Chapter 5 - Phantom Dieb(in?)
In Tristain, there was a mage thief by the name of "The Crumbling Dirt," who had every noble in the country cowering in fear. This one's full name was Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt.
When Fouquet heard that a noble in the North had a jeweled crown, he would go all the way there to steal it. When Fouquet heard that a noble in the South had a staff bestowed by the king as a family treasure, he broke through walls to steal it. In the East, none of the best pearl rings by the artisans of the White Islands remained in any mansion. Fouquet also eagerly took possession of a priceless bottle of well-aged wine from a winery in the West. The thief was everywhere.
Fouquet's tactics range from stealthy infiltration to outright breaking in. The national bank had been attacked in broad daylight, and houses were silently frequented in the depth of night. In any case, Fouquet's tactics simply left the royal mage guards in the dust.
Fouquet was identified only by the use of alchemy to enter targeted rooms, turning doors and walls to dirt and sand, then walking through the gaping holes. The nobles were not stupid, of course, they had tried to magically "solidify" everything around their treasure in an attempt to stop the alchemy, but Fouquet's magic was simply too strong, nullifying everything, fortified or not, into dirt.
If Fouquet decided on breaking the way in, a 30-mail tall dirt golem was used. Tossing aside mage guards and shattering castle walls, it let him boldly take prizes in broad daylight.
No one had ever seen Fouquet's appearance up close. Nobody even knew for sure whether he was a man or a woman. All they knew is that Fouquet was an earth mage of at least Triangle class, that he left insulting notes, such as "I got your treasure. –-Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt" at every robbery scene, and that he preferred treasures and artifacts of great magical power.
Two huge moons shone down on the walls outside the fifth floor of the Academy of Magic, which encased a treasure room. The light stretched out a shadow, standing straight against the walls. Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt.
Fouquet's green, long hair moved with the wind, and Fouquet briskly stood, openly showing the figure that strikes fear in all the nobles of the country.
Pressing a foot against the wall, Fouquet felt the wall's power and could not help but admire it. The main tower of the Academy is as strong as it looks… is a physical attack really it's only weakness? I can't break through something this thick without attracting attention. It was not hard for an expert in earth magic like Fouquet to check a wall's thickness with their feet, but breaking a wall was completely different. It looks like they used only hardening spells on it, but I can't even break this with a golem. It's got a very strong hardening spell… my alchemy won't do much.
Ignoring the thick dense walls and the treasure room in front of her, she made way to the rooftop of the tower to observe the surroundings. He did make it to the Treasury without any issue but there is also the issue of making it out if he did steal the artifact he came here to grab ahold of.
"The inner linings of this magic circle aren't any erasable material, they used actual metal pipings and ground carvings themselves as a catalyst for the alarm" Fouquet observed the walls along with the all the security measures used for containment "This is an increasingly concerning amount of security just to guard the security, it's not guarding the staff of destruction so it should make my life easier" His objective was the treasure that was within the tower, whatever is surrounding that is not his concern but there was a lingering worry about whatever would require such drastic methods to contain. It boiled his blood as a grin made it to his face before he quickly shook the urge off.
"I've gotten enough information, it's time to see how much I can shake this tower up to test it's real defensive capabilities" A hollow laugh could be heard around the tower and the shadowy figure disappeared into the night sky.
Meanwhile Fouquet was up to no good, Louise's room was in utter chaos. Louise and Kirche glared at each other while Saito sat in between sweat dropping while holding the sword Kirche got for him. There was another girl named Tabitha who sat on the bed reading a book nonchalantly.
Louise had her arms on her waist. "What is the meaning of this, Zerbst?" She glared at her rival.
Kirche glanced at Saito with a smile before directing her gaze back at Louise "Isn't it obvious, I am a passionate flame. I seek to gift my dear love a sword of utmost quality"
"Ah, that's a shame. I already got my familiar a weapon. Right, Saito?"
Saito grabbed the hilt tighter and instantly felt the sheer insanity of the blade's quality "No doubt, this was made by the same blacksmith that made the decorative sword I saw earlier, but this one is sharper and sturdier. It looks like it is meant to be used as a claymore rather than a sword"
"It definitely feels stronger than Derflinger" I glanced at Derflinger who hasn't said anything yet, I let go of Kirche's sword and grab Derflinger "But, I still prefer this little fella" I felt the blade get slightly warmer when I said those words but it remained silent.
Kirche's face distorted from smugness to distraught as I bowed to her apologetically, while Louise had a mocking smile plastered on her face as she looked down on Kirche.
"You have been caught in the charms of this fiend my love…. Truly, Tristainian women, like Louise, are all extremely jealous, impatient, miserly, and snobbish, and nothing can change them!"
Louise glared at Kirche.
"What? I'm just telling the truth."
"Oh… how… amusing. Women like you are all romantic-minded idiots! Did you hook up with too many guys back in Germania, making nobody trust you, and ending up dropping out and running all the way over here to Tristain?" retorted Louise with a cold, uncompromising laugh, interspersed with angry shivers.
"You have guts, Vallière…" Kirche's face darkened.
"What? I'm just telling the truth." Added Louise victoriously,
They simultaneously whipped out their wands.
Saito instantly grabbed hold of both their hands while Tabitha flicked her wand faster than either and blew them away with gust.
"Indoors" Both of us said at the same time, causing us to stare at each other and nod.
Louise glared at Saito and muttered angrily "What do you think you are doing idiot? And who is this? She has been sitting on my bed sinc-"
"She's my friend," Kirche countered immediately.
"And why is your friend in my room?"
Kirche stared. "Is that a problem?"
"Hmmph.
Saito letting out a sigh picked up both their wands and handed it to Tabitha who blinked at him confused but took them nonetheless.
"Why are the two of you always on each other's throats seriously?" Saito scratched his head as he looked at the pair glaring at each other.
Kirche looked at him with a face that resembled pity before turning back to Louise
"Hey" Kirche called out to Louise
"What?"
"Guess it's time to get this over with."
"Hmm… you're right."
"I really hate you, you know?"
"Same to you."
"We think quite alike." Kirche smiled and raised a brow.
Louise, too, defiantly stuck her chin up.
"Let's duel!" They shouted in unison.
"This… is not gonna end well…" The colors on Saito's face paled as he looked at either trying to get them to stop but neither were bulging.
"But of course, we have to do this with magic!" Kirche triumphantly declared.
Louise bit her lower lip, and nodded. "Fine. Location?" Saito instantly had a whiplash to his own duel with Guiche "This is definitely not going to end well"
"Really? Are you sure, Louise the Zero? Are you really sure you want to fight me in a magical duel?" Kirche goaded.
Louise lowered her head. "Am I sure? Of course… not." But it was a challenge from a Zerbst, so she had to take it. "Of course! I will not lose to you!"
With neither backing out Saito and Tabitha followed the two outside the Campus walls.
Reaching the clear grass location behind the campus Louise and Kirche stood opposite to each other with Saito and Tabitha standing on the sidelines watching them.
The two moons shone through the night sky, even though it was in the middle of the night. The light illuminated enough to give a clear view.
Kirche rolled up her fist "Here we go… Saito declared the duel" Kirche told Saito who reluctantly raised his hand up.
"The match will end as soon as either of you are injured and if you do not comply you will lose automatically" Saito stepped forward as both nodded their heads.
Louise clenched her wand as she thought of a spell "Fire? Wind? Water and Earth are out of question because of the time required to chant them" Louise decided on her spell and prepared herself to release it.
"MATCH" Saito raised his hand, louise stretched her arm out, while Kirche closed her eyes and tightened her grasp on her wand.
"SET" Saito jumped back a few feet "GO!" With the declaration of the match both Louise and Kirche instantly started their chant.
The one who finished first was Louise who smirked at Kirche who noticed it, instantly stopped her own chant and she jumped out of the way.
"I win" Louise declared as she waved her wand, to her surprise instead of a fire spell shooting out. It was an explosion where Kirche stood.
Kirche watched in amusement as she finished her chant as multiple fireballs instantly shot themselves at Louise, the first one graced her cheek as Louise stumbled and fell down.
"Ack!"
As the rest of the fireballs were about to attack her, Saito appeared in front of her while a gust of wind blew away all the fireballs.
Kirche clicked her teeth as she noticed Tabitha was staring at her. She was also the one who blew away her spell.
Noticing that the threat was gone, Saito turned around to look at Louise who was clenching the grass underneath her as there was a small cut from the fireball earlier.
Louise frustratingly held the grass underneath her with despair.
"Seriously…you" Saito knelt down at her "Dear lord, what do I do with you?" He pulled out a napkin from his pocket and grabbed Louise's chin to hold it over the cut.
"Let go of me!" Louise muttered angrily. Saito grabbed her hand and kept the napkin in her hand pressed over her hand making her grasp on the napkin. Instead of saying anything to her, he looked around towards Kirche.
Kirche noticed that Tabitha walked over to her and was still staring at her "H-hey… No need to glare… I might have gone a tad bit overboard" Tabitha didn't show any signs of recognising her words. She noticed that Tabitha had her hands on her wand tightened.
That's when she noticed it, Tabitha wasn't staring at her. She was looking past her.
"Decimate : Earth TRAP" A voice echoed in the air as Tabitha grabbed Kirche by the shoulder and jumped out of the way.
While Saito who never saw this magic was instantly caught off-guard "I should have bought Derflinger along" He clicked his teeth and pushed Louise out of the way.
The ground beneath Saito erupted as the soil swirled around his feet as Earth vines sprouted making it up to his shoulders and flung him in the air
"Ittai!?" Saito suppressed a scream as he suddenly felt a huge amount of pain throughout his body, when he opened his eyes he found himself hanging upside down looking at the ground as he saw Louise's face that was frozen with shock "Get out of here!"
Right then, Kirche felt something behind her. She turned around. She couldn't believe her eyes. "What… what the heck is this?!" Her jaw dropped. What she saw was a huge earth golem moving towards them.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!" Kirche ran away screaming. Tabitha looked at Saito who's eyes met with her. He didn't scream or shout anything but his intention was clear "Help me!"
Instantly nodding she made her way towards the Golem while Saito frantically tried to focus enough to break the earthen vines covering him "I can't focus…they are strangling me…"
Saito's lungs were running out of breath as his face started to turn red.
He immediately felt a massive explosion behind him as the steam of the vines covering him broke as he fell to the ground still covered in tight vines surrounding him.
Feeling the tightening sensation gone, Saito grasped for air as he felt the sensation of being crushed gone.
"Hey, ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" Louise rushed towards Saito as soon as her spell broke the stem, she noticed his eyes were slightly diluted and shook him.
"I'm..fine.." Saito answered weakly with a small smile on his face. Saito looked behind her and noticed a figure who smiled at them "get…out of here…" He said as he instantly realized the situation they were in. Louise also turned around to notice the figure that Saito noticed. They just stood there with a mask on their face.
"Well… That was easy" Fouquet said as he teleported to the wall that Louise just broke. He extended his hand and destroyed the inner wall that remained. "That was surprisingly convenient"
The thief entered through the hole and into the treasure vault. It stored valuables of every kind, but Fouquet had only one target.
The Staff of Destruction.
A row of staffs of many sorts hung on the wall, but one came to Fouquet as completely unlike a staff. It was 4 feet long, and made with a sort of metal that he had never seen before. He looked at the metal plate right under it, reading, "Staff of Destruction, do not remove." A smile crept up his face as his face twisted up
Fouquet picked up the Staff of Destruction, and instantly felt the weight of the staff; it was immensely heavy. Just what is this thing made of?
Fouquet burned a message onto the wall before leaving: "I have the Staff of Destruction. – Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt."
He jumped down on the ground in front of Saito and Louise. He raised his hand to call forth his Golem but got no response. Fouquet raised an eyebrow as he noticed his Golem crumbling in front of him as he saw a child on top of a dragon.
Tabitha looked at the thief that just stole something from the Treasury and unleashed another spell that summoned a massive gust of wind but the Thief flicked his finger and the wind instantly disappeared.
Saito who recovered from the attack earlier stood in front of Louise who hid behind Saito "Louise get out of here, I'll follow behind you" Saito told her as Louise ran away.
"Create:Weapon" He chanted as his hand illuminated, the reality around his hand distorted as a normal broadsword appeared in his hands "If he used another of those vine spells, I'd need to counter it somehow. Need to stay alert"
Fouquet made no movement as he watched Saito and Tabitha ready themselves.
Saito felt an instant chill run down his spine as he jumped from where he stood, as if his intuition had proven right, the ground beneath erupted revealing another massive Golem.
"What a pain in the ass!" Saito grumbled as his view of Fouquet was lost and he had to move back even more as the massive Golem tried to crush him beneath its hands.
The golem relentlessly kept attacking him as he dodged blow after blow thanks to Gandalfr rune running full time.
"This isn't gonna work…tch"
Tabitha swooped down and summoned another massive gust that pushed the golem backwards making it stumble on its butt. Even if the spell did damage it, the Golem got back up just fine.
"That thing is sturdy, we don't have any method to blast right through that bastard" They needed help real quick, he glanced at Tabitha who was zooming around Golem trying to keep it distracted on her dragon "Tabitha!" Saito called out to her as she swooped under the Golem and made it beside him.
"What is it?" For the first time since meeting her, he heard her monotonous voice. Paying it no mind he continued "You need to inform someone in the academy, I can hold this off. But you are the only one quick enough to get help between the two of us" Saito told her. Tabitha looked confused for a bit but nodded her head and left.
Once Tabitha was out of his view, he focused back on the Golem "Let's do this"
Fouquet made no movement, simply raised his hand as the Golem pounced on Saito, while Saito kept dodging any attacks it threw at him.
"I need to counter" Saito dodged another assault from the giant Golem and swung his blade right on the body, as expected the sword broke itself in half from the sheer sturdiness of the Golem.
"Create:Weapon" Saito jumps further back again to make distance, the air around his hand distorts as a small dagger appears "There is no point of me attacking the Golem" Saito focused his eyes on the Golem's shoulder as his eyes met with Fouquet's figure "I need to go after the summoner"
He swirled his dagger and caught it backwards, pulled his right leg back and dug his left leg into the ground waiting for the Golem to make its next attack.
The Golem roared and slammed it's hand towards Saito, who at the very last minute jumped high making the Golem slam into the ground where he stood.
Saito landed on the Golem's hand and rushed up towards Fouquet.
Fouquet who watched this couldn't process the speed at which Saito was moving, Instantly casted a defensive spell.
"Protect : STONE BARRIER" The floor underneath him rose around him creating a protective barrier made up of stone, covering the entire figure of Fouquet in a coffin like casing.
"Oh come on!?" Saito stops right in front of the barrier and swirls around it "This move takes a lot out of me" extending his hand and touching the barrier, he started to circle around it.
"Create:Weapon" The dagger on his free hand transformed into a halberd that he extended as far as his hand could reach, preparing himself to lunge it.
"DISRUPT:MATTER" The stone wall crumbled as Saito lunged his Halberd right though the gap that he created "HERE GOES NOTHING!" With all his might, Saito's Halberd went right through the barrier piercing the other side as well. The force of the impact created a cloud of dust as the Golem underneath stopped moving.
"Hu…hu…" Saito huffed as his lungs felt like they were on fire as the sides of his abdomen started to hurt from over exerting himself. He momentarily relaxed as his grip on the blade loosened and the rune on his hand slowly faded out.
"This game is over…hu…You should give up…" Saito called out to the thief who he could still not see, Saito didn't aim directly at the thief but pierced the area right beside him. He could confirm this since his halberd didn't pierce a body inside yet. This brought a massive sense of relief in him.
"Fu fu, in a battle of mages" The smoke cleared out as Saito could make out the figure of his attacker, long green hair extended down her shoulder and a lone bitter lemon colored eye stared at him as the mask was ripped in half from his Halberd "You shouldn't recklessly charge in like that" the women stretched her hand and caressed Saito's chreks who momentarily froze being caught off-guard "Decimate : Vine Bloom" She chanted her spell and pushed Saito off the Golem.
Saito instantly came back to his senses and landed on his feet, the instant he landed on the ground, the earth vines that still hung on to his body from the attack at the beginning started to strangle him as they expanded once again throwing him into a frenzy panic.
"AAAAAHHH" Saito screamed, unable to fight the vines that constantly tightened over him.
Fouquet frowned as she sensed two massive magic auras approaching, she pulled a whistle out from her pocket "Until we meet again kid" She smiled as she waved her hand as the grip from the Vines stopped tightening Saito but held him in place.
"From the ashes on the ground; Rise; Sandstorm" A small sandstorm rose that covered the Golem and Fouquet "Consider this a farewell gift brat" she blew the whistle that she pulled out earlier. The sound of the whistle was silent but the pitch echoed throughout the forest attracting all kinds of monsters towards it.
Saito watched as the sandstorm slowly died out leaving behind nothing but crumbling dust.
"Damn it!" Saito cursed as he was unable to move freely, the situation got worse when he could feel the presence of multiple monsters closing in "I need…to..find a way…Not yet…" Saito struggled to free himself from the vines as they didn't even seem to bulge "I…need to try…Or else I'll…die…" He tried to focus enough to create a weapon but he couldn't focus over the overwhelming frenzy he was feeling right now.
Soon the last bit of energy left his body as he gave up on trying to free himself. It felt comfortable not trying anymore. He rolled himself enough to face the night sky as the stars lit the horizon in front of him.
"I…guess…this isn't a-a bad way..to…""GET UP IDIOT'' His closing eyes opened dimly to see a girl who was clouded in shadow as the night sky behind her illuminated her figure. Her figure almost looked angelic to Saito "Almost… like… Sensei…" A smile crept up his face until he felt a sudden slap right across his face that brought him back to his senses.
"Don't go dying right now! YOU CAN'T GO DYING LIKE THIS!" Louise screamed as she grabbed hold of the vines and started ripping them off of Saito. Saito who woke up from trance looked shell-shocked "This isn't the time to be giving up, we need to get you to safety"
"Wh-why…Why did…you come back!" Saito muttered loud enough for her to hear, he saw the tears at the corner of Louise's eyes as she pulled more and more vines that wrapped around him.
"Dammit… this vines…" Louise got the last of the vines that enclosed his hands out.
Saito used the two arms to pull Louise over him and hugged her
"W-wait do yo-" Grabbing onto Louise, he rolled them both over. Reversing their position as Louise was now underneath Saito while Saito was at the top.
A strong roar could be heard as a projectile pierced through Saito's foot. Saito winced but didn't make any sound making sure he was covering Louise.
"Are you…alright?" Saito asked Louise, who was dumbfounded but nodded nervously, with a hint of fear in her eyes apparent "Thanks…for coming back for me"
"Hey, are you alright? Your eyes are getting diluted!?" Louise's strained voice fell deaf on Saito's ears as he got up from over her and stood up.
"Haaaaaa…." He took a deep breath in and breathed out to compose himself. It helped in letting Saito focus again but it didn't decrease the jolting pain coursing through his body as his Gandalfr rune didn't suppress the pain anymore "This hurts REEEEEEE!" Internally screaming to himself. He scanned the surroundings. "1…2…7…12…14…there are even more" He could feel the gazes of over a dozen Al-mirajs all hiding in the trees waiting. "This isn't good, I can't focus enough to summon a weapon"
"Need help, partner?" Saito's head snapped in pleasant surprise, finding Derflinger in the hands of Louise. His eyes met with Louise, who had a worried expression but held on to the blade.
"I rushed… to get him since I thought you'd need him" Louise told him as she glanced away from him. Saito quickly limped closer to her and grabbed the blade from her.
"This idiot was going to get the other sword the other noble kid gave you instead of me" Saito raised an eyebrow who instantly looked away.
"Sh-shut up, I was in a hurry!" Louise stammered out as he felt the blade in his hand rejoice in victory.
"I'll ask the story later… for now" Saito tightened the grip on his sword, the runes on his hand glowed as the pain coursing through his body numbed down. Saito shoved Derflinger into the ground to support him.
He bent down and pulled out the projectile that pierced through him earlier. It turned out to be a black horn radiating miasma of sorts.
"That's an Al-miraj's fragment horn… It has a paralyzing effect on it, you won't be able to move your leg for a while" Derflinger informed Saito. "That would explain the numbness and the constant poking pain" Saito nodded.
The horde of Al-mirajs came into view as they slowly made their way towards them.
"Taking a close fight with them right now would be instant death, you need to maintain distance and take longer ranged fights. Careful partner, a single strike from their horn left you paralyzed if by chance you take more wounds. You won't last long" Saito paled with this new found information but nodded "If a sword isn't gonna work, then we go long range alright"
"CREATE:WEAPON" Feeling his energy slowly focusing on his hands again, the air distorted once more and a longbow appeared in his hand.
"So… that's your ability… huh, partner" Derflinger muttered but not loud enough for Saito to hear.
He left the hilt of Derflinger as an arrow appeared in his other hand, he put the arrow in between the grip and the string, he pulled the string back.
"Pay attention to my voice and focus on the enemies in front of you, I'll direct you to where the enemies will come from" Saito zoned himself in and focused his eyes. The Al-mirajs looked right into his eyes.
"Alright…COME AT ME!" Saito screamed as he pulled the attention of all the Al-mirajs onto him to avoid getting Louise also attacked. The Al-miraj instantly disappeared from their spot spreading out.
"57 degrees, 8 meters away" Saito's bow turned and shot its arrow. The arrow instantly pierced through an Al-miraj that jumped into the air.
"140 degrees left, 16 meters away" Saito turned his body again and shot his arrow.
"BESIDE YOU! 9 meters in front of Louise, 2 AL-MIRAJS" The instant he said that, 2 arrows appeared in the bow as Saito let the Bow string go. Two arrow instantly shot through the monsters that appeared right in front of Louise making her stumble back.
"18 meters right behind us! 12 METERS TO THE RIGHT 47 DEGREES" Derflinger continued to give more and more directions as Saito continued to fire arrows one after another.
"PARTNER! 4 METERS 180 DEGREES FROM YOUR SIGHT" Saito tried to turn but he couldn't turn in time and leapt to the side. An Al-miraj passed from behind him, and disappeared into the grass in front of him.
"I…can't keep this…up…" Louise rushed to his side, grabbing him by his shoulder, she lifted him back on his feet.
"We need to find a way to escape from here or else we're dead meat" Louise muttered to herself as she saw Saito reaching his limit. Another horde appeared out of nowhere and were about to attack them.
Louise covered herself with her hand and closed her eyes waiting for the pain to set in.
…
…
"Huh?" The Al-miraj never reached her as it was cleaved in half.
Saito sighed in relief as all the Al-miraj in front of him were instantly cut in half.
"You got balls taking on so many Al-mirajs kid" he heard a familiar voice say as someone jumped in front of him "I don't think even I was this reckless back in my youth"
"I'm taking that as a compliment, Instructor Henry" Saito's legs gave out as he fell on his knees, a massive sense of relief washing over him.
The remaining horde got finished off by an ice dragon that appeared out of nowhere.
"We made it" That was all Tabitha said as her Ice dragon cleaned off whatever remaining monsters were left.
"Thank goodness, we got saved…" Louise let out her breath that she didn't know she was holding in.
Tabitha appeared beside him and held a hand over his foot as a green glow started glowing. The wound on his foot slowly started to shrink.
"Thanks" Saito thanked Tabitha who just nodded.
"That is that, I don't sense any monsters 'round these parts anymore. Except for a gaping hole in the Treasury, nothing else seems to be out of place. So you four mind giving an explanation"
"Four?" Saito tilted his head, as Kirche came into view walking behind them.
"YOU!" Louise wanted to scream at her but held it in.
Kirche scratched the sides of her cheek as she avoided looking at anyone there.
"A thief came and stole something from the Vault" Henry's expression went from a smile to a frown instantly, At that moment Saito knew. He got himself into big trouble.
That kicks off the first major arc in the story, The chapter was supposed to even longer and expand, but I shortened it so the next chapter will be far longer than this one. This chapter serves as a prologue and I also get a cool chance to showcase more of Saito's abilities, can't have him wielding Derflinger yet.
The change in how magic is done is something I want to focus on, because the idea of using a wand plus a super long chant doesn't suit me well. Especially since the world Saito came from has people who can warp reality. So magic is going to be one of the biggest changes I make to this story. I hope you like it.
As always, be sure to share your thoughts if possible and I'd love to what y'all think.
Signing out