'So many things to steal.' Indeed, as within the vault that they were thoroughly ogling from afar were various magical artefacts. With some of them possessing potent magical affects that could make a mage a very powerful Noble.
Or a thief very rich.
There were many things inside that Vault that was valuable. Magical staves topped with gems used as focus, which could be plucked off and sold. Rings that allowed magical enchantments, that could be offered at a high price. Magical lanterns that allowed transport to farther locations, talismans that could read the thoughts of others, mask that could contain magical elements and form them into golems, and so many more.
But among them, one object in particular had her attention.
A powerful wand said to be able to bring out even the weakest of mage's magical power, turning even jokes into veritable monsters on the battlefield. The wand itself was made of a rare ore that was almost impossible to find, the metal forged from it would somehow allowed the magic to past through it and amplify it. All the while it gave an aesthetically pleasing pale glow.
The Soul Wand.
Fouquet could only imagine how mages Mages would clamour to get their hands on such a powerful weapon, how metal smiths would beg for such a rare element, and how collectors would do anything to get one in their grasp.
And Fouquet could imagine how much she'd get from selling it.
Now the only problem was, with a vault filled with so many valuable objects it was defended heavily by both the guards and magical means. So powerful were the enchantments that not even her level of transmutation could actually alter the walls outside.
And from her scouting, the guards barely left any of gaps in their formations. And she couldn't hope to try and approach the Vault from different angles, as the map that she held told her that there were too little blind spots.
But an event was coming up, one that would mean all the guard routes would be different, leaving behind gaps that wouldn't exist. It was risky, because with the gaps came with more guards.
But what was a heist without a little risk?
Fouquet smiled.
And if she couldn't be quiet as a mouse, then she might as well be as destructive as a rat.
[Scene]
A small pink nose peeked out of the hole in the wall. It twitched a couple of times, the whiskers close to it vibrated as well, as it took in the scent of the morning air. Slowly the rest of the snout came out, revealing the rat that it was connected to.
The rodent turned it head left and right, looking around the area. It was hidden from the sun by a large wall in front of it, and the smaller wall that it was coming from. Black beady eyes took in everything around it, and besides the grass, fountain on the right, and insects, there was nothing that could harm them.
It crawled out of the hole, and turned to the hole. It gave a couple of squeaks, towards it.
Two smaller rats came out of the hole, squeaking the whole time. They looked around as they did.
When the larger rat moved along the wall, the two followed after it. The big rat reached the corner and peeked its head ar-
There was a crack in the air, a blur of black that struck the larger rat directly in its head. The rat went limp as its head rolled on the grass.
The two smaller rats squeaked out in terror, and scrambled away from the carcass of their larger brethren.
There was another crack, and a blur of black struck one of them direction on their hind quarters. The flesh parted like it was wet parchment, and the rat squeaked out in pain. Its forelimbs worked desperately, trying to force it away from the source of the pain.
Another crack, and the rats body was split vertically in half.
The final rat scurried back to the hole. It only managed to get halfway, before the black blur sliced through the lower portion of its body that was still outside the hole. It hung on by the barest threads of flesh and bone.
Bug approached the hole and looked at the rat. It twitched a couple of times, blood from its body spilling out into the ground and seeping in the ground below it. Then after a couple of moments it went still.
Once it did it could feel something feel within it, and turned away.
Weak as the rats were, they provided a surprising amount of Soul for it.
Far more than the bugs that roamed in the ruins of the kingdoms.
Before it could leave, a pair of footsteps came from around the building. A woman with brown hair that reached her neck and brown eyes that were narrowed in a glare, rounded the corner with a long stick in her hands. "Alright you rodents!" Her eyes darted around.
The glare turned into confusion when she saw the carcasses of the rats, and then they landed on it.
Bug looked up at her.
She was the same woman that had taken its weapon, and the one that had opened the window on the second floor to let it in.
"You again?" Her eyes went back to the rat carcasses around it and then she frowned "Are you hunting rats again, you knife thief?"
It nodded its head at her question.
"Great." She rolled her eyes, she grabbed the stick with her left hand and ruffled her hair with her right "As if having to prepare for the Princess coming wasn't bad enough, you're adding more jobs my list."
Bug looked at the rat carcasses for a moment, and then back to the woman.
"Whatever," She shook her head "Where's your master?" She asked, looking around "The last thing I need is my job to be in trouble because she thought I stole you or whatever."
Bug walked towards her, which made her take a step away from it. Once it was out of the shadow of the building, it turned towards the general of the main gate and pointed towards it.
She looked at where it was pointing for a moment, before her eyes widened "That's right, the Princess should be showing up anytime soon." Her frown deepened "Darn it, might as well get rid of the rats while I'm here," she turned to the carcasses "I don't need Morteau chewing me out again."
She looked at the small creature, who was still looking at her and jerked her head to the back of the building "You could at least help with this, since you were the ones that did it."
Bug looked at her for a moment, before it went back to the back of the building. It reached for the back legs of the small rat that had tried to escape into the hole in the wall and held it up.
The woman's eyes widened when she saw that it's upper part was hanging by a thread of muscle and flesh. She grimaced and covered her mouth "Ugh nasty." She turned to it "Couldn't you have at least blasted them into pieces, like you did with that plant?"
Bug tilted its head at the suggestion. It could've, but then it would've simply wasted the Soul it wanted to gather from the rats.
"Nevermind," She pointed at the other carcasses "Pick those up while you're at it," She turned around and grumbled "I'm gonna need a bag and a shovel for this."
Bug moved to pick up the other carcasses as the woman left. Each one dribbled their blood into its body as it picked up the remains.
When he picked up the last one, and its head, Bug found itself face to face with the same blue beast that approached it yesterday.
Once more the beast lowered their head, teeth bared.
Bug couldn't really do anything, other than just stare at it with the rats in its arms.
The two of them stared at each other, every few moments the beast seemed ready to pounce but refrained every time. Their wings stretched out behind them.
Bug didn't even know what it would do if they did charge. It couldn't really attack with what it was carrying, and it was sure that the beast was too small to fit in space between the building.
"Alright, knife thief I need you t- AHHH!"
The woman had returned, and Bug turned towards her.
She was indeed brought a shovel and another bag. Both of them were on the ground as she had screamed at the sight of the beast behind it.
At that moment the beast struck, grabbing it by its cloak with their teeth.
"Arkh, get away!" The woman disappeared, running around the building.
Bug tilted its head back to see the beast in its eyes.
I know what you are, empty spirit.
Bug tilted its head as it could from its position.
The beast's eyes narrowed.
You're going to hurt everyone here aren't you? Even if you hide behind that shell, I can still feel you empty spirit.
The beast's teeth gnashed against its cloak as their wings got ready to take off.
I won't let you hurt Big Sis Tabitha.
Before it could, something smacked into the beast's face. They flinched from the blow and dropped it from their mouth.
"H-Hey!" The woman backed away once it was free "Th-That's not food you," she gulped as looked up "D-Dragon."
The beast turned to her, and she took a couple of steps back. Her knees started to shake as did her hands that was carrying the stick in her hands.
From where Bug was standing, the Dragon was larger than the woman. Especially since it was now sitting up, instead of crouching on all fours.
But 'dragon'?
Bug turned to the beast for a moment, it recalled the book that it had read a couple days ago. One page that had dragons and that they could be described by other means, such as wyverns, drakes, and even Wyrms.
This creature was much smaller than the Wyrms that it knew about.
Well in any case, what it was didn't mean anything to Bug. It simply went and picked up the head of the rat and walked to the woman. The Dragon turned to it, but didn't move. It reached the woman's side, and offered her the rat carcasses.
Her eyes flicked towards it, and then back to the Dragon "A-Are you hungry?" She looked at the rats in its arms "D-D-Do you w-want a rat?"
They turned to her, then to Bug. They let out a whine, and then took off into the sky.
Once it was out of sight, the woman fell to her knees. A hand went to her chest as her breathing sped up "Oh Founder, why did I do that?" Her head looked up to the sky "I could've gotten eaten by a dragon," Her hands went to her head "What was I thinking?!"
Bug walked to her front, prompting her to look at it.
It offered the carcasses again.
"Argh!"
[Scene]
Louise and Bug returned from the baths, partly was because she wanted to feed Bug knowing that tomorrow was going to be the Familiar Exhibition and she needed her Familiar to be at full strength.
The other was because it smelled of something unpleasant, as well being covered in dirt when it came back after she and the rest of academy welcomed the Princess.
She wanted to ask, but she didn't want to touch it until it was clean.
When she entered her room Bug, as usual, took a seat at its haystack and stared at her as she went through her room. She raised an eyebrow "Haven't see looking at your map for a while, did you finish mapping the whole school already?" She asked it.
Bug reached into its cloak and took out a couple of papers in response to her question. She grabbed it and looked it over.
It was different from the one it had made before, more complete and more organised. Each floor seemed to be for each piece of paper, and they even had drawings for certain floors.
As evident by the small drawing of her placed at where her room was.
The only things left were some rooms in the main tower that she didn't know about, and some of the student rooms.
Founder she hope that she didn't need to watch out for it to suddenly start breaking into her classmate's rooms when it ran out of places to explore.
She also noticed that it was still writing gibberish, to her dismay. She looked at her Familiar with an annoyed glare for a moment, before she calmed down and handed it back its map "It's very nice, Bug" She complimented it "Keep at it."
It took the map from her hands, and stuffed it back in its cloak.
"Oh and before I forget," She pointed at it "You're not going outside today, so I don't want you leaving the room tonight."
It looked at her.
"I need you to be at top shape for tomorrow," she explained "We were supposed to practise your performance tonight, but I don't want to alarm the guards with your spell casting."
Briefly she recalled having to apologise of the potted plant she had broken, as well as the metal pot she had borrowed for her spell training. Both of which resulted in gold coming out of her pocket, unfortunately.
She didn't really want to test the palace guards' reaction to her Familiar accidentally blasting one of them.
She also couldn't trust her Familiar not break something else with its spell.
"So you're getting some rest today, understand?" She told it.
It nodded its head.
"Good."
She needed to make sure that she could give a good performance, for her image as a Mage and Noble. And so that she could impress the Princess.
At that moment someone knocked on their door. Louise turned towards it, while Bug had already lied on its side. She looked at her Familiar and called to it with an annoyed growl "Bug, get up we have a guest."
Her Familiar got up and turned to the door.
Louise walked towards the door, shaking her head. She got to door and asked "Who could be here at this hour?" When she opened it, she saw a hooded figure standing outside.
Before she could say anything, the figure pushed her back into her room, before stepping in themselves and quickly closed the door behind them.
It took her a moment to react, before she scrambled for her wand. Her hand reached for the table behind her "W-W-What are you doing here, who are you?!" She asked nervously.
The hooded figure smiled "It's been a while, Louise Francoise."
Pink eyes widened at the voice "Princess?"
A pair of hands drew back the hood. It revealed a young but beautiful face, with purple hair that reached her shoulders and teal blue eyes that sparkled in the light of her room. A smile was stretched over her face, "Louise, it's been so long!" And threw her arms around her.
Louise was stunned as she was hugged, her arms by her side because she didn't know what to do. 'Princess Henrietta, what is she doing here?'
Bug's footsteps knocked her out of her stupor. She saw it approach her and then turned to the Princess that was hugging her. She raised her hands and grabbed the princess' shoulders "Princess," As gentle as she could she pushed her away from her "You shouldn't have come here," taking a few steps away from her and getting on one knee to bow with a hand to her chest "For you to show up here alone, I am honoured Your Highness."
Besides her Bug looked at her, before facing the Princess and tilted its head down to look at the ground.
"Oh Louise," She heard the Princess said "You don't know to bow to me." She reached down and grabbed the hand that was by her chest, and pulled her up to her feet "We're friends are we not?"
Louise saw the smile on her face and pulled her hand away "I am honoured that you feel that way about me, Your Highness." Despite that, she couldn't help but smile.
"Louise, you don't have to act this way." She grabbed her hand again "We were best friends were we not, call me by my name please?"
"Bu-Bu-But," Louise stammered, a blush on her face at the audacity "That would be improper!"
"Louise," she drew her hand closer towards her and smiled "Please?"
Blinking rapidly, Louise lowered her head "O-Of course, Henrietta." Her face felt hot just saying that out loud.
"Thank you Louise." She released her hand and took a step back "I've wanted to meet you for quite a while," she sighed "It's been so hard since father passed away."
"Henrietta." Louise.
Her smile returned "That's why I came here, even if my advisors were against it." Her smile turned to a grin "I can't wait to see your performance tomorrow!"
Her heart hammered in her chest "I uh," she turned to Bug, who was still staring at the floor, "Can't wait to show it to you as well."
She should've practised today!
The Princess followed her gaze, and saw Bug standing beside her. Her eyes widened when she saw her Familiar. Her mouth opened, before she shut it and turned back to her "Is that," her eyes glanced at Bug before looking back at her "Is that your Familiar Louise?"
Her focus returned to the Princess, and quickly she replied "Yes, this is my Familiar Bug!" She turned to Bug and gestured towards it. She looked at the Familiar and hissed through her teeth "Stop looking at the ground Bug."
It raised its head and stared at the Princess.
She took a step back in surprise.
"D-Don't be alarmed it won't hurt you," Louise reassured her. She puffed up her chest "My Familiar is loyal to me, and won't hurt you as long as I uh," she nearly caught herself saying that it wouldn't hurt the Princess unless she ordered it. So she coughed and tried again "It won't hurt you and it follows my orders loyally." She grinned nervously.
"Oh?" The Princess crouched down to so that she could be at eye level "I'm surprised that you could summon one of these as a Familiar." She reached out towards it and placed a hand on its skull.
"Yeah," Louise deflated slightly at the words "Everyone thought so to."
Henrietta pulled her hand away "And summon one so small and young looking as well."
"Young?" Louise raised an eyebrow "You know how old it is?"
Her shoulder shrugged "Well, it looks younger than the one I've seen before. But I don't know if it's really the younger one."
"I didn't know you've seen other Water Spirits before."
Henrietta turned away from Bug, "Water Spirit?" She stood up and faced her "Is that what your Familiar is?"
"Yeah?" Louise replied, confused at the question. She pointed towards it "I didn't know what it was at first, but then the other students called it a Water Spirit, it can alter its body like it's made of water, and it eats water." She listed off what Bug had done during the week it had been summoned.
"Oh." Henrietta's lips pulled into a thin line "Then I supposed I made a mistake," she giggled a bit "I thought your Familiar was something else."
"I understand," she turned to Bug, her Familiar was still listening to their conversation "I thought it was something else when it was first summoned as well."
A creature born of Void and God it had called itself. She wondered how many Fire Mages the palace would call just so it could burn and Bug at the stake if she even called it that outloud.
"In any case, forget what I just said." Henrietta waved away, an embarrassed blush on her face "I simply got caught in the moment."
Then her eyes turned wide and her smile returned "But a Water Spirit Louise?" Her eyes sparkled "Does that mean you're a Water Mage like me?"
Louise was taken aback, and looked away with an embarrassed smile "I guess so." She paused and turned back to her "We're both Water Mages it seems Your Highness." Her eyes widened "I can even cast a Water Spell," her eyes darted around her room but her excitement deflated when she didn't see anything that she could manipulate "But I can't show you now."
"Oh that's wonderful!" Once again she threw her hands around her for a hug "I so happy for you Louise."
This time, she returned the hug "Thank you, your highness."
Bug watched the two hug, and then looked at its own hands for a moment.
After a couple more words, simply them catching up such as her talking about her lessons as well as how life was in the palace, eventually the Princess had to leave.
"I'll be waiting for your performance tomorrow Louise," She said as she left.
She could only nod with a smile on her face.
Once the door close, the Mage let out a sigh of relief. She collapsed onto her bed, and then giggled as she rolled around in it. Landing on her side, she spotted Bug looking at her from its haystack.
A determined look appeared in her eyes "We need to blow it out of the park tomorrow Bug, let's do our best!"
It nodded, and then plopped down onto its side.