?"

She blinked, not sure what he was trying to tell her. "Excuse me?"

"I think it wants to know where we are going, miss Vallière." Colbert supplied helpfully, less surprised by the fact that they spoke than he were the day before.

"Ah," she said in understanding. "take us to the city of Tristania."

"Confirmed."

A moment later they heard the reins being cracked and a moment later, the carriage started rolling over the cobblestoned yard towards the Academy exit.

They rode mostly in silence as the carriage rolled down the hard-packed dirt road towards the city. Louise really didn't have much to say as she stared out of the window at the passing countryside with the bored look that anyone who had ever had an extended trip would be familiar with. Colbert spent most of his time scribbling something in the ever-present notebook that he carried everywhere. Actually she was pretty certain she'd never seen him without it in easy reach, always taking notes and observations of everything he saws. Sometimes drawing pictures if he couldn't properly get it into words.

Heck, she thought with some humor, he probably held it in his sleep like a teddy bear!

Ignorant of what his student was thinking about him, Colbert had been studying the golem that rode with them, now that he had the chance. He was noticing a lot of things that he had missed during the time of the duel, and was slowly building up a detailed scetch of what he saw.

As a scholar, Jean Colbert always carried something with him to write with, and had quickly found out what worked and what didn't. Sticks of coal worked well most of the time, but it was often a hassle to bring with you. Even if you protected them from breakage by putting them in a case of some kind, they'd rub together and you'd end up with black coal dust everywhere.

Bringing a bottle of ink and a regular pen was also not an option unless you were on a ship or something similarly stable. Fountain pens with an internal reservoir of ink had started appearing appearing as recently as the last century, but they were still rather expensive.

Of course he owned a small collection of them, but he took great care to never take them anywhere they might be damaged or stolen!

Instead, what he carried with him was a thin rod of lead-based alloy of some kind wrapped in a sleeve of wood. The man who sold it to him spoke very little Tristanian so he wasn't quite sure where it came from or where to get more. It needed sharpening every so often to write cleanly, but he found it was quite sturdy compared to all other writing implements making it well-suited for travel.

There trip to capitol of Tristain would take three hours so he took his time getting it as precise as possible, even with the inherently bumpiness of the ride. He tried to get every line of its black, carapace-like armor right, marveling at how well each piece fit together.

He knew no smith that could make such fine work as the one he saw sitting perfectly still before him right now. Both sides of the body was completely symmetrical down to every curve, straight line and shape. In its lap lay the terrifying repeating musket for which he had no real name for yet, held securely in both hands as to not lose it and be ready to use it if needed.

It was almost completely matte black in color, made from some kind of material that he simply could not place, and considerably shorter than any musket he'd seen. The top part had what looked like some kind of carrying handle, and instead of gripping it by the stock the weapon had a sloped handle behind the trigger.

In front of the trigger was some kind of black box that looked like it might slide out, although he couldn't tell what its exact purpose was.

Maybe, he rationalized as he sketched a rough outline of the weapon, since it had neither breech nor lock it might be how it was reloaded. His first thought was that it had contained the powder and ball for reloading, but then he had yet to see them actually reload them.

He supposed it was possible that the weapon was magically fueled somehow, which alone would be a fantastic thing for a musketeer to have. As he pondered this thought, he found that he had finished drawing the weapon as well as he could, and had arrived to the hands that held it.

This made him pause as he remembered something, the familiar runes!

He tried leaning forward, squinting to see then in the light shining in through the carriage windows, but it was hard to tell anything since it was black-on-black.

Louise had defaulted to the usual game she once came up with to amuse herself on trips like these. She'd imagine a knight running alongside the carriage, jumping over the scenery like obstacles. She was jolted out of this as she heard her name being called.

"Miss Vallière?"

"Yes, Mr. Colbert?"

He motioned with his pen to the golem sitting next to her. "Would you allow me to write down the runes on your golem's hand?" he asked politely.

"I never got the chance to do so before, and I'd like to see if they're the same as what was scribed into the armored carapace of your familiar."

"Oh" she blinked at the request, but saw nothing odd with it. "well okay."

Turning to the golem she made her wishes known. "Present him your hand."

"Specify."

"Your left." Colbert said, once more acting as the interpreter.

"What he said."

"Acknowledged." it said, raising its left hand from the weapon and holding it out to the professor.

Now that he had it right in front of his eyes, he could very see the indentations of the runes, but they were still hard to make out. A thought struck him, and he fumbled with his pocket for a moment before producing half a piece of chalk from his last lecture.

Supporting the golem's hand with his own left (although it was probably not needed, he did it anyway) he rubbed the chalk over the runes until it was almost completely ground down against them. Carefully wiping away the excess with the side of his palm, the runes were now filled in with white chalk and could be seen clearly.

Louise too leaned over to watch this and examine the runes herself, having never even thought of checking them herself. "So that's what they look like."

"Indeed!" the balding professor said exitedly as he quickly and accurately wrote them down in his notebook next to the sketch of the golem itself. "Hmm, these runes are very unusual."

"How so?" she asked as the golem accurately assumed they were done and let its hand rest on the musket once again. "They look like ordinary Brimiric runes to me."

"Yes, but look at how long the string is, and how they're arranged!" he said as he showed her his notebook.

"The Kra and Hem runes here refers to a limb, and the Tef specifies it into a hand." he explained, pointing out each one to her. "Tir and Lum refers to color, Alg is belonging, aaand..."

Ignoring the bewildered expression of someone who had never studied runes before, he paused at the end which had four runes separated from the others in a sort of rounded rectangle shape.

"This is a name... I think."

"You think?" she asked dubiously.

He leaned back in his seat to look in his book right-side up, frowning as he didn't think about it until he started explaining them. "I've never actually seen them written like this before, and I don't have the proper references to decode them with me."

She rubbed her forehead at the antics of the professor she was sharing a carriage with. "So what does it say before that part, then?"

Colbert rubbed his chin thoughtfully as his mind connected the dots and rearranged the grammar into that of regular Tristanian. "Well, it could be translated as 'The Purple Backhand' or 'Colorful Grasping'" he said slowly.

"...or?" she prompted him, refusing to believe that was everything.

"Miss Vallière'" he said with a sigh "the runes neither specify what color it's referring to, which part of the hand or what position it's in. They're very vague on this."

"Well just give me whatever sounds the best!"

He slowly chewed on his tongue as he tilted the book this way and his head that way, hmm-ing all the while. She almost gave up when he turned the book sideways, but not long after he told her the meaning he'd arrived on.

"The Black Hand of (someone)."

Hmm. "That sounds pretty good." She had to admit. "It couldn't say Nod or Legion at the end?"

She saw him check the line again, his eyes moving as he read it multiple times before shaking his head. "No, the phonetics aren't even close to spell out either of those."

"What about... my name?" she suggested hopefully.

He paused, and she saw his eyebrows rise and fall like waves on the ocean. "...maybe. I can't deny that it does sound closer than the others, but I'd have to check with the books when we get back to make sure."

"Well, I'll stick with that for now then." she decided, her mood a little brighter.

Black, grey and red seemed to be the common colors of Nod, and that infantry building was called the Hand of Nod. It all fit!

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

The more it made sense, the better it sounded to her.

The Black Hand of Louise.

Wow, I had to invent and supplement quite a bit of stuff in this chapter, hopefully none of you will mind. Just in case you were wondering, only Louise can hear Legion's voice at the moment, but anyone can hear the voices of her troops. Why aren't he speaking through them, you ask? That'll be explained eventually!

I was going to have the part with Siesta and Count Mott in this chapter, but I quickly found it simply got too long for that. Speaking of lengths, I don't know if anyone noticed but the chapters have gotten progressively longer each time. When I first started writing TFMT, I thought to myself that 8 pages was a pretty decent length, and the first chapter is about 7 and a half.

The second chapter ran away on me and before I could blink, it was 19 and a half.

Now I thought to myself that 20 pages should be more than enough, and set myself to that standard instead.

Chapter three was 24 and about one fourth pages long.

And now this one is 27 pages, going into 28 with this note at the end.

I really don't know how long I'll be able to keep scaling it like this or update it as often as I have, but I guess only time will tell. As long as no one minds the lengths of the chapters, nor will I mind writing them! ^_^

As always, please leave a review if you enjoyed it.