Nighttime
"…I can't believe that you actually did so without thinking about the consequences."
"My apology. I have planned to use the prison as a way to avoid you, and waited for the professors to give the Palace the report so I could be released, which could take a few days. I didn't expect that I could be sentenced that fast."
After the Princess has arrived in the morning, and Wisdom returned to her side, Louise's school life basically returned back to normal. Though, she could be prouder now since her familiar now has a better outfit, which fits for his job. But… that might also make him look like a butler from hell, after the rumor (which is the truth) of him killing Count Mott spread out. Except the commoners though, they're praying him as their new protector or so.
To keep it secret, they only talked about what he has done when everything in the day is over and they have retreated back to Louise's room.
"Still, I'm glad that you are back… are you ready for the Exhibition?"
"Yes." That's Wisdom's simple answer.
"…By the way, did you tell Princess about me?"
"…No. My apology, but I don't know what the relationship between you and the Princess, so any words I said could be used against you."
"Well… I can't blame you. Not after Mott has tried to kill you." Louise can understand his paranoid.
Then, someone knocks on the door of their room. Louise plans to tell Wisdom to get it, but then the knock patterns turn different. Different, but in an order. A second later, she remembers where she has heard that pattern, so she starts fixing her clothes…
"Do you want me to open it?"
"Not this time. I will do it." Louise declines his offer. She then walks to the door and quickly opens the door, revealing a hooded person behind it. The person quickly walks in as Louise stands aside, and closes the door with the same pace. The person then pulls out a staff and casts a spell which Louise knows as a Silencing Spell based on the casting. And with that, she finds out who's under the hood. "P…Princess Henrietta?"
"Yes, it's me." The person finally removes the hood and reveals her face to her best friend. "It's been a while, Louise. I am finally be able to speak with you." Then, they both hug each other as the two start talking without caring their surrounding…
Including Wisdom. Though, he could tell that the two did know each other for a very long time. He decides not to say a word and lets the two do their own things, as he pulls out Derflinger and starts cleaning him after the few days not doing so.
After about ten minutes talking, Henrietta finally notices Wisdom doing his own work in a corner of the room. "Oh… Oh my… have I interrupted something between you two?"
The mistress also finally remembers that her familiar is still in the room. She quickly replies to the Princess: "You did nothing wrong, Your Highness. He is my familiar, so it's normal for him to stay with me."
"Oh, I see… familiar?" The Princess is surprised at the revelation. She always thought that he's just a servant, and to this point, her best friend's personal servant. But a familiar? "You summoned him?"
"That is correct, Your Highness." Temporarily stopping his work, Wisdom slightly bows his head down to greet her. "She called me upon the Summoning Spell, and I answered it. Now, I'm here to serve her." After that, he returns back to his work.
"He… is such a unique familiar." Henrietta suggests, a little uncertain of her own words.
"You don't have to worry too much, Your Highness." Louise assures her friend. "He is like that if nothing happens."
"Please drop the formalities, Louise. There is no one here to scold us about wearing friendly faces."
"But…"
"I suggest you do so, my mistress. Friendship is something that's very hard to build, but very easy to break. I'm not Princess' friend, so I can't speak so freely to her."
"Wisdom…" She plans to scold him, but… thinking about what he said, maybe it's better to do so. "Pri… Henrietta, I will try to speak to you like when we're small."
"…Thank you." The Princess is happy that her friend is finally saying her name freely. Then, she asks: "His name is Wisdom?"
"That… I named him, Henrietta. He refused to give me his name, so I gave him a new one."
"…Wisdom… that's actually a fitting name for him." Henrietta comments, remembering how he spoke to her through the prison's cell. "So, he acts like this all the times?"
"He does. I haven't seen him making any different expressions or different reactions towards, like, everything."
"I believe you two should spend the time talking with each other instead of focusing on me, and quick. If you came here undercover, Your Highness, it must mean that you went without anyone noticed. And if the latter happened… I'm likely to be blamed first, given my recent activities."
"Hey, don't rush her, Wisdom! She's okay to stay here as long as she wants!" Louise doesn't like how Wisdom is suing her friend away.
"It's alright, Louise." Henrietta tries to calm the girl down. "He has a point. I need to return soon before the guards notice that I'm gone. But…" She gently grabs her hands on Louise's own. "It would be enough time for you to tell me what you have done so far, right?"
…
"Take care of yourself, Henrietta." Louise says her goodbye towards the Princess as the two stand at the hall outside of the former's room. Wisdom is also standing behind his mistress with a respectful bow towards the Princess.
"Thank you. I look forward to watching your performance tomorrow." Henrietta smiles back. "Goodnight." With that, the girl pulls up her hood and walks away, back to where she's currently staying in.
Louise waves her goodbye, then walks into the room (Wisdom immediately steps aside when he notices the moment). She drops herself on her bed and smiles happily: "Ah, Princess… it's been a while… I'm so happy…"
"My apology to drop your excitement, but Princess is hiding something." Her mood completely breaks when Wisdom interrupts her own speech. "I can see it. Behind the smile, she wanted to ask you something, but she didn't."
If that's from any other servants, she would have dismissed it. From Wisdom, though. "…Can you guess what it is?"
"That should be my question, my mistress. I do not know the situation of the nation too well."
"…Me neither." Louise shamefully admits. "All I could tell is that, the other nations are in some sorts of civil wars."
"…Is Tristain involved?"
"Sooner or later. But, if that's the case, talking to me won't solve anything."
"…Then maybe it's something else. Do you require anything before you sleep?"
"Hm… maybe not. Goodnight, Wisdom."
"Goodnight, my mistress."
…
Next morning
"I do not approve of your actions last night." Cardinal Mazarin is disappointed after he found out that the Princess snuck out of her room. "If something happens to you…"
"I'm aware of the risks." Henrietta turns away so she doesn't have to see his face. "However, Tristain Academy of Magic is considered one of the safest places in Tristain, and there are many professors here that are very skilled at magic…"
"My apology, but one servant here is capable of killing a Triangle mage…"
"And I have met him, twice. In the prison, and last night in my best friend's room. He didn't even bother trying to get near me once."
"He might be plotting something…"
"That's what you think." The Princess decides to end the matter. "Let's just enjoy the Familiar Exhibition."
And true enough, the moment their conversation dies down, the announcement of the show has started the event. From that point, the two have witnessed the students of the Academy performing various acts with their familiars, each different from the others. Though, the Princess has been impressed by just two of them: A Fire mage with her Salamander controlling the direction of the fire from its mouth, and simply the appearance of a blue dragon with its rider on it.
However, there is one that she's waiting for…
"The next student will be miss Louise de La Valliere and her familiar!" Professor Colbert announces.
"Here it is…" The Princess whispers under her breath.
"Hm… we have seen many impressive performances now." The Cardinal sees her reaction, but he can't see why. "What are you expecting from the next one? I mean, she's your childhood friend but…"
"Simple. We're about to see the 'killer' action." Henrietta winks at him then she redirects her attention back to the stage.
"What could be… Wait a second." Mazarin turns his head back and sees the student standing WITH the killer of Count Mott. "Isn't he…"
"Ladies and gentlemen. Let me introduce to you all: my familiar, Wisdom, is a commoner, as you can see here. He is going to perform a solo guitar song for you." After the mage's introduction, the duo bows down to the audience, which gives them a round of applause.
"…The nerves of that girl…"
"She did nothing in the familiar's actions, sir Cardinal." Old Osmond has heard of what the person is muttering, so he interjects. "The actions were caused unexpectedly. There is no one to blame."
"Didn't he already say that he held all responsibilities in his actions, Cardinal?" The Princess glares at the old man.
"…My apology for angering you, Your Highness." He decides to stop arguing and says his sorry.
The Princess nods in satisfaction and turns back to see the familiar sitting on a chair, and he brings the guitar upfront and starts playing the first notes of a song she doesn't recognize. Comparing the pace of this song to the one the girl with her frog has performed, it's slightly quicker, and the music echoes more throughout the air. And since there is no outside noises as everyone turns silent and listens, the song is played in its fullest.
Here's the song for you guys. I'm not going to ruin it with my writing. (www youtube com /watch?v=ZPGi2yBqdqw)
And he said he's bad at those activities.
Well yes, it's not very impressive compared to other familiars' performances. But for someone who just practiced in a short amount of time, he has done very well.
When the music ends, he stands up and bows respectfully to the audience, and he earns cheerful claps from them. He walks down the stage and heads to my location. I give him a nod of satisfaction, he returns the gesture then grabs Derflinger and wears it on his back like usual. Then, he suddenly turns his head towards somewhere behind the main tower, as he lays the guitar on the ground.
"What's wrong?" Louise asks, confused at her familiar's action.
"…Quakes of sort…" Putting his left hand on the floor, he closes his eyes to temporarily focus on his other senses… He then opens his eyes and starts running away.
"Hey, Wisdom! The result is about… URGH!" Louise grunts, as she thinks of how sometimes he just does things without telling her a word. She decides to follow him…
And gasps in surprise when she sees a huge Earth golem punching at the main tower. "What the heck? Why is there a big golem in the Academy?"
"…Not one of ours, I assume." Wisdom looks up at the golem's head, and sees someone standing there. "…That looks like…"
"You are out of luck!" A woman's shout can be heard, just in time as the golem throws its right arm down, attempting to grab Louise. However, the familiar has pushed her out of the way, but his figure disappears immediately after the hand reaches the floor, creating a huge impact noise.
Quickly standing up, Louise looks back at the hand to see it raising up… and sees Wisdom dangling on it with Derflinger stabbing one of its fingers. Swinging himself up, the familiar pulls the sword out and stands on the surface of the golem's hand. She sighs in relief that he isn't hurt, however, he's also in a dangerous situation. "Wisdom! What…"
"Mistress!" For a rare time, the familiar raises his voice up so Louise can hear him. "Go and find the professors! I will keep the culprit busy!"
"Don't be stupid! I can't let you fight her alone!" Raising her wand up and pointing it towards the golem, Louise starts chanting a Fireball spell.
Seeing that she's not going to back down, Wisdom decides to make it quick as he starts running on the arm and aims towards the summoner of the golem. However, when he reaches the upper arm, he has to stab Derf to the structure to not fall off as it uses the same arm to try to grab his mistress. Though, she has finished the chanting and shouts the last words… and nothing happens, immediately. A second later, an explosion occurs in midair at his left, nearly knocking him off if he doesn't already grab tightly on the handle.
Not letting that falter him, Wisdom pulls out the sword and quickly reaches the golem's shoulder, jumps up and raises his sword for a vertical slash and chops it down on the thief's head. The person has foreseen it and dodges away, avoiding the hit. He then goes for a few swings, but the woman is agile enough to not get cut in half. Then, the woman notices the cracks on the wall, so she orders the golem to punch it. The sudden movement causes Wisdom to nearly fall off the golem, luckily he manages to stab the sword again into the golem. Though, it leaves a vulnerable moment for the thief to quickly run into the vault. Balancing himself and pulling out Derf, he runs after the thief but stops as the other hand slams down, blocking him from heading to its summoner. Luckily, Louise has chanted another spell and this time it hits the elbow of the arm, blasting it in the process. Once the arm is gone, Wisdom plans to continue his run, only in the last moment, he has to raise Derf before him to block stones being thrown at him by the thief. Being pushed by the attack, the familiar's pushed to the edge. Then, with the last rock, he trips and starts falling to the ground…
Thankfully, he isn't turned into a bloody mess, because Tabitha has arrived with her familiar, as the dragon grabs Wisdom with her forearm and brings him up to her back. "Thank you both." The familiar expresses his gratefulness, which is replied with a coo from the dragon and the nod from the Wind mage. He then turns his head to the running golem and says: "We can't really fight that thing, can we?"
"…No." That's Tabitha's short answer.
Thanks Brimir that Tabitha was there to catch him!
After the event, the professors have gone to the vault to check on if the thief has taken anything. Meanwhile, we waited at the schoolyard as the students start exchanging words about what happened.
I have asked Wisdom if he has seen the thief's face, but he shook his head. Though, Derf has confirmed the person to be Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt. I have also asked if he's okay, and he said that he has faced worse.
The Princess has also come and asked if we're okay. I have apologized her for letting a treasure being stolen, but Your Highness was very kind and said that it was not our fault. While I wanted to talk with her more, she needed to return to the Palace to report the event.
I hope nothing bad would happen to her.
"…Derf, are you awake?"
"Yeah. What is it partner?"
"…Do you suspect anyone in the school doing this?"
"Hm… no one, I'm afraid. Then again, I only know of the people you have come close and talked with."
"…IF you are a thief… you would try to take a lot of treasures, right?"
"Yes. Why do you ask that?"
"At the last moment, I saw her carrying only a long box. Why wasting all the times just to bring one out?"
"…You are thinking that it's not over?"
"Yes… or, the box itself, or something in the box is as worth as every other… We might need to ask the professors to know more."
"Yeah… take a rest, partner. Tomorrow is going to be a hard day."
"I agree. Goodnight, Derflinger."