The next dawn
"The luggage is ready, my mistress. We can go anytime." Putting the bag on the horse's side, Wisdom calls out to Louise about the preparation being done.
"Wait a second, you two. Can I ask a request from you?" Guiche speaks up, his voice is slightly awkward from his normal self.
"You forgot something?" Louise asks, a little disappointed that he could make a mistake like that.
"I want to bring Verdandi with us." The Gramont's youngest son answers.
"Your familiar, I take it?" That earns the familiar a nod. "…I suggest not to. Albion is a floating city, and your familiar is a mole. It would be troublesome to transfer him around. Remember, this mission is supposed to be a secret, so we cannot risk anything that could expose us, no offense to your familiar."
The Earth mage groans and rubs his head in disappointment. He then says: "Guess I have no choices. But… Verdandi!" The mentioned mole immediately emerges up from the ground, surprising the Void Mage. Guiche then kneels down and hugs the familiar passionately while apologizing to it. "I'm sorry my dear cutie! I really want to bring you with us, but… *sobs* please, look after Montmorency for me, okay?" The familiar replies with a sad but understanding squeak, causing the boy to nudge his face on the mole while thanking the familiar.
"That's… overdramatic." Louise shakes her head while commenting the situation.
"Didn't you feel bad as well when I have gone for days?" Wisdom's reminder causes the girl to slightly blush up. "My apology if that offends you."
"It's okay." She slightly turns away to hide her face. "It's not like you left me without a reason… Guiche, are you done?"
"…Yeah, I'm…" The Earth mage stands up and fixes his clothes. He then notices Verdandi focusing on Louise with interested eyes. "What is it, my dear cutie?"
Instinctively Wisdom walks and stops before his master and glares down at the familiar, causing it to crawl back in fear. He then softens his eyes and returns to Louise's assigned horse. "Your familiar is looking for Her Highness' ring in my mistress' hand."
"Oh… right. He loves finding gems." Guiche remembers.
"…As long as he doesn't get close to Her Highness' properties, then I'm fine." Louise puts her hands away from the familiar's vision when she reaches her horse. "Wisdom, help me…"
"Travelling in a long distance on a horseback would be uncomfortable to you, my fiancée." An unknown voice suddenly appears around them, causing Louise's familiar to reach to Derf's handle with his right hand while covering Louise with his left one. "Easy, Mage Killer. I'm not your enemy." Everyone then looks up to see a Noble riding on a Griffin descending down from the sky. Once the creature lands on its feet, the Noble jumps down and stands on the ground, flicks his hat up so everyone could see his face. "Greetings to you all. I am Wardes, Captain of the Griffin Knights. I was ordered by Lady Henrietta to accompany you on this trip."
"Viscount Wardes?" Louise is a little shocked when the Noble announced his name, and even more surprised when he said his reason of being here. She then notices that her familiar is still on alarm mode, so she has to order: "Wisdom, he's friendly. You can relax."
"…" Even though he doesn't like having a strange Noble, to him, assisting them, his mistress' orders are higher. Releasing his grip on Derf, he then steps aside so his mistress could greet the Noble before them.
To his slight annoyance, Wardes immediately walks to Louise and gives her a tight hug, causing the girl to yelp in surprise while he speaks: "It's been a while, my fiancée." He then carries her up, earning him another yelp. "Ah, still as light as ever."
"V… Viscount, please put me down! People are watching us!" The embarrassed girl begs for mercy, though she's also secretly enjoying it.
"Let me just hold you for a little…"
"I advise you to let my mistress go. Time is precious." The knight turns to the familiar who's sending a small glare towards him. "The faster we finish this, the more time you can be with each other and safer my mistress is."
"W… Wisdom! Don't say it like that!" The master's face burns hotter due to her familiar's nonchalantly suggestion.
"Hm… I suppose you have a point." Seeing no point in objecting, Wardes puts down the girl, then asks her: "Care to introduce your companions to me?"
After watching the group exiting the Academy and heading to Albion, the Princess couldn't help but releasing a pray: "Founder Brimir, please protect Louise and her party with your power…"
"You don't have to worry, Your Highness." Turning back, she sees the Headmaster trimming his nasal hair. "If anything, you should be worried about your wellbeing now, since your friend is not here."
"I believe the soldiers I picked are capable of protecting me sufficiently." Henrietta counters. "And why didn't you go to see them off?"
"There is no reasons, Your Highness. Also, I'm sure Wisdom wouldn't like that either. They don't really have much time so he would let nothing stop them."
"…Why do you…"
"BAD NEWS! HEADMASTER, WE HAVE BAD NEWS!"
"Everything is bad news to you, mister Colbert." Old Osmond sighs and turns to the forcefully opened door and sees the Professor panting after his running. "What is it this time?"
"Fouquet has escaped!" The Fire mage immediately says the news. "Someone used fake name so they could head down to the prisoner's cell then knocked the guards out and helped her out of there! The Palace is not clear of spies yet!"
Henrietta's face turns pale hearing the news. She has thought that all Nobles have already been checked through. How could someone manage to escape their searches?
"Hm…" Surprisingly, the Headmaster continues his current activity with no urgency. "Well, it happened."
"How could you still be so calm?" The Princess couldn't help but asking Old Osmond with her voice slightly raised up. "Tristain is still in grave danger! If we do not do anything…"
"Your Highness." The old man interrupts. "First, the enemies have already made their moves, so there is nothing we can do now. And second, I was actually aware of her escape from last night."
"…You already knew it?" Colbert asks in surprise. "How?"
Instead of answering, Old Osmond puts down the mirror and the tweezers and sits up properly. "And since he's there, they will finish their mission quickly and efficiently."
"…Oh." Henrietta sees that the Headmaster is talking about the recent group that left the school. "You mean Guiche of Gramont family?" To her surprise, the old man shakes his head. "Viscount Wardes?" It has to be him, right? He's the Captain of…
"The Mage Killer, as the people in Tristania have given the title to him." He drops the bomb.
"…Louise's… familiar?" That earns Henrietta a nod. "But, he's just…"
"A common mistake from all of us. Though, he doesn't really use magic so openly, so we didn't know until later."
"…But, if that's the case… Louise summoned a Noble as…"
"Again, no. He can use magic, but he denies himself to be a Noble or Mage. His way of using magic is also… strange to us Nobles."
Colbert sends Old Osmond a glare in surprise, and the old man replies with a reassuring nod, so the Fire Mage drops his concern.
"And we believe that he might come from a different world as well. That might explain his view of magic being different from us."
"…From a different world…" The Princess turns back to the window. She starts remembering how he confessed his crime before them all without hesitation, how he didn't flinch before the blades pointed to him, how he answered her with just the right amount of respect to her, how he gave advices to her and Louise… She then smiles and puts her hands in front of her chest and says: "Then, let us pray for this foreign wind from another world."
Evening, near the Port City
"…Hold up." Wisdom rushes his horse and runs up to Wardes' griffin. Right now the noble mage is leading the group, with his mistress in his arms much to her embarrassment.
"What is it? The city is already in front of us." Wardes asks in curiosity. "I thought you said that you could hold on before reach there."
"It's not the problem here." The familiar replies. "Stop your griffin for a moment."
"…Alright." The Noble doesn't understand at first what he wants, but given how level-headed he is compared to other 'commoners', he must have a reason. So he does as told.
"Wisdom, what's wrong?" Snapping out of her embarrassment, Louise asks her familiar.
"…My mistress, can you check if there is any ambushes surrounding us?" He moves his finger around the place, which is a narrow path with high terrains on both sides.
"Of all the times. Why now?" Guiche catches up and asks. "We could just rush through even if it's really true…"
"We have no ideas what's ahead of us. Also, if fires are thrown at us, the horses will panic." He then jumps out of the horse and pulls out Derflinger. "My mistress, I will check our surroundings. Please do it quickly."
"A…Alright." The pink-haired mage nods and closes her eyes, and she starts focusing on visualizing the world around her…
There is an Aura right next to her, so it belongs to Wardes. One on her level and weaker than him, so it must be Guiche. And Wisdom's… nowhere to be found. Though she should expect it, since he knows ways to avoid her spells. She then looks further… "! There are a group of people around us!"
Just after the moment she warns the group, fire torches are thrown towards them, causing the horses to start jumping in fright, one of which also throws Guiche off their back and makes him fall to the ground in surprise. Wisdom immediately grabs him and pulls him to a nearby bounder while Wardes orders his griffin to fly up high, pulling him and Louise out of temporal danger.
"Guiche, are you okay?"
"Side hurts, but I can endure." Grabbing his hip, Guiche grits his teeth.
"Call the Valkyries and protect yourself." Wisdom suggests, then stands up and swings Derflinger up, just in time to cut down an arrow that heads straight to his face.
"That's a little too close, don't you think partner?"
"Not close enough." Subtly using his Detection magic, Wisdom 'sees' that the ambushers are preparing another volley of arrows… then, he suddenly picks up foreign yet familiar auras 'flying' straight towards their group. What follows up is screams from above the cliffs, the sounds of arrows being shot out then blocked by an invisible wall. Then a hurricane appears, blowing the ambushers away, thus stopping the attacks.
Looking up, the familiar sees a familiar figure flying above them. And Derflinger recognizes it too. "Hey, isn't that the dragon…"
"It's Sylphid!" From above, Louise manages to see the full appearance of the dragon, along with the riders. "And… Kirche and Tabitha? What the heck are you two doing here?"
"Sorry to keep you waiting~" After the groups are on the ground, with the ambushers defeated, Kirche announces her arrival. "I saw you guys leaving the Academy so I woke Tabitha up and followed you all the way here!"
True enough, Tabitha is still in her pajamas, though she doesn't seem to mind it as she is reading another book.
"What? Are you kidding me Zerbst?" Louise shouts in disbelief. "Listen, we're on a mission given by Her Highness here!" She then turns to her familiar criticizes him: "And how did you not notice them earlier?"
"My apology, but can you see a dragon flying above the clouds my mistress?" Technically it's his fault for not using his magic earlier. That doesn't mean he can slip out anything that could expose him.
"H… Right." That reply somewhat calms the pink-hair girl down. She then turns back to Kirche and growls: "We're still okay even if you didn't come. So return now so we can finish this."
"With you in the group? That just spells doom."
"WHY YOU…"
Deciding to ignore their arguments, Wisdom gestures Guiche to follow him and go check on the attackers who are all lying on the ground while groaning in pain. Though, when Guiche interrogates a nearby one, the familiar walks to a further-away archer and reaches his hand towards the person's temple. He then uses his magic to collect the memories of the person in a day… and finds out that the one hiring them was actually Fouquet. Then, he sees that she gave the person an emblem and the person hid it in one of his pockets. Wisdom then checks the pocket's content and pulls the emblem out. Putting the object into his jacket's pocket…
"I'm so worried about you darling!" Seeing that miles away, the familiar lets the Fire mage gives him a hug from behind. "Are you hurt? I hope that those arrows didn't hit you!"
"…I'm fine, miss Zerbst." He replies back with his monotone voice, then he takes a small glance towards Tabitha who's idly reading. "Why did you bring her with you?"
"Well, only Sylphid is able to catch up with you, and she's not my familiar, you remember?"
"…You shouldn't just ask your friend for everything." He then uses his hands and pries Kirche out of him then walks back to Guiche. "Are you done interrogating them?"
"I do. They are just robbers." Standing up, Guiche dusts out of his coat. "You would just let them go, wouldn't you?" That earns the Earth mage a nod. "Then we should head to the Port City now, it's getting late."
…
A few hours later
"The only ship for Albion leaves tomorrow night." Wardes announces, as he, Louise and Wisdom walk into the Goddess's Temple and sit down at the table the rest are relaxing.
"This mission is very important…" Louise says, a little disappointed that they couldn't leave immediately.
"Both of us want to finish this as soon as possible, my mistress." The familiar shares his master's concerning. "However, if we rush, we might make wrong calculations and might delay our plans even further."
"Let us rest for now. Here's the keys." Wardes then puts them on the table. "Tabitha and Kirche, you take one room. Guiche, you and Wisdom will share one. Louise and I…"
"I would like all the girls in one room, and the boys in one." Wisdom interrupts.
"Are you worried about your master? Don't worry, we're already engaged…"
"You two are not married. It's a serious crime in my place if a much older person like you sleep in the same room with a young person like my mistress."
"I'm not that young!" Louise protests with her face slightly reddening up.
"Comparing to Wardes' age, you are, my mistress… Of course, if you are okay with it, then I won't argue further." Wisdom wants to say more, but decides to hold his tongue since he's in a different world with different cultures, meaning the rules will be changed in a few ways.
"We're safe here." Wardes replies. "Also, I have something to talk to my fiancée. It's been a while since I last saw her."
"…Mistress?" His question's answered with a timid nod. "…Then goodnight everyone."
"Wait, where are you going?" Kirche asks in surprise as the familiar stands up and heads to the exit.
"…Night snack."
"…Huh?" That's everyone's confused reply when he's completely out in the street.
…
"He's heading out alone?" Fouquet is confused as she quickly follows the person out, though she makes that no one's suspecting her.
She has sat in a table not far from them, as she heard the whole conversation. She's now more interested in this special familiar, though she still has her mission.
She needs to eliminate him as soon as possible.
Then the familiar turns right at a corner, so she quickly walks to the location and peaks out of the corner and sees him heading towards a dark alley. She follows him… and reaches a dead end. "What the? Where could he…"
Suddenly, a familiar feeling of steel touches her neck, and she looks down to see the same blade threatening her when she tried to steal the Staff of Destruction…
"Fancy meeting you here, miss Longueville."
"…Of course, you knew." The thief sighs as she recognizes the voice. "You knew that I have escaped even before the news went out. So, luring me here and killing me is your plan?"
"…No." Wisdom replies. He then pulls the blade away and sheathes it, and the thief turns back with a surprised face. "Though, if you try to kill any of us, then I have no choices but to cut one of your hands away."
The straight-up threat causes Fouquet to back away one step in fear. However, seeing that the familiar doesn't do anything, she decides to talk back: "Do you really think that empty threat could scare me?"
"That's also what Mott told me, and you saw what happened to him." Memories of the decapitated head makes the former assistant cringe. "I didn't kill you because I see no reasons to do so. Don't give me one."
"…I'm not planning to die today."
"Then you should answer some questions." Wisdom then leans on a nearby wall, giving Fouquet a clear way to exit. "However, if you don't want to, then I won't hold you back. A warning: any attempts to hurt my mistress or her friends, then I won't guarantee your safety the next time we face on the battlefield."
"…You are really a strange familiar." Fouquet shakes her head and then leans on the opposite wall. "My mission is to eliminate you, and it seems that I have failed. Though, since you haven't killed me yet, then perhaps I could make some exceptions. But… I need to ask you something first."
"Go ahead."
"…If I ask you for help, would you do it?"
"Depends on what you ask me for."
"…Your turn."
"Is your mission to kill us all?"
"The others, might be. Mine is only to delay you from your mission."
"…Are you willingly helping them?"
"…Being out of the prison has a price."
"…If you fail, what's next?"
"That…is hard to say. Reconquista has a reputation of its own."
"Who's the one released you?"
"That's a sensitive information."
"…When?"
"Before you leave."
"…I will see what I can do." With enough information, Wisdom stands up and walks away. "Have a good night."
"…" Watching the familiar walking away, Fouquet couldn't help but shaking her head. "It's going to be a mess tomorrow."
"Partner, do you have a plan? Fighting on a ship is not very ideal."
"We don't have to."