The two stepped out of the woods and approached the guards, who were immediately on guard and at attention. They relaxed a little when they recognized him, but when Wolfe got to fifty meters away, a yellow light on the guard house lit up, and the guards raised their rifles in his direction.
“Hold right there. Not a step closer. One of you isn’t registered in the Academy System.” The guard informed them.
“We left less than an hour ago, and you signed us out.” Wolfe reminded him.
“The warding spell says it is a Demon and a Witch returning, but the log says two human males left.” The guard who was stationed inside the gatehouse informed them through an Armored window while the two at the gate gave their coworker a funny look.
“Stay where we can see you. An authority is coming to verify your identification.” The gate guard sighed.
He suspected it was a recording error on the part of the officer inside the gatehouse, as everyone knew that Wolfe was a Familiar and, therefore, clearly not a human, but the gate guard was sure he had left with that tall, pretty boy noble, not a Witch.
The Headmistress herself, with an armed escort, came out to meet them only a few seconds later, having arrived using transport magic. Once she was at the gate, she directed her glare at Wolfe for dragging her out here, then looked over at Stephanie with curiosity.
“What are you doing outside the Academy?” She asked, skipping the preamble.
“We have the morning off and were asked to get some much-needed walnuts, hemlock and Spirit Grass for the Witches. We also managed to get some Ghoul Ash after finding one dead, a lucky find by the river.” Wolfe explained.
“And which Witch went with you? First Years aren’t cleared to leave the academy.” The Headmistress demanded.
“Stephen Isabel,” Wolfe replied calmly.
There was a chance the Headmistress already knew his secret. Not much got by her keen senses, and Stephanie had been standing right in front of her for nearly five minutes the other day while the matter of the betrothals was being sorted out.
“And who is that with you now? I know his aura, and Stephen Isabel certainly doesn’t have a Familiar bond active or a Witch’s Aura.”
That might be a misunderstanding that Wolfe could fix and get them out of this spot without any major fallout. “That’s my fault. The Mud Monster broke his disguise spell when I was supposed to be distracting it, and I cast a few spells afterward. That’s most likely why the aura seems to have changed.”
“You, whoever you are, take off the mask.” The Headmistress demanded, disregarding Wolfe’s hasty excuses.
Wolfe deactivated [Fire Armor] on Stephanie, and immediately the guards with the Headmistress raised their guns.
“Hey, slow down, no shooting. I’m telling you, this is the same person I left with. The aura change is just from my spell casting.” Wolfe called, stepping in front of Stephanie.
“Fine, we will do this the other way.” The Headmistress announced and took out a wand made of some sort of gnarled black wood.
With a faint pop of displaced air, Stephanie was gone from behind Wolfe, and a long-haired, pure black kitten stood in her place.
The Headmistress gave the cat a perplexed look before lifting the kitten in the air with a wave of her wand and bringing it to her hands. The flashing orange light on the tower had turned off, but at the moment, nobody noticed, all too engrossed in watching the Headmistress’s show of power.
“You really are an Isabel. What did they do to you? And how did you end up as someone’s Familiar? That’s just too cruel for a girl who hasn’t even been to the academy.” She mumbled as she cast a rapid series of spells on Stephanie and continued physically inspecting her.
Wolfe assumed that she had a spell similar to [Detect Hidden] active since she could clearly see more than a fluffy black kitten in front of her, but what exactly she could see, he had no way of knowing.
“Now, let’s find your partner and see what nefarious things they had planned.” The Headmistress said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Wolfe could swear the kitten was laughing at him.
“Could you change her back? It might be easier to explain everything.” Wolfe asked hopefully as the Headmistress turned her glare in his direction again.
“So, you freely admit that you are the one who Bonded with an unregistered Witch—and that you did it after you had failed to report her presence? At least you weren’t the cause of her injuries. They’re all too old to have happened after she arrived.”
It wasn’t a question, and Wolfe was getting uneasy with the way that the wand was pointing at him.
“I just verified the truth myself. There wasn’t time to inform anyone since the first people that we met were the guards, and this really is the same person that I left with, which is what they asked. It’s all a big misunderstanding. I was only trying to. . .”
The Headmistress cut him off. “Trying to sneak back in and get the disguise spell that the Isabel Clan cast on her working again? “
“Yeah, that.”
The Headmistress rubbed her temple with one hand while cradling the kitten that was Stephanie in the other.
“Clearly, you don’t even realize how serious the rules you broke were. But that should be expected of a Magi. You are both in a lot of trouble right now, even more than the day that you first arrived here, awaiting trial for being an unregistered magic user. However, I don’t believe in prison time to change behaviours or the death penalty, so I will punish you both in another way.
Stephanie, you will not be changed back into a human. Furthermore, your disguise spell is blocked until I see fit to accept your repentance for unlawfully infiltrating the Academy with enchanted weapons and as an unregistered Witch.
ƥαṇdα-ηθνε|·ƈθm
Consider yourself lucky. The maximum penalty is, in fact, death.
Wolfe, you seem to have far too much excess energy left over for getting into trouble, but you’re already under the ultimate censure of Demonhood and banishing you wouldn’t do me any good since your Witches could just call you back.
Instead, for the crimes of harbouring an unregistered witch, forming a reverse Familiar Bond without a criminal conviction, and failing to report the presence of a dangerous intruder, you will provide five hundred units a day in energy to power the Academy’s defensive spells for the next thirty days. You can explain to your Witches if that leaves nothing for them, and if you can’t provide it, there will be late delivery penalties.”
Five hundred units were five thousand credits worth of mana daily for a month. One Hundred Fifty Thousand Credits for failing to turn Stephanie in? That was a bit steep, he thought, but the Headmistress didn’t look like she was willing to negotiate. She was definitely mad. Much angrier than when he had set the investigator’s armoured vehicle on fire.
“Yes, Headmistress. I’m very sorry for my misdeeds.” Wolfe apologized as sincerely as he could.
With their punishment set, one of the guards took out a large crystal and passed it to Wolfe. It was a mana crystal, but a much larger one than was used for currency within the city.
“Five hundred units, every day. It will glow when you have paid your daily penance, and you can turn it in at the gate or with Professor Ashcroft.” The guard informed him.
Wolfe checked his Inheritance data in an attempt to calculate his current maximum mana capacity, hoping he had enough mana to fill this crystal in one shot, or he really would be in a difficult position after lunch when it came time to help with the Practical Magic class.
[True Name] Beowulfe Abraxas Asmodai Lokarth Noxus
[Magi Bloodline] 22 Percent
[Demon Bloodline] 16 Percent
[Mana Density] 24 Percent
[Mana Focus 1/7] 58 Percent Complete
[Lightning Affinity] Low
[Fire Affinity] Medium
[Gravity Affinity] Low
[Unholy Affinity] Medium
If his calculations were correct, he should have enough stored mana. At least, as long as there were no tricks involved.
“Go ahead and drain your storage. You can get a head start while you are here at the gate. It will reduce your channelling time tonight.” The guard suggested.
Wolfe did exactly that, and at a little under half of his total mana capacity, the crystal began to glow in his hand, giving off a soothing black light.
The guard took the crystal back, turning it in her hands, before giving it to the Headmistress. “It is full. The Demon had an impressive amount of mana stored.”