"And these are the reports that needs to be filled out today," Longueville handle the documents to the old man sitting at the table.
Osmond eyes scanned the documents, his wand shifting them aside one by one as he deemed which could be filled out with his eyes closed and which one needed to be examined lest he accidentally sell the academy.
As he scanned through them his eyes were drawn to a small white figure that entered from below the door to the office. A smile grew on his old face as the mouse easily ran past underneath the legs of his secretary, earning a short shocked yell from her, before it easily scaled his desk and planted itself in the middle of it. "Good morning ChuChu, any luck today?"
The mouse raised it paw to scratch its face, but then shook its head. Osmond sighed, and when he looked up he could see the glare forming on Longueville's face. The old principal was quick to raise his hands "I'm joking!" He gave a forced laugh as he prepared to evade whatever she might throw.
There a moment of stillness between the two, before Longueville just gave an irritated sigh. "You really need to stop doing that principal," she turned away from him, reaching for one of the books in the shelves "One shouldn't use a Familiar in such a disgusting way."
Osmond let out a chuckle, he held out a finger for the mouse to climb up. It scurried up his arm, before it reached his shoulder. "I suppose I might need to start teaching him not to run between your legs then," he looked as the mouse itself seem to look confused. He closed one eye, and smirked.
His secretary could only roll her eyes.
"Speaking of Familiars," Osmond looked away from the mouse, he stood up and looked out the window behind him "Were there any problems with the Summoning Ritual yesterday?"
"Hmm," Longuevill pulled out the book she needed and turned to face the old man "Besides an explosion that happened, there were no problems. According to Professor Colbert, everyone managed to successfully summon their Familiar."
"Even that Valliere girl?" Osmond turned his head and raised an eyebrow.
"Apparently so," she flipped through the book in her hands absentmindedly "They're calling her a Water Mage now, since that's the element of the Familiar that she summoned."
Osmond made a sound "Good for her. Even with the trouble she's had ever since she got here, being able to summon a Familiar is a good step forward to be a Mage. Now that she know what her affinity is she can focus on that element." He raised a hand and stroked his beard, looking out the window once more "But still, surprised that she's a Water Mage since I recall that she had troubled with Water spells as well."
"It seems even Professor Colbert thinks so as well." Longueville commented, closing the book in her hands "After he told me about the Familiar that the Valliere had summoned, he's been hold up in the library reading up every book he can find."
"Well, if something like that can get Jean's attention then it must be a fascinating Familiar" Osmond let out a laugh. He waved his wand and with a chant under his breath, one of the walls of his office shimmered. In a flash of light it revealed the courtyard where many of the Second Year Students and Familiars were bonding.
For a moment Longueville didn't see the old perverted man that had tried to peek under her skirt with his Familiar, and instead she saw a teacher when she saw how the old man's eyes seemed to sparkle as he looked at the many Familiars that were bonding with their Masters.
"We have quite the selection this year," the view would shift every once in a while. It showed the Germanian Mage with a Salamander, the red head was happily rubbing the creatures stomach. It shifted to the silent Gallian blue hair student that was using the Blue Dragon she had summoned as a chair while she was reading. Then it showed the Gramont, getting his face licked by a large mole. He nodded his head "With such fine Familiars, the Second Years have some good potential."
The view shifted a few more times, before it finally reached the Valliere girl.
Longueville watched with some hint of curiosity at the odd creature that the girl had summoned, it had what looked like the skull of a bug (If bugs had skulls) but had a human-like body that was blacker than the night sky with a cloak that covered most of it. It looked like a golem more than anything.
She was also curious as to why the Valliere girl seem to be trying to teach it how to write, if the multitude of paper with scribbles were any indication.
Osmond let out a gasp, knocking Longueville out of her thoughts. She saw the old man's eyes widen as he stared rather intently at the Familiar.
"Is something wrong, Principal?" Longueville asked, stepping forward.
He turned to her and then smiled "Nothing to worry about," he went back to the wall and stared at the creature "I was simply caught off guard by Miss Valliere's Familiar." His hand gripped his wand tighter "I can see why Jean was so curious about it."
As if on cue, the fire professor himself stepped through the door carrying a rather large book in his hands. "Principal Osmond, can I have a word?" His eyes landed on Miss Longueville "Oh Miss Longueville, good morning."
"Good Morning Colbert." She nodded.
"Ah I supposed you've finished up on your reading?" Osmond waved his wand, dispelling the spell with the last image being of the Valliere's Familiar.
Jean nodded "Yes, and I have something I need to tell you."
"As I do as well," Osmond turned to Longueville "Do you mind giving us some privacy Miss Longueville?"
"Not at all," she gave a bow "I'll be heading out for today."
[Scene]
As the green headed secretary left the room, the two men looked at each other. Both had something that they wanted to tell.
"I assume that you wish to tell me something about the Familiar that Louise summoned?" Osmond asked, walking over to his desk and taking a seat. He waved his hand to levitate the documents in a neat pile so that there was room.
Jean nodded his head, he headed towards his desk. He placed the book on the desk, and flipped it open. "When Louise summoned the creature, at first the only thing there was its skull. I thought that she had managed to accidentally kill her summoned Familiar with her spell." He stopped when he landed on a page that depicted a creature that looked almost like her Familiar "But when she casted the spell to contract the Familiar to her, she managed to give it a new body. When we wondered what it was, her words as its body was being made drew my attention." He pointed to a certain word under the description "She had muttered out Void."
Osmond hummed "The mysterious Fifth element," he stroked his beard "Fitting for a such a mysterious creature."
"Indeed," He nodded his head "And when I searched for the species of the creature that Louise had summoned I could not find it in any of the normal Bestiaries of the castle, even a supposed Water Spirit that the other students suggested had no subspecies that could result in such a dark color in their water. So I had look deeper, and found an answer in a rather," he looked at down at the book "Controversial book."
Osmond finally noticed how dry and factual the book on his desk was.
"The Elves apparently call its kind, Void Vessels."
"Hmmm," Osmond looked at the drawing. Besides the horns, it was a splitting image of the Valliere familiar. There were other drawings of similar looking creatures. Then there was one of that was the odd one out, as instead of the usual appearance of a white skull with a black body, it was completely black with white eyes and tendrils for its lower limb. "And here I thought that the Void Element was truly just a myth, had you found this information in another book Jean I would've thought so." He read the contents as he thought to himself "To think we might possibly have a Void Mage in our academy."
"Should we be worried sir?" Jean asked.
"We should be careful not to let this information spread too quickly," Osmond replied, looking up from the book "I can only wonder what the Palace would want to do if they hear about this."
"And the Familiar?"
Osmond went silent "Has it done anything violent?" He asked.
"It was very docile when Louise summoned it." He frowned "Although, I overheard some of the servants complaining about rats this morning."
"I see," he looked down at the book "Well whatever the case, we must make sure to keep it docile. I've seen the strength that one of its kind has, and if it were to ever become aggressive we must not hesitate to kill it."
Jean eyes widened "You've seen one before?"
Osmond nodded his head "30 years ago I was attacked by a Dragon, and one of the 'Void Vessel' appeared out of nowhere." He eyes turned soft as he recalled the memory "I remember how it fought and managed to slay that Dragon, but at the cost of its life. It's skull broke open and from it the black spirit," he pointed at the odd illustration of these 'Void Vessel' "seem to pour from the opening." He sighed and opened his eyes "I regret not being able to thank it for saving me, but I regret more about having so slay the spirit when it turned its attention to me."
"How frightening," Jean muttered "Strong enough to slay a Dragon, and leaves behind a spirit when slain so that it may take revenge."
The two men were silent, one lost in memory while the other was lost in thought.
"In any case," Osmond stood up and handed the book back to Jean "We should be prepared for any incident that might occur, the Familiar Exhibition is coming up and the Princess herself wishes to attend." As the professor took the book Osmond couldn't help but smile "What an odd series of events, I feel like this year might be an interesting one."
"I hope not," Jean shook his head as he walked away "Interesting often means dangerous, especially for the students. And with an apparent Void Creature on the Academy grounds, who knows what trouble would occur."
[Scene]
Louise gripped the cherry by the stem and slowly moved it closer to her Familiar, she paused and narrowed her eyes "Where's your mouth?"
Bug just stared at her, not moving from its spot as she dangled the food closer towards him.
"Maybe..." she went towards the eye socket, and when Bug didn't back away she carefully inserted it the socket. She let go and the small fruit dropped inside. She waited for a moment and then asked "Well, did that do anything?"
Bug shook its head, and faintly she could heard the thumping of the fruit against its skull.