Fouquet placed the black ornate box in the middle of a pentagram drawn with chalk on the wooden floor of the small hut that she was temporarily hiding in. Crystals of different colours were placed on the vertices of the pentagram. She chanted the required activation spell to activate the spells contained within the crystals and stepped off the pentagram as she watched the spells do their work.
She sighed as she walked out of the hut. Currently none of the security spells have been activated but her surveillance golems have spotted someone moving towards her direction. The speed of the object told her that the person would probably be riding a horse.
Has one of the guards from the Magic Academy went ahead to scout her location, she wondered.
Saito groaned as his hips moved up and down violently.
"Oh quit your moaning. How are you going to protect me like that!" Louise yelled as she kicked the belly of her horse again. The horse accelerated with a neigh.
Saito rolled eyes as his throat battled the bile that was rising from his stomach. "You know, it's not a good idea to go off on a bandit on your own like that."
"Well, it's your fault for not standing still. You just had one thing to do – get hit by the spell and then rot in hell."
Saito felt the veins in his forehead swell with pressure. This girl really had a tongue of pure poison. "Which idiot would do that anyway! I have my rights too you know! Besides, technically, you were the one who blasted the wall open. Anyway, can I know what's your plan, oh mighty master?"
"Well, it's obvious! We get whatever was stolen and we get back." Louise raised a finger and spoke in a haughty tone.
Saito stared at Louise for three full seconds of silence before face palming himself. She was dead serious.
"Are you serious? Look, why can't we leave this in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing?"
"I know what I am doing! Besides, it's my familiar who did the mistake, so that makes it my mistake, and under the pretext of noble honour, I have to be the one to amend it."
"Oh come on, noble honour or not, you're just a kid against a professional! Just let the others take care of this!"
"You don't understand, do you!" Louise's petite face was pink with rage. She raised a hand. Saito instinctively turned his head to the left, just in time to see an earth wall rise from the ground. He instantly hugged Louise and twisted their bodies to the right, using his back to shield Louise from the wall that slammed into them. They tumbled down from the horse, rolling a few times until they hit a tree.
Saito winced as he massaged his leg. His left leg was almost smashed against the wall.
"Hey, hey, are you alright?" Saito inspected Louise's body. It seemed that apart from some minor scratches and bruises she was alright.
"Ugh, what was that?" Louise brushed some leaves out of her hair.
"We probably hit a trap. Anyway, the horse is too injured to move anymore. We'll have to move on foot. It's stealthier this way anyway." Saito surveyed the surroundings for the person behind this.
Louise nodded as she gingerly picked herself up.
"Are you alright? Your body is shaking!"
"I'm fine! Let's get a move on." Saito frowned as he followed behind Louise, taking his tonfas out from his pouch.
They reached a small dilapidated hut in the middle of the forest. There were fresh tracks on the ground, right up to the door, indicating that someone had been using the hut recently. Louise and Saito hid behind a tree. A shadow was moving in the hut.
"Why don't you go ahead and see if that's the same person from before?" Louise motioned Saito to go.
"The heck? Come on, isn't finding a suspicious hut in the middle of the forest enough for you? Let's just head back and …"
Louise rolled her eyes, got up and began to walk towards the hut. Saito pressed his lips together and pulled Louise back. "Alright, alright. I'll go. Stay here and be careful."
Saito crept towards the hut, taking care not to step on any fallen branches and keeping out of the sight of the windows. He peeked from the windows. There were only a black box in the middle of a chalk pentagram on the floor. The shadows they saw came from a candle on the table, but there were nobody there.
The black box was probably the stolen stuff, Saito thought as he turned around to give Louise the all clear signal. To his dismay, Louise was walking away. He was about to call out to Louise when a deep rumble came from his right.
A huge earth golem emerged from the ground. It had fists the size of elephants and fingers as thick as Saito's girth. It took a step forward and Saito almost lost his balance. Louise had already fallen on the ground and was trying to get up.
A snicker came from the top of the golem. Saito looked up and saw a hooded figure stand on the shoulders of the giant, with gauntleted hands holding a wand.
"Tch, what the heck, it's just a few kids from the Academy." Fouquet squinted her eyes. "I'll just get rid of you guys in a jimmy."
Saito raised an eyebrow. Was that a woman's voice? He ran to Louise's side, but she had already got up. She pointed a wand at the golem.
"Hey, you with the hood there. Return to us what you've stolen or face my wrath!" Louise's cute voice did not go well with the threat.
Fouquet responded with the kick of her golem. Saito barely managed to get the both of them out of the way.
"Are you out of your mind! What can you do against that thing?" He yelled at Louise.
"Well, do something then! I already bought you a weapon and there's no going back from this!"
Saito was exasperated. This was mad and illogical. How was he going to battle that giant thing? However, Fouquet didn't stop to wait for them to catch their breath. She ordered the golem to strike again.
Just as the golem's fist hit the ground right beside them, Saito decided that enough was enough.
I mean, this golem is just like Guiche's golems, right, thought Saito. However, during that time, he had won due to some unknown force. Nevertheless, it was worth a shot.
Saito ran to the golem and hit the golem with all his might. It didn't budge and what he got instead was a punch straight in his face.
Fouquet watched amused as the boy tried to battle the golem on his own and got thrown around like a doll. While his courage was commendable, what these children were doing was so ridiculous that she could not stop laughing, just as something exploded at her left. She turned to see what was going on.
She noticed a pink haired girl pointing a wand at her direction. There was a small crater at the side of the golem's arm. Fouquet suddenly remembered the explosion that happened just now. Could she be the same person that blasted the treasury open? Not taking any chances, it seemed that the girl was the bigger threat. Fouquet immediately spun the golem around to face her.
Louise's eyes widened as the golem swung an arm towards her. She let loose another explosion but the golem was remained solid. She raised her hands to protect herself, but was knocked off her feet and flew for several meters before she hit a tree.
Louise groaned in pain. There was something heavy on top of her. She struggled to move it away. To her surprise it began to move on its own and speak in a very weak voice.
"Sorry I failed, Louise. Even though it was entirely your fault." Saito coughed blood. "I'll distract it while you run and get help. Go!"
Just then Louise understood the reason that she was still conscious was that Saito took the brunt of the blow. He got up but immediately fell flat on his face.
"I-idiot! Why did you came? I could have gotten away by myself…" Louise was on the verge of tears.
"Shut up and run. Ugh." Saito felt that one of his arms might have been broken.
"No, what master would leave her familiar behind!"
"What are you –"
"Ah shut your couple talk will ya! Man is it noisy here! Yawn…" Just then, a new voice entered the conversation, stunning them both. Saito and Louise looked around for the source of the voice.
"Of all the things in that shop it had to be the tonfa. Sigh. Come on, get up young lad, we've got a golem to smash!"
"What the …" It seemed that his tonfa was talking. Saito wondered if this was a hallucination.
"Young lad, you had one job. Protect your master. One job! Jeez." Saito cocked his eyebrows. His tonfa was an irritable old man? Nevertheless, it was right. He had to protect Louise.
Saito felt a surge of power in his body as he got up to face the golem again.
"That's it, young lad. Feel the need to protect your master. I'll give you some of my own magic too."
Saito felt as if his vision got sharper. He saw kinks in the golem's exterior, weaknesses in the earthen armour. He began to run towards the golem.
Fouquet noticed the young boy running towards her again. Did he had a death wish? She ordered the golem to swing a punch towards the boy, only to be surprised as the boy held it off with his arms.
A white circle of runes appeared in the air above his tonfas as Saito parried the blow. Once again he discovered something new, but he had no time to dwell on that. He ducked and aimed a jab at the knee joint of the golem. It buckled and tried to kick Saito back. Instead of avoiding the kick, Saito stopped the leg with his bare hands. Once again, white runes appeared on his fists.
Saito felt a sudden increase of power in his body. His body felt lighter and more mobile. He swung around the leg that he just stopped and jabbed at the joint again. This time, the leg broke cleanly and the golem swerved to the right. Saito continued to dismember the golem, aiming his punches at the joints and weak points of the craggy exterior.
Fouquet barely managed to jump away as her golem stumbled. She tried to run towards the hut but she felt a sharp collision at the back of her head. Darkness claimed her.
Saito stood beside the fallen thief, victorious, before falling down on his knees again. The last thing he saw was Louise's big hazel eyes before he fainted beside Fouquet.
The next morning, Mr Osmond sighed as he sat in his chair.
They were lucky that no one lost their lives in this incident. Just now, he had berated and praised Louise de Orneilles for her rash decision. They had managed to take back the original artefact but he noticed a faint trail of a powerful spell that had been cast on the artefact.
A Transfer spell, used to copy items over great distances.