Lord Gerold Herwig von Hesse looked down at the young girl in front of her, then looked further down at the letter in front of him. She would have looked harmless, if it wasn't for the hammer strapped to her back. But even without that, looks could be deceiving, especially considering who sent her.

Blanc stood there impassively as he waited for the lord to read the message. She had elected to show up in a different outfit then her usual one, as Tabitha believed it would draw too much attention, so she had looked through her outfits until she had settled on her 4 Goddesses online cosplay that Vert had made for her, minus the hat, which she instead wore a simple Beret. Out of all her options it seemed the least conspicuous, and was fully combat grade, like the rest of her wardrobe.

"So as I understand it. I am to write you a letter of recommendation, miss...?" The Lord said.

"Blanc," Blanc said. "Just Blanc."

The Lord sighed. As much as he did not want to get involved with whatever skullduggery was afoot here. Tabitha was not someone you ignored, especially when you owed her a favour. A very dangerous woman she was, no one became a Chevalier as young as she did without being dangerous indeed, and he had seen it first hand.

And now he had to claim that he discovered this new child living in the woods, and write her a letter of recommendation to attend the Academy in Tristan, in order to train her as a retainer.

At least she wasn't asking him to take full responsibility for the child, just a letter of recommendation, and cover her fee's, and that's all. He's not going to ask any questions that could get him further implicated.

Especially not when he considers the damn thing she rode up on, it was possibly worse than Tabitha's dragon.

With another sigh, he pulled out a parchment. "I assume you will want to see what I have written before I seal the letter?"

"...Of course." Blanc said, pokerfacing hard, she hadn't thought of that.


It was a quiet day at Tristan Academy, the servants were cleaning and stocking up in preparation for the coming school year, while teachers similarly prepared, or just wandered the grounds leisurely.

In the latter category was second year professor Colbert, a kindly middle aged gentleman with a past he'd rather forget, and an interest in history and natural philosophy. It was a nice day outside, and he had spent all morning cooped up in his laboratory. But as he was walking past the courtyard in front of the academy, he noticed some activity by the gate.

Curious, and with nothing better to do, he strolls over.

That's when he sees the wolf.

It was quite frankly the largest, meanest looking, and quite frankly terrifying canine he has ever seen.

So taken aback, that it took him a moment to see the small girl in front of it, talking to the quite frankly terrified guards.

Colbert hurries over. "What's going on here?"

The commoner guard jumped, but seemed relieved when he saw Colbert. "Professor, this er… young lady wishes to see the headmaster, says she has to deliver something."

He looked at the girl in question, her brow was creased subtly in irritation, but when she talked to Colbert, her tone was respectful, albeit somewhat acciented. "Are you a teacher here? My name is Blanc. I was told to meet your headmaster about the possibility of enrolling. I have a recommendation letter from Lord Herwig von Hesse."

Colbert blinked, Now that was a loaded explanation. "I… see." He looked up to the massive wolf. "And this is?"

"My Familiar." Blanc said "His name is Niflheim. Say Hello Nif."

The huge wolf barked, making the gate guards flinch.

"Curious beast, I've never seen one quite like it." Colbert said, academic curiosity taking over for a moment. "Do you have any idea what it is?"

Blanc shrugged. "A real big wolf?"

Colbert doubted that thing was 'just' a wolf, but just because you summon something doesn't mean you know what it is. So he accepted that. "Can I see its runes?"

Blanc sighed, irritably, and then walked over to the Wolf. "Paw." She commanded.

Nif lifted his right paw dutifully.

Colbert walked over to examine it, But was quite taken aback by the massive Gauntlet-like claws. Nevertheless, he could see the rune clear as day.

The runes themselves were alien to him, but he could recognise a Familiar brand when he saw one.

As he tried to think if he could recognise the runes, he became aware of a rhythmic tapping noise.

He turned to see Blanc waiting with her arms crossed, staring at nothing in particular. And her foot tapping.

Colbert wonders if she is doing that intentionally, or was it subconscious, either way, it's probably best not to keep her waiting longer.

"Sorry Miss Blanc, I had just never seen such a familiar before. Now you said you wish to enrol?"

Blanc stops tapping and faces him again. "Yup, got a letter of recommendation and everything."

"Are you a relative of Lord Herwick?" Colbert asked. Blanc had not given a surname after all, so perhaps she was somebody's bastard child, which happened every now and then.

"Not that I'm aware of." Blanc said. "I never knew my parents."

This was a very easy lie for Blanc to tell, as she never had any parents, unless you count Lowee itself.

For Colbert though It answered the question of her lack of surname, Although it left a new question of how an untrained orphan managed to summon a familiar.

Blanc sighed. "Sorry, but do we have to do the interrogation out here? Most of this is explained in the Letter… At least so I'm told."

Colbert thought, then nodded. "Very well, you don't mind if your familiar waits outside do you? Unless you are a student or staff member, it would be problematic to have such a large familiar on the grounds."

"Sure." Blanc said, before turning to Nif. "Nif, Disappear."

The Wolf stood up, and pivoting on the spot, launched himself into the nearby woods, vanishing into the trees.

"Well… he seems very well trained." Colbert said, wondering who on earth teaches their Familiar a 'disappear' command.

"Thanks, I did it myself." Blanc said, somewhat unnecessarily. "Can we go now?"

"Of course." Colbert said. "This way please."


"Well what do you think, Osmund?" Colbert said, as they had finished reading the letter. Blanc was waiting outside.

"Well we've had stranger students." Old man Osmund, Headmaster of the Academy said, stroking his beard. "Did she come off as suspicious to you?"

"Less suspicious, more odd. She carries an irresponsibly large hammer as a casting Foci, And her familiar is quite impressive, but I cannot recognise the runes or the beast." Colbert said. "But more than that, she feels subtly… off. Like she is hiding a lot under the surface, that there is far more than meets the eye with her."

"Hmm… reminds me of some other students." Osmund said. "Nevertheless, we should at least see what she is made of. Please call the girl in, Miss Longueville."

"At once." The secretary said, stepping out.

Colbert gave Osmund a look.

"Oh don't give me that look, she is quite a capable secretary." Osmund said. "It will be fine, honestly you worry too much."

Colbert sighed. Sometimes he thinks the headmaster needs to get his priorities straight. It was things like this that were why a majority of the serving staff were maids.

Blanc was led in, where she stood in front of his desk. Sizing her up, Osmund could tell what his old friend meant. It was the way the girl carried herself, she wasn't what you would expect from someone who lived alone in the woods, nor even a noble of her age. She carried herself like somebody who was in charge, a sort of air of natural authority that even nobility struggled to reach. It was the kind of air that only came from experience leading. It was subtle, but when you get to be as old as Osmund, you learn to pick such things up.

Despite that, the old man couldn't sense anything malicious about her. Just impatience. And she couldn't turn down a student just from an odd feeling, especially when recommended by such an upstanding man from the neighbouring nation Tristan was technically at peace with. Besides, he was curious what else he might learn from this young lady. She was a puzzle, like young Tabitha…

...He suddenly felt like he just hit the nail on the dead, but he filed that suspicion away for later.

"Well, miss Blanc, we have been discussing your recommendation, and we are considering accepting your application, but first I'd like a demonstration of your magical ability first, at the very least so we know what year to place you."

"Sure." Blanc said, before looking around the room. "Got any furniture you don't want?"

Osmund coughed. "Nothing like that please. "Just a demonstration of your ability will do. I understand you are an Ice mage. Can you make us some Ice?"

Blanc tilted her head. "Won't that damage the floor though?"

"Just keep it in your hand, it will be fine." Osmund said.

Blanc shrugged. If they were going to underestimate her, then that was their business.

"Gefahrlichtern." Blanc said with a sweep of her hand, conjuring several of the glowing icy murder balls. That hovered above her open palm.

Now they weren't expecting that. She didn't even use her foci. It took many mages decades to master such tricks. While the spells were usually of lesser strength, meaning usually people didn't bother, it made for a good ace in the whole.

"Remarkable, and you learned this from books." Colbert said, examining the 'danger lights.'

"No, this is one of my own creations." Blanc said, and when he saw Colbert getting a little close, she cautioned. "Don't touch them, it might freeze your arm, they are charged with cold."

'Probably a little more than that' Blanc thought, remembering the bandits.

"Oh, an infusion, and an ice infusion at that." Osmund said, joivally. "Can you give us a demonstration?" But hurriedly added when she saw her looking around the room for a target. "Eh- out the window will be self sufficient. I believe one of the tree's in the courtyard is basically dead, you can use that as a target.

Blanc nodded, and the ice balls still hovering above her open palm, walked over to the window, Osmund waving his hand to open it for her.

Colbert and Osmund joined her by the window, and pointed out the tree in question. "The Gardeners have been asking for help in removing said tree for a while now, so they probably won't mind us using it as a test dummy." Osmund said.

"Right." Blanc said, drawing her hammer off her back with her spare hand. "Mind stepping back a little?"

Osmund and Colbert complied.

Leaving the ice balls hoving in the air, she gripped her hammer in both hands, and swung it like a baseball bat, sending the balls like shot down towards the designated tree with surprising accuracy. Within seconds, the tree was a collection of icy chunks and a frozen trunk, along with several sheets of ice over the formerly pristine lawn.

'That explains the hammer, what a novel style' Osmond thought, making a mental note to apologise to the gardener for the lawn.

"Remarkable." Colbert said, "That is quite the attack, and you said you came up with it yourself?"

"Yeah, it's one of my best techniques," she lied. It's one of her favourites, and until recently her only ranged option, but that was neither here nor there.

"Well, we may need to ask you a few more questions, and then have you sign a few things, but should all go well, I see no reason why you can't attend Tristan academy." Osmund said jovially.

'Ugh, Paperwork.' thought Blanc. But still, mission successful.


An hour later and Blanc had departed the office, to be shown her new room (term was in about a week, so they might as well let her stay).

Colbert and Osmund were left in the office.

"So what year do you think we should put her in?" Colbert asked.

"Second year would be best, she has a solid understanding of first year magic on top of that danger light spell, and it would be good to keep an eye on her, so might as well put her with the rest of the interesting cases." Osmund said.

"True enough." Colbert said, "Although that could also be like adding gunpowder to a house fire."


"Well that was easy." Blanc said, in her new bedroom, reading.


Chapter Notes:

Shorter than the last one, not that that was hard.

But Yes, Blanc has successfully infiltrated the academy. Not without suspicion, but that is not surprising. She can't really help but be conspicuous. She's no actor and she rode up on a big fuckoff dog.

In case I need to clarify, I understand in some nobilities it would be common for nobles to sponsor commoners, orphans or other aristocrats bastard children to get an education, with the expectation that they will serve the lord as a retainer afterwards.

Other than that, short chapter with little else to say.