“Could you not keep so close to me?”
“But I’m afraid!” Kirche said with exaggerated reaction. Anyone could tell that she was lying…
Saito, worried about Louise, glanced at her.
Louise turned her head away. “Humph”
The group reached a clearing in the forest. It was roughly the size of the Vestri Court and in the middle was an abandoned house. The house was built from wood with a corroded stove. Next to it was a completely rundown warehouse.
The group hid behind the bushes and observed the house.
Miss Longueville pointed to the house and said, “From the information I’ve gathered, that should be the place.”
“Looks like no one is inside. Is Fouquet really hiding there?”
The group started discussing, using sticks to draw their battle plan on the ground. They all agreed that ambushing him was the best way. All the better if he was sleeping.
Firstly, they would need to scout around the house and know what is going inside. After that if Fouquet is inside, the scout will draw him out, because there is not enough earth inside the house for him to create an earth golem. Once outside, the rest would all cast their magic against him, without letting him have a chance to summon his golem.
“So who is going to lure him out?” Saito asked.
Tabitha replied, “The one with the best reflexes.”
All stared at Saito.
“Me?” Saito sighed. He drew out the sword that Kirche gave to him.
The runes on his left hand started glowing. At the same time Saito felt his body becoming as light as a feather.
Saito moved closer to the house and peered through the window in the house. There was only one room in the whole house, with a table and a reclining chair that were both covered in dust. There was also a bottle of wine on the table and in one corner of the room there was firewood.
There was no one inside and there did not seem to be any place to hide inside the house either.
Had he already left this place?
But their opponent was Fouquet, a triangle mage. So he could still be hiding inside even though there did not seem to be a hiding place.
So Saito decided to call everyone over.
Saito used his hand to make an “X” sign on top of his head, a sign that means the house is empty.
The rest of the group who were hiding carefully approached the house.
“There’s no one inside,” Saito said while pointing at the window.
Tabitha waved her staff at near the door and muttered, “There’s no trap.” She then opened the door and went inside the house.
Kirche and Saito followed suit and entered the house.
Louise told the rest she would stand guard and stayed behind.
Miss Longueville said that she would investigate the area around the forest and disappeared.
Saito’s group went into the house and started to look for any clues to Fouquet's whereabouts.
Then, Tabitha found inside a box… The Staff of Destruction.
“The Staff of Destruction.” Tabitha said while waving it around.
“Isn’t this too easy?” Kirche exclaimed.
Saito looked at the Staff of Destruction and said with astonishment, “Kirche, is this really the Staff of Destruction?”
Kirche nodded and said, “Unmistakably, I saw it once during my tour of the treasure vault.
Saito brought the staff closer and examined it closely. „If I’m not wrong this is a …“
Just then, Louise who was standing guard outside gave a chilling shriek. „Ahhhh!!!“’
„What happened, Louise?!“
Just as everyone looked outside the house, a loud sound could be heard. Crack! Suddenly the house was without a roof and everyone looked up.
In place of the roof was a giant earth golem.
„It’s an earth golem!“ Kirche screamed.
Tabitha was the first to react. Waving her staff, she started chanting her magical inscriptions. A whirlwind appeared out of her staff and struck the golem.
After the whirlwind dissipated, the golem remained unscathed.
Following Tabitha, Kirche took out her wand hidden in her cleavage and started chanting.
A fireball shot out of her wand and engulfed the golem. Even though the whole golem was on fire, it did not seem to be affected by the fire at all.
„It’s too tough for the few of us!“ Kirche shouted.
„Retreat“ Tabitha said softly.
Kirche and Tabitha went different ways and ran out of the house.
Meanwhile, Saito was looking for Louise.
„Over there!“
Louise stood behind the golem, chanted something and pointed her wand towards the golem.
Something exploded on the surface of the golem. It was Louise’s magic! The golem realized this, turned around and faced Louise.
Saito, standing near the door of the house 20 mails away from Louise shouted, „Run! Louise!“
Louise refused, „No! If I subdue this, no one will ever call me Louise the Zero ever again.“ Louise appeared to be very serious. The golem tilted its head, pondering whether to deal with Louise or Kirche and Tabitha who were escaping.
„Look at the size difference between you and the golem! You can’t possibly win!“
„You’ll never know if you don’t try.“
„It’s too hard! It’s impossible!“
Louise stared at Saito and said, „Haven’t you said this before?“
„What?“
“When you were badly beaten by Guiche’s Valkyries, when you kept standing up and said, you did not want to lower your head, and you never will.”
“Yes… I did say that… but…”
“I feel the same way. Even though I cannot accomplish anything, this is a matter of pride. If I run away now, people will say, ‘because she’s Louise the Zero, that’s why she ran away’.”
“Does it matter? Let people say whatever they want!”
“But I’m a noble. Nobles are people that can use magic.” Louise tightened her grip on her wand. “And nobles never turn their backs on their enemies.”
The golem decided that it would deal with Louise first, it raised its leg, preparing to crush her.
Louise raised her wand towards the golem and started chanting again…
But it failed, even though Louise used ‘fireball’.
Then a small explosion occurred on the golem’s chest and small fragments of earth fell out from its chest. The golem was not affected by the attack at all.
Saito grabbed his sword and dashed towards Louise.
Louise saw the golem’s foot getting nearer and nearer. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.
At this instant, Saito approached her at the speed of a whirlwind, grabbed her and rolled away from the golem’s stomp.
Saito gave a slap on Louise’s face. Pak!
“Do you really wish to die?”
Louise looked at Saito, stunned.
“To hell with your noble’s pride! Once you die, nothing really matters anymore! Idiot!”
Tears began to flow out of Louise’s eyes like a waterfall.
“Please don’t cry!”
“But… but I cannot take this lying down… I’m always being treated like a fool by others…”
Looking at the crying Louise, Saito felt hapless.
Being constantly called “Zero”, being treated like an idiot, no one could take that lying down. He recalled his fight with Guiche. Louise cried that time, too. Even though Louise is stubborn and haughty, in reality she actually hates fighting and she’s not good at it either.
She’s only a girl… Louise’s beautiful face was now covered in tears, just like a crying child.
But this was not the time to console her. Saito turned his head over and saw the golem raising its fists, ready to pound them.
“Can’t you even console me a little?” Louise protested as Saito carried her and escaped.