“Ah!” he gasped in surprise. At that moment, he lost the concentration necessary for maintaining his Levitation and almost fell to the floor.
Holding the book in his arms, he hurriedly descended to the floor and ran out of the library.
His destination was the Headmaster's Office.
The Headmaster's Office was located on the topmost floor of the tower. Sir Osmond, the current Headmaster of Tristain Magic Academy, was sitting with his elbows propped on his elegantly built sequoia desk, looking unbearably bored as he shook his white beard and hair.
Idly plucking out nose hairs, he slowly murmured “hrm” and pulled open a desk drawer. From inside he procured a smoking pipe. Miss Longueville, the secretary who had been writing something at the other desk placed to the side of the room, waved her feather quill.
The pipe floated into the air and landed in Miss Longueville's palm. Sir Osmond muttered dejectedly, “Is it fun taking away an old man's little pleasures? Miss, um…”
“Managing your health is also part of my job, Old Osmond.”
Sir Osmond stood up from his chair and walked up to the cool and collected Miss Longueville. Stopping behind the seated lady, he closed his eyes, his expression grave.
“If the days keep passing by so peacefully, figuring out how to spend time is going to become a rather big problem.”
The wrinkles etched deeply on Osmond's face were only hints to the history of his life. People guessed him to be a hundred years old, even three hundred. But his true age no one really knew. It's possible he himself didn't remember anymore either.
“Old Osmond,” Miss Longueville spoke up without taking her eyes off the feather quill that was scribbling away on the parchment.
“What is it? Miss…”
“Please stop saying you have nothing to do as an excuse to touch my bottom.”
Sir Osmond opened his mouth slightly and began walking around in tottering steps.
“Please also refrain from pretending to be senile whenever a situation goes bad,” Longueville added calmly. Sir Osmond sighed deeply. It was the sigh of a man bearing the weight of many troubles.
“Where do you think the ultimate truth may be? Haven't you ever wondered that? Miss…”
“Wherever it is, I assure you, it's not underneath my skirt, so please stop sneaking your mouse under the desk.”
Sir Osmond's face fell, and he murmured sadly, “Mуtsognir.”
From under Miss Longueville's desk scurried out a little mouse. It dashed up Osmond's leg and perched on his shoulder, twitching its tiny head. He fished out some nuts from a pocket and held one out to the mouse.
“Chuchu,” the mouse chittered, apparently pleased.
“You're my only truly trustworthy friend, Mуtsognir.”
The mouse began nibbling on the nut. It disappeared quickly, and the mouse chittered “chuchu” once more.
“Ah, yes, yes. You want more? Very well, I shall give you more. But first, I would ask that you report back, Mуtsognir.”
“Chuchu”
“I see. White and plain white too, hrm. But Miss Longueville should really stick to black. Wouldn't you agree, my cute Mуtsognir?”
Miss Longueville's eyebrows twitched.
“Old Osmond.”
“What is it?”
“The next time you do that, I'm reporting it to the palace.”
“Kah! Do you think I could be Headmaster of this Academy if I was scared of the palace all the time?!”
Sir Osmond flashed his eyes wide and yelled angrily. It was an impressive display, completely unexpected of a frail-looking old man.
“Don't get all prissy just because I peeked at your underwear! At this rate, you'll never get married! Haa~~ To be young again~~ Miss…”
Old Osmond began stroking Miss Longueville's bottom without hesitation.
Miss Longueville stood up and wordlessly kicked her boss around.
“Sorry. Stop. Ow. I won't do it anymore. Really.”
Old Osmond covered his head and cowered. Miss Longueville breathed heavily as she continued kicking Osmond.
“Ack! How can you! Treat a senior! In this way! Hey! Ouch!”
This “peaceful” moment was interrupted by a sudden intrusion.
The door was thrown open with a slam, and Colbert rushed inside.
“Old Osmond!”
“What is it?”
Miss Longueville was back at her desk, sitting there as if nothing had happened. Sir Osmond had his arms behind him, and turned to face the visitor with a serious expression. That was certainly a quick recovery.
“I-I-I have some big news!”
“There is no such thing as big news. Everything is but a collection of small events.”
“P-P-Please take a look at this!”
Colbert handed Osmond the book he had been reading just before.
“This is „The Familiars of the Founder Brimir,“ is it not? Are you still going around digging up old literature like this? If you have time to do that, why don't you think up some better ways of collecting school fees from those slack nobles? Mister, err… What was it again?”
Sir Osmond cocked his head.
“It's Colbert! You forgot?!”
“Right, right. Now I remember. It's just that you talked so fast I never really caught it. So, Colby, what is it about this book?”
“Please take a look at this also!”
Colbert then handed him the sketch of the runes on Saito's left hand.
The moment he saw that, Osmond's expression changed. His eyes took on a solemn light.
“Miss Longueville, would you please excuse us?”
Miss Longueville stood up and left the room. Osmond spoke only after he confirmed she was properly outside.
“Explain this to me with every detail, Mister Colbert…”
It was just before lunchtime when they finally finished tidying up the classroom that Louise had made a mess of. As punishment, using magic to clean up had been forbidden, so it had taken considerable time to finish. But then again, Louise couldn't really use most spells anyway, so it hadn't affected her much. Mrs. Chevreuse had regained consciousness two hours after she'd been caught in the explosion, and while she did return to class, she didn't give any more lectures on Transmutation for that entire day. It would seem she had been rather traumatized.
Having finished tidying up, Louise and Saito headed to the dining hall for lunch. Along the way, Saito made fun of Louise over and over. After all, it was Louise's fault that he'd had to do all that manual labor just now. It was Saito who had carried over the new window glass. It was Saito who had moved all the heavy desks. And of course, it was Saito who had wiped the soot-blackened classroom clean with a cloth. All Louise had done was wipe down a few desks, and reluctantly at that.
I have to sleep on the floor. The food sucks. And on top of that, I have to wash underwear. (Not that I've done it yet.)
With all that mistreatment from Louise, there was no way Saito could keep quiet about her new-found weakness. He teased Louise like there was no tomorrow.
“'Louise the Zero.' Now I get it~ That's just perfect~ Rate of success is zero. But a noble despite that… wonderful!”
Louise didn't say a word, which only roused Saito further.
“Transmutation! Ah! Kaboom! Transmutation! Ah! Kaboom! Oh, I screwed up! Only 'the Zero' screws this up!”
Saito danced circles around Louise like this, raising his arms every time he said “kaboom,” mimicking an explosion. It was quite a detailed performance.
“Mistress Louise. This humble familiar has made a song for you.”