"As long as Zero is still here? Probably not," Kirche shrugged "Until they expel her, we're stuck with explosions disrupting classes."
"Honestly I'm just worried with the amount of classes we have to cut short because of Zero's mistakes," Guiche let out a sigh and placed a hand on his temple "If this keeps up, we might even leave the Academy as improper mages." He held his head high and gave a dramatic sniffle "How will I match my brothers?"
Montmorency rolled her eyes at his flair. "I just hope that the professor is okay." She said "Taking two explosions, even from Louise is pretty dangerous."
They all recalled the aftermath of Louise's second explosion. While it had knocked Louise flat on her back, the professor hit the back of his head against the wall and passed out. Considering that the table that held the water jugs had been splintered to pieces, it wasn't a surprise that it had pushed him back hard enough to knock him out. Not to mention, it was sprayed the ones closest to explosion with water again. The only consolation was that it didn't create any smoke.
Kirche scoffed "I'd feel more sorry for him if he wasn't so insistent on getting Louise to cast a spell." Crossing her arms, she grumbled "All he had to do was listen to us, but because she happened to summon a Water Spirit as a Familiar, that means that she's a 'talented' Water Mage."
Montmorency frowned "You know, I've been thinking about that." Turning towards the Fire Mage "Is it really possible to summon a Water Spirit as a Familiar? Because the ones that me and my family know and converse with, they hold too much power and sentience to just be able to contracted as a Familiar like that." Her eyebrows furrowed "And even if they could be contracted as a Familiar," she paused "How strong do you need to be, to be able to bend a Water Spirit to your will?"
"Who knows?" Kirche sighed and shrugged "All we know is that it's given Louise enough of confidence boost to actually try and cast a spell again."
"Speaking of Louise's Familiar," Guiche spoke out "Isn't that them right there." He pointed at the outer wall just next to the tower.
They all turned to where he was pointing and saw the small creature was facing the wall, head titled upwards.
"Oh, what's it doing here alone?" Montomorency asked "I thought Louise went to the principal's office."
Kirche laughed "Maybe she didn't want it to follow because she's afraid it'll learn how bad of a Mage she truly is. Or maybe it's running away from her," she shrugged her shoulder "Knowing Louise, anything bad is possible with her."
"I doubt that," Guiche commented "From how obedient it is, I don't see her Familiar simply up and running like that."
The two girls turned their heads towards him, which prompted him to raise an eyebrow "What? I'm just stating what I know!" He placed a hand on his chest "As someone whose more than bonded with his Familiar, I can see loyalty from a mile away." He glanced at the small creature "Or at the very least compliance."
Montmorency looked at him for a moment longer, unimpressed, before turning back to the Familiar "Well, if it's not running away or avoiding her, what is it doing then?"
The moment she said those word, the Familiar suddenly leapt into the air. Jumping more than three times its height, it almost reached the top of the wall but came short. It tried to reach for the edge, but it was too far away.
It fell to the ground, landing on its feet.
"Well that was a big jump for such a small Familiar," Kirche smiled "And here I thought all it could do was draw maps."
"What is it doing?" Montmorency asked again.
The Familiar tried jumping again, but failed just as last time. When it landed on the ground, it looked at the edge of the wall for a moment, before it took couple of steps away from the wall.
Once it was at a respectable distance, it ran towards the wall and then leaped once more into the air. Unfortunately, the running start didn't help, as even at the apex of its jump it wasn't anywhere close to the top. Then there was fact that due to its momentum it slammed skull first into the wall that it was trying to climb.
"Oof!" Both Guiche and Kirche couldn't help but wince as it smacked into the stone.
"Is it trying to climb the wall?" Montmorency asked as it tried again, smacking into the stone wall once more.
Despite that however, it didn't seem any worse for wear. It looked up at the edge of the wall, and walked along it. It was walking closer and closer towards them, head still following the edge of the wall, until it stopped.
It turned away from the wall and jogged towards them. Neither of them managed to say anything as it ran past them, and went into the tower that they just left.
They turned to where it had ran, confusion plain on their faces.
A moment later, they heard a window above them open and then another moment later they saw the Familiar walking along the top of the wall. It took a couple more steps before it stopped, and then took out a piece of paper from its cloak.
"Wh-" Montmorency didn't even get to finish her question, when it tucked the paper back into its cloak. It turned from its current path, which would've just led it to another tower, and looked at the main tower in the middle of the academy. It then turned to the roofs of the hallways that connected it to the other towers, beside the Void Tower. It leaped from the wall without any hesitation, jumping over their heads.
"It's going to fall again," Kirche commented, the distance between the outer walls and the hallways were too far away to clear even with its ability to jump. Her assumptions were both correct and wrong.
Correct, when it started to fall from its jump while it wasn't close enough to reach its destination.
And wrong when, just as it was level with the hallway's roof, its body shifted. The black eyes turned bright white, while the rest of it turned as black as its body. Its cloak seemed to lengthen, further resembling tendrils than it had before.
It seemed to stretched across the remaining distance. A burst of black and wind followed it, leaving behind a trail of the black bubbles that hovered in the air. It stopped just as it landed on the hallways roof. Once it did, its body turned back to normal while the black bubbles that followed it dissipated a moment later.
It turned towards the main tower, and jogged towards it.
The three who had been watching it, looked amongst each other. They all looked just as confused as the other over what they had just witnessed.
"Well that was something," Guiche finally spoke, breaking the silence between them "What just happened?" He asked.
[Scene]
Marion held back a yawn as she headed towards the dining hall. Lunch was coming up, and she needed to be there to set up the tables.
She wasn't getting any sleep lately and it was starting to get on her nerves. With the Second Years just getting their Familiars, sometimes she'd awaken to the sound of snake hissing or she would see fire coming out from one of the windows that just so happen to shine in her eyes. She didn't know who thought it was a good idea to have these spoilt children summon up magical animals, but if she knew who it was she'd without hesitate to start spitting on their grave.
'Endure it Marion, you've come to expect this' she sighed. She really hated the time period where the Noble brats got their Familiars. Things were always chaotic and hectic. If it wasn't from the Familiars themselves acting out, it was from the brats that ordered her to bring them whatever fancy meal they wanted to give their Familiars.
Some of them were even too lazy to just go out and scoop up a pail of water because they wanted their stupid Magic Frog to stay hydrated or whatever. Like they couldn't be assed to work just a little bit to take care of their pets.
But orders were orders, she couldn't really do anything against the Nobles. If she tried to disobey, she would have to kiss this job goodbye. Which was the best outcome out of the various other more horrible fates that befell servants that stepped out of line.
As she was walking close to a window, she couldn't help but sigh at the sunlight passing through. It had just passed noon a couple of minutes ago, meaning that her day was far from over.
She turned her head when she passed the window, hoping that burning the sun into her eyes could wake her up.
Instead she found herself staring into child-sized skull with eyes as black as the night sky, alongside a pair of horns that curved upwards.
A shriek echoed out in the halls as she scrambled away from the window. Her hand went to her chest as she heart started to hammer against it. The figure at the window was still there staring at her, not even reacting to her panicked reaction.
It took her a moment to recognise who it was at the window. But once she stopped breathing so hard and her heart stopped trying to burst it way out of her, she realised who it was at the window.
"Are you," she blinked "Are you that knife thief?"
She pushed away from the wall and slowly approached the window, still wary of the creature on the other side of the glass.
It titled its head towards her.
"What're you doing here?" She stopped in front of the window, and furrowed her eyebrows "On the second floor roof?" As if to confirm it herself, she peeked around the creature and sure enough she was on the second floor and it was standing on the roof. She turned back to it.
It pushed against the window, which didn't budge since it was locked.
"Do you want to…?" she trailed off, still not believing what she was seeing. She pointed her fingers inside and raised an eyebrow.
It nodded its head.
"Okay I guess." She unclasped the lock around the window and pulled open the window. She took a step back, and the creature hopped inside.
Once it was inside, it looked up at her. Its black eyes boring into her simply brown ones as it waited for something.
"Um…" Marion didn't really know what to say, she was still processing what was happening in front of her. So instead she kept silent and stared back.
After a moment of silence, it lowered its gaze seemingly in response to her silence. After that, it just turned away and walked.
Marion watched as it disappeared around the hall, and kept still until even its tiny footsteps were gone.
She looked at where it had gone, then back to the window, then back to the hallway. The maid let out a frustrated sigh, once more turning to the window so that she could close and lock it. "I hate these stupid creatures," she muttered out.
At the very least, she wasn't tired anymore. Her grogginess had been scared out of her.
[Scene]
Longueville stared at the large double doors that that was the entrance to the academy's vault. In addition to the large wooden beam that blocked physical access, she could feel the magic humming through the doors.
She tapped her fingers against her arm, her eyes looking at the doors with a small hint of curiosity. The guard that stood in front of the doors would look at her from time to time, eyes lower than she'd like, but he didn't do anything to stop her from just staring.
After all, it wasn't like she was doing anything wrong.
She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard footsteps approaching her from the left. The secretary turned her head towards the source of the sound, but found no one.
When she could still hear it, she lowered her gaze and spotted a child-size figure ascending the stairs. It's head was buried in a map as it climbed the steps.
Just as it was about to collide with her, she coughed into her hand. It stopped and lowered the map, it raised its head and its two horns.
"Oh!" Longueville's eyes widened "You're Miss Valliere's Familiar aren't you?"
It nodded its head.
She adopted a worried look "I heard that she was called to the principal's office and I ran into her, but I didn't see her Familiar with her," She looked at it "Are you looking for your Master?"
To her surprise, it shook its head.
"No?" She raised an eyebrow "Then what are you doing?"
Wordlessly it held up the map in its hand.
"Exploring the school are you?" She turned her body to face it "Having nothing to do until your Master comes back?"
It nodded its head, once again not saying anything.
She frowned "You don't talk do you?" She asked.
It shook its head.
The guard snorted as its response. She ignored him, and took a step closer towards it. Crouching down she held out a hand "Can I see that map of yours?"
It nodded its head and gave her the map.
Plucking it from its grasp, she scanned it. It was mostly a map of the ground floor of the academy, stretching from the five towers to the main tower.
Then she noticed that there were some other details, such as drawings of a girl in one of the rooms, the servant quarters had the drawing of a rat on top of it. Then there were the symbols that made no sense to her.
It took her a moment, before she raised her head from the map "Did you make this?"
It nodded its head.
Huh.
"Well, keep it up then." She handed the map back to it, and she watched as it tucked it into its cloak.
The Familiar turned away from her, so that it could face the door to the vault.
The guard changed his focus from her, and instead turned his gaze to the Familiar. Moreso when it started to walk closer to the door.
When it was close to the door, he held out a hand "Halt, come no closer."
It looked at him for a moment, the guard meeting its empty gaze with his serious one. After a moment of silence, it turned away and continued ascending the stairs without another word.
Once it was gone, the guard lowered his hand and turned his head to the stairs. He turned back to the secretary in front of him, "What was that?"
Longueville stood up and dusted her skirt "A Familiar of one of the students."
He frowned "Yeah, but what was it?" He asked again.
She shrugged "Some of the students and staff call it a Water Spirit," she told him as she descended the steps. She was done looking at the Vault for today, she had other things to do for today.
The guard watched as she disappeared down the steps. He sighed, he was alone once again.