"Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao"
-Second of the Thirty-Six Stratagems.
…
…
Guiche de Gramont sighed as he turned in his bed. Montmorency was getting far more suspicious these days, and so was Katie. A few days, the two had confronted him about their suspicions that he was cheating on both of them, but someone as brilliant as himself could talk himself out of nearly anything. Still, he knew that it couldn't last forever. Obviously, his fragrant Montmorency was a better specimen, but why couldn't she understand the mysteries of love? It was truly disappointing that such a beautiful flower like her could not understand how people like him sought beauty not just in a single place, but wherever they could go.
But as he continued to think, he couldn't help but think about the Valliere girl. Not in that way – she was nowhere near properly developed for a man with as refined tastes as himself. But one couldn't help but observe that the rumors about her were growing worse these days. While Kirche may have always complained about the fact that Louise was undoubtedly using her family connections to keep herself from kicked out of this prestigious academy, none of the students had really much heed to those claims. The Vallieres and the von Zerbsts had been bickering for generation. Guiche didn't know what it was about, and there was part of him that wondered if they even knew. Besides, Kirche's complaints were pointless. If every student in this school whom was hiding behind their family name to some degree was removed, at least a third of this school would disappear.
But the discussions had gotten a lot worse these days after the Familiar Summoning Ritual. Kirche wouldn't shut up these days about how Louise had somehow managed to sneak that strange commoner into the Academy, but some of the other students had also wondered about how odd her summoning had been. After trying over and over again, she summoned an ordinary human out of the blue? True, the reaction of Colbert to that familiar had prevented everyone from jeering at it, and everyone had for a time wondered whether Louise had summoned some legendary monster as opposed to a commoner. But Guiche had actually spent some time watching that familiar, and there was nothing incredibly unusual about him. He read a lot, walked around a lot, and talked to his master. But he didn't do anything stupendous like summon enormous plants or create magical swords. He really was a completely ordinary commoner. To top it off, that man's master had proven herself to be just as incompetent of a mage as ever. Guiche had found how she failed in a stupendous way amusing at first, but now everyone he knew was tired of it and her. Having to stay behind to clean up the class was no fun for anyone.
Well, he thought, it didn't really matter to him. The two may share the same class, but they really didn't talk that often, and he really only considered Louise an acquaintance as opposed to a friend. He took a last glance at his lovely familiar; a mole named Verandi which squeaked at him, before he pulled the covers over himself and began to drift off to sleep.
BANG BANG BANG
Of course, it was right then that someone began to incessantly hammer on the door to the boy's dormitories. For Brimir's sake, Guiche wondered. Couldn't he get some time without being harassed?
However much he wished for it to go away, the hammering did not stop. Guiche decided that he had no choice but to head out and deal with the idiot outside. It was probably Malicorne who wanted to sneak to the kitchens and stuff his face some more, the fat slob.
He noticed other of his fellow students stumbling out of their rooms, but it was an extremely tired and angry Guiche who fumbled with the doorknob and swung the large oaken door forward.
"For Brimir's sake Malicorne what the-"
He abruptly stopped. It wasn't Malicorne. Miss Longueville was outside. She was clearly panting, and it appeared that she had been running quite hard.
"Miss Longueville?"
She had to stop and catch her breath, she was running so hard. Guiche couldn't help but observe the sweat that was dripping down her neck.
"There's – been – an attack."
Guiche's eyes widened in shock.
"What?"
"There's a golem – a big one – that's pounding at the castle walls. Osmond's dealing with it, but he wants us to get you to a safer place, the Main Hall, just in case the worst happens."
There was a rush of muttering through the crowd in response to these words. However, one student raised his hand.
"I don't hear a golem attacking."
Longueville seemed to have caught her breath and raised her head up.
"Osmond has probably chased it into the forest. But we can't take chances. We need to get you to the Main Hall until the all clear is given."
There was a stir of rumblings, with some of the students expressing concern about the girls.
"Colbert will be dealing with the girls. They'll be safe, I promise you. Now please, follow me!"
Perhaps if the male students had thought about it harder, they would have realized that something was amiss. They would have thought about how odd it was that only Miss Longueville had appeared, and how she told them that they shouldn't bring their wands as it could attract the golem, and also that Longueville dealt with the boys and Colbert the girls rather than the other way around. But they were young noblemen, people whom were particularly trained to follow orders, especially one who looked as sincere as Longueville. So as she walked off to the Main Hall, they collectively followed, without mind or reason, basely obeying their instincts that told them to unquestioningly follow their social superiors.
…
Osmond jolted awake from his desk on hearing several loud thuds. They seemed to be coming downstairs from the Main Hall or something. What was going on? This was not a region which regularly received earthquakes, especially something this loud. There was also something strange about it, something which caused his hairs to stand up on end. As the head of the Academy, he needed to investigate.
The headmaster hurried out of the office, only to crash into someone, sending both of them sprawling.
"Who is it? Oh, sorry headmaster. You heard the loud noise, did you not?"
Osmond opened one of his eyes as he recognized the voice of the other person. It was Colbert. Apparently the two had bumped heads, and the bald professor gingerly was rubbing his face. Still, the bad feeling that Osmond had caused him to focus on the noises.
"It was coming from the Main Hall, correct?"
Colbert nodded at those words.
"We need to head there at once. I think something terribly wrong has happened."
The two men headed down to the front entrance of the Hall, only to stop. The doors were closed. But what surprised them was that Miss Longueville was slouched down on a wall next to the doors. She appeared to be resting alone. Was she hurt?
"Miss Longueville! Are you alright?"
Upon hearing Colbert's shout, her eyes shot up in surprise. Her hands quickly reached for her hair, and she was clearly upset as she felt her head for something.
"Shit, shit, shit, I forgot the hood; I forgot to put it on! I knew this spell was too mentally taxing on me, I'm forgetting the little things, important things."
The two men gazed perplexedly at her. There was clearly something wrong here, but somehow they knew that they shouldn't advance any further. Fouquet abruptly stopped running her hands through her long green hair, and then broke out with a clear, vicious laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA. Well, I had figured that I would probably give away my identity anyways. Good evening, Osmond, Colbert. I, the person you know as Miss Longueville, am Fouquet."
"What?"
Fouquet smiled at their shocked inquiry.
"I don't really have any time for 20 questions, you know. But now that you know whom I am, Colbert, you know why I was asking about the treasury's weakness the other day?"
Colbert sighed in response.
"I had thought it was an odd question, but there was nothing I could do. I said the weakness of the Treasury was physical force like a golem, something which would be trivially easy to make for an Earth mage like you. But if you had succeeded in stealing from the Treasury, you wouldn't be here, but you would rather focus on escaping from us. If I had to guess, you weren't able to break in, correct?"
"Always the perceptive one, Professor. I guess it's why you enjoy those little toys you make."
Fouquet smiled as she raised her wand.
"Anyways, you're right. My golems are useless. I could get into the treasury with them, but I can't get those constructions past the castle walls. I spent the early part of the night trying.
So you're going to open the vault for me, Osmond."
The headmaster visibly blanched at the idea. The ancient treasury of the Academy held many wonders, most notably the Staff of Destruction. To let an ancient thief like herself obtain such an artifact would be terrible indeed, both for the security of Tristain and for this Academy's reputation. However, his train of thought was quickly cut off by Colbert as he stepped towards the master thief.
"You can't beat both me and Osmond with your magic, and everyone here knows it. So you have some sort of plan that will cause Osmond to open the vault, right?"
"Of course I do."
Longueville flicked her wand, and the great doors of the Main Hall opened. Osmond and Colbert first looked at what was inside in confusion. Then they gasped in horror as the elder Headmaster dropped his wand out of surprise.
The great double doors were 4 meters tall and wide. They were imposing works of construction, taller than any human or even a troll. But the doors were blocked, covered by a giant wall of dirt.
Fouquet leered at their horror and realization.
"That's right. The entire Great Hall is covered with a wall of dirt 4 meters high. And it's entombed every single one of your male students. Don't worry. They have each their own separate enclosed compartment, all 62 of them."
Colbert's voice openly trembled as he retorted.
"You…. Bitch…."
Fouquet's grin never faded as she raised her hand. Even in his cold rage, Colbert noted that the hand shook as she extended a couple fingers.
"Well, there are a couple options that you have. You could attack and kill me. But then I'll make the dirt collapse on itself before I die, and kill all of your students. That'll do wonders for your academy's reputation.
You could do nothing. This is a pretty tough spell to maintain. I can probably keep it up only for another 20 minutes, perhaps, and then I'll probably collapse from overexertion and die. Of course, each compartment only has enough air for another 10 minutes at this point, so that could be a problem for the health of your students.
Or you can get down to the Vault, give me the Staff of Destruction, and I'll be on my way, never to return. No tricks. I know what it looks like.
So, what do you say?"
Osmond fidgeted and flustered, while Colbert spoke up.
"We can't open the vault, instantly. It'll take time."
"Well, I suggest you take off quickly then."
Osmond looked at Colbert, and the latter gave a nod. The headmaster stumbled at first, and then quickly raced towards the vault. Colbert chose to stay and watch the thief, and both of them slumped against the opposite ends of the hallway leading to the Main Wall.
"Now that Old Osmond is gone, we can talk. What exactly is going on, Longueville?"
Longueville was panting, but she lifted her head up in response to the question.
"Whatever do you mean?"
"The Staff of Destruction is indeed very valuable, and for a thief to attempt to go and steal it is one thing. But to reveal your identity, and take this many hostages, just on the chance that we'll accept that deal….
You don't actually want the Staff of Destruction, do you?"
"What?"
He ignored Longueville's shocked expression and continued.
"Someone else needs it, and you're getting it for him. He likely has something you hold valuable in return. So he's doing the same thing to you that you're doing to us. That's the only reason I can think of that you would pull such a desperate tactic. This is especially so since you have a nice job, Osmond's little perverted hijinks aside.
If I think about it, Longueville, you've been here for a few months, but neither Osmond nor I really bothered to know anything about you. I don't know what you like, whether you have a family, what you hold important, anything like that. I should apologize for that. That's not how one should behave towards people who work for us."
The thief gave a harsh chuckle as she tightly gripped her wand.
"Are you trying to make me feel pity? It won't work, you know!"
"I know that. You have too much to lose if you feel such things. But I really am sorry. Perhaps we could have helped you."
Colbert sighed. The two hadn't actually been looking at each other during their conversation, but now his eyes moved towards her face.
"We could still, you know."
"Shut up! You don't know anything, you can't help me! I'll sink to the lowest depths to save them; don't act like a teacher who's kept his hands clean his whole life could ever understand my problems!"
What irony, Colbert thought. He didn't know anything about her, which had led to this disaster. And she didn't know anything about him, about the life he had led before being a teacher, which prevented her from speaking to them. If either of them had opened up, Colbert inwardly speculated, perhaps this never would have happened.
The two lapsed into silence. Colbert noted that she was beginning to breathe harder and harder as time passed on. But at the eight minute mark, Osmond appeared, his hands clutching a long, tubular box. Fouquet abruptly raised her non-wand hand as she looked at him.
"Stop right there."
Osmond had intended it to hand it to her, but the thief wasn't about to take any chances.
"Colbert, take the box. Slide it over to me."
As the balding wizard complied with her request, Longueville continued to speak.
"I'll head over to the wall and escape from there. Only then am I going to undo the spell on the Main Hall. If you tamper with it, I'll collapse it immediately."
"You won't make it in time! They'll run out of air!"
"Oh, they can go without air for one or two minutes. It'll be the first time any of those precious noblemen have suffered anyways."
She grabbed the staff and ran towards the entrance, sweat beading down her face. Colbert turned towards Osmond.
"Headmaster, I'll deal with Fouquet. Just get some water mages ready to take care of them, and make sure the teachers and the girls are safe."
Osmond blankly stared in the direction of the escaping thief, but Colbert then shook his shoulders. The gesture caused the old man to splutter for a bit, before he vigorously nodded at Colbert's request.
"Yes, yes, of course I will. Stay safe, Colbert. May Brimir watch over you."
Osmond began to run to get some of the other teachers, and Colbert then began to follow Fouquet. As he exited the Main Hall, he saw that she was climbing the castle walls, the box containing the Staff slung over her back. She was already nearly at the top, though she stopped for a second upon seeing Colbert before she continued.
"Now why are you following me, Colbert?"
Colbert pointed his wand at Fouquet as he responded.
"I need to make sure you'll keep your end of the bargain, Longueville!"
"You need to stop calling me that. I'll definitely fulfill it as long as you stop pointing that at me. I've already told you this spell is dangerous to me, and I do want to live."
Colbert lowered his wand at her words, only to watch as Fouquet continued to climb. He did not attempt to follow her, and instead he watched her from a distance. Shortly, she finished her climb and stood on top of the wall.
"You should leave now, Colbert. I don't want to kill less people then I have to. Besides, shouldn't you be checking on the others?"
"Others?"
The tone of Colbert's voice dropped sharply on hearing that sentence, and he once again saw the evil grin on Longueville's face.
"I was shocked that someone as observant as you didn't notice it, Colbert. You weren't the only two who heard that noise coming from the Main Hall, you know. And you know your male students are trapped in the Main Hall.
So what happened to everyone else?"
Even as exhausted as she was, Fouquet couldn't help but enjoy herself with that reveal. Colbert's normally ruddy face had turned as pale as snow.
"You…didn't… 'less people than I have to'….."
"Don't worry. I didn't deal with the female students at all. Most of them would have had less trouble trusting me than the male students, but Tabitha would have been a problem. I think you know there's a lot more to that girl than meets the eye.
The other teachers, however…"
Colbert didn't bother to listen to the rest as he sprinted off. Fouquet continued to stand on the top of the wall, and after she saw him enter the building, she pointed her wand at the Main Hall and undid the spell. She had fudged the truth when she thought about it. She had been slightly generous when she said that the students would have enough air for 10 minutes. Some of the smaller students, the first years, would have lasted that long and thus while they would have been highly uncomfortable for a while, they would recover.
The others? It would depend. She could tell from examining those whom were trapped in her spell that at least Malicorne, due to his bigger size, was probably irreversibly brain-damaged, but she didn't think anyone would actually die. And there was that little problem with Mrs. Chevreuse. She had bumped into the professor when she was preparing the first steps of her earth spell, but that kind lady had never suspected a thing. She had nearly sliced her in two with a surprise attack of earth, and had dragged the corpse to her office. She wondered how Colbert would react when he saw her corpse, and couldn't help but think about whether he had ever seen a fresh corpse before.
Still, it's not like she was safe. Stealing the Staff of Destruction in and of itself would likely have sounded the alarm, but given what she did do, and the fact that she revealed her true identity, she needed to get out of Tristain, and fast. Her client was waiting, and the safety of her beloved orphanage and half-sister with it.
As she summoned and mounted her personal golem, she collapsed on its shoulder. What she had done was an amazing spell for a triangle-class mage, and someone with less determination would have indeed died. Still, she thought as the giant beast began its march, she would desperately need to rest for a while.
…
It was still dark as Napoleon arose. Louise had not enough money for both of them to stay in separate rooms, but it didn't bother him. Louise had asked that he sleep in her room, but he would rather sleep under the stars than on a pathetic bed of straw. But to sleep indoors was a nice change every now and then.
He walked over to the window and looked out on the massive city of Tristania. The talk with the people yesterday had been important. It was clear that the princess, their ruler, was incredibly popular, as not a single person spoke the slightest ill about her. But the opinion of the nobility was a different matter. Most people held those people as slimy, evil bastards, people who kept the princess from knowing about the corruption within her kingdom. They believed that if Henrietta actually learned about any of their problems, she would fix it. He couldn't but feel bemused by such a naïve idea.
Still, their veneration towards Henrietta was a problem even bigger than the magic which all the nobles possessed. Napoleon knew better than anyone else the luck which had been so necessary for him to seize his destiny. If he had grown up under a better Bourbon monarch, there would have been no Revolution, and he likely would have ended his days a lonely captain, commanding a small garrison in some remote outpost in the Americas. If he was going to accomplish his goals of revolution and power, he needed turmoil, whether internal or external. It was only these periods that true men of ability like him would be able to seize power.
He would wait. His chance would come, he was absolutely certain. He was already working on simply learning and becoming known among the people. He needed an opportunity to appear, one that he knew would arrive sooner rather than later.
For now, his partner needed to wake up. They would return to the Academy, and he would figure out their magic as well as hers. There probably wouldn't be much chaos over the next few days, which would represent a good opportunity for that to occur.