Chapter Five: The Staff of Destruction
The next morning…
At the Tristain Academy of Magic, there was much commotion from the last night's events, just as though a wasp’s nest had been stirred.
Why? Because the Staff of Destruction had been stolen.
And it was brazenly stolen by using an Earth Golem to break through the wall of the vault.
The teachers of the Academy of Magic who gathered inside the vault were speechless when they saw the gaping hole in the wall.
The inscription on the wall etched by Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt said it alclass="underline"
I have the Staff of Destruction. – Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt.
At this point in time, all the teachers at the academy could do was gripe and whine
“It’s that thief who had looted the nobles clean, Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt! How daring of him (1) to target the academy!”
“What were the guards doing?”
“Even if the guards are around, they’re useless! They’re only commoners! Speaking of which, which noble was supposed to be on duty last night?”
Mrs. Chevreuse felt anxious. She was supposed to be on duty last night. “But who would steal from the academy?” she thought while sleeping soundly in her own room instead of being next to the vault door like all nobles on watch duty must do.
One of the teachers immediately pointed out and said, “Mrs. Chevreuse! You were supposed to be on duty last night! Am I right?”
Mrs. Chevreuse broke into tears, “I’m very sorry… Very sorry…”
“Even if you cried your heart out, would it come back? Or are you going to pay for it?”
“But… but I just finished paying for my house.” Mrs. Chevreuse knelt down on the floor and wept.
Just then, Old Osman arrived. “Erm… This is not the best time to be hard on the ladies, right?”
The fellow teacher who reprimanded Mrs. Chevreuse retorted, “But Osman, Mrs. Chevreuse failed in her duty! She was sleeping soundly in her bed when she was supposed to be on watch!”
Old Osman gently stroke his long beard while looking at the very shaken and stirred teacher.
“Erm… What’s your name again?”
“It’s Gimli! Have you forgotten?”
“Oh, right! Gimli! Well, Mr. Gimli, don’t get angry. Honestly speaking, how many of you here can say that you’re always vigilant throughout your tour of duty?” Old Osman replied.
The teachers looked at each other and hung their heads in shame. There was silence.
“Well, that’s the situation that we’re in now. Talking about responsibility, I think all of us, including myself, have to be held accountable for this incident. Why did we think that a thief could never infiltrate the academy? Is it because of the number of mages we have in the academy here that gives us the assurance that we won’t be attacked? This type of thinking is wrong from the beginning.”
Old Osman gazed at the hole in the wall and continued, “It’s our complacency that has gave Fouquet the courage to trespass, and steal the Staff of Destruction. We’re all at fault.”
Mrs. Chevreuse looked upon Old Osman with gratitude and said, “Oh! Osman, Mr. Osman! Thank you for your benevolence. From now on I’ll look upon you as though you’re my father.”
“Well, that… Hehe… Miss…” Old Osman started to stroke Mrs. Chevreuse’s bottom.
“If that’s okay with you… It’s up to the headmaster then.”
Old Osman, not wanting to put the blame on anybody, decided that was the best way to loosen the uptight atmosphere. After that he proceeded to clear his throat, with everybody remaining solemn waiting for him to speak.
“Well then, who were the ones who witnessed the theft?” Osman asked.
“It was these three.” said Mr. Colbert while pointing to the three people behind him.
It was Louise, Kirche and Tabitha. Saito was also present but due to the fact that he was a familiar, he wasn't counted as a “person”.
“Oh… It’s you guys…” Osman said as he looked at Saito with great interest.
Saito did not know why he was being stared at, but remained courteous nonetheless.
“Please tell us about the event in depth.”
Louise stepped forward and described what she saw. “Mm… A great clay golem appeared and broke the wall. The hooded magician standing on its shoulder went in and took something… I think it most probably was the Staff of Destruction… After that the hooded mage rode on the golem and escaped beyond the school walls… The golem became a big mound of earth in the end.”
“After that, what happened?”
“Later, all we saw was a mound of earth, with no sign of the hooded mage.”
“So… that is what happened…” Osman said while stroking his beard.
“Even though we wanted to carry on the chase, without any leads we couldn't. So…”
At this point in time Old Osman suddenly remembered a question to ask Mr. Colbert, “Ah, Where is Miss Longueville?”
“I’m not sure, I haven’t seen her since morning.”
“Where could she have gone to during these trying times?”
“That’s right, where could she be?”
In the midst of those mutterings, Miss Longueville finally appeared.
“Miss Longueville! Where have you been? Something terrible has happened!” said Mr. Colbert anxiously.
Miss Longueville spoke to Old Osman in a very cool and calm manner. “I’m extremely sorry to be late! I was doing some investigations. So…”
“Investigations?”
“Yes. When I woke up this morning there was already a lot of commotion happening, so then I went to the vault and saw the inscription on the wall made by Fouquet. I knew that the thief infamous throughout the land had struck again. Therefore, I immediately started investigations.”
“You’re really very efficient, Miss Longueville.” Mr. Colbert then asked again in an urgent manner, “But in the end, did you find out anything?”
“Yes, I have gotten hold of the whereabouts of Fouquet.”
“What!?” Mr. Colbert spoke with amazement. “Where did you get this information from Miss Longueville?”
“According to the commoners around the area, they saw what seemed to be like a person wearing a black hooded cloak entering an abandoned house in the nearby forest. I think that the person is most probably Fouquet and that abandoned house is most probably his hideout.”
Louise upon hearing that exclaimed, “A black hooded cloak? Unmistakable, that must be Fouquet!”
Old Osman too got psyched up and asked Miss Longueville, “How far is it from here?”
“By foot it takes half a day, by horse it should only take four hours.”
“We must report this to the Imperial Court right away! We must seek reinforcements from the imperial army!” Mr. Colbert shouted yet again.
Old Osman shook his head and stared at Colbert and with a vigor unfitting for an old man and shouted, “You fool! By the time we report this to the imperial court, Fouquet would have gotten away Scott free! Besides, if we can’t even handle such a small problem on our own, we’re not fit to be called nobles! Since the staff was stolen from the academy, then it’s the academy’s responsibility to get back the staff ourselves!”
Miss Longueville smiled, as though she was waiting for this answer all along.
Old Osman coughed for a while, and then started recruiting volunteers. “Now, we’re going to organize a search team to find Fouquet. Those willing to join, please raise up your wands.”
All of the nobles looked at each other awkwardly, not one raised a wand.
“No one? That’s peculiar. No one wants to be known as the hero who caught Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt?”
Louise was among those who lowered their heads but she decided to raise her wand.