48 Chapter 48 - House? What House?
Snow POV:
Finishing breakfast, there's been a change of plans. Wrapping my tail around Aisha's wrist, I pull her along with me towards headmaster Adrian's office.
Arriving through the main doors of the head office, I don't bother attempting to communicate with the secretary. I've been here before. Down hallways, up stairs, turn left at the potted cactus, passed the blank spot on the wall where a priceless antique used to be.
Reaching the headmaster's office door, I release Aisha's wrist. Internally I frown as I watch her rub the now bruised wrist. I must have unconsciously tightened my grip while pulling her along. She likely thinks I'm a brute of a beast who can't be gentle. I've never quite treated her well and this is not the time to be thinking about this.
Whacking my tail on the door three times, I wait for a response. A few moments go by and there's nothing. Turning towards Aisha, I point to her and then the door. It has the infernal knob type mechanism.
After a moment of intense staring at her, she steps forward and knocks of the door first, before saying, "Ancestor Adrian, it's Aisha and Snow. We'd like to speak with you... apparently."
Again there's no response, so she hesitantly, under my intense glare, opens the door. There's no one inside. We should have asked the secretary where he is. Honestly I'm a slight bit panicked and not thinking calmly. More than likely, there's another array that's been set up deal with me. Adrian could have been the one to set it up or it could have been someone else. This is a rare situation where I'll take the chance and hope Adrian wasn't the one to do it.
Honestly I have no idea where to find that damn Saint and I'm too prideful to go back and ask the secretary. Walking over to the desk, I whip out my custom chair next to Adrian's rotating chair. Facing towards the door, I take a seat and get ready to wait. He'll show up eventually. This is his office after all.
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It's been almost an hour and my patience is running thin. Aisha is sitting on the headmaster's chair spinning in circles. If I could smile I would. She's still got a bit of childlike innocence to her. I've watched her stalk me, stutter while trying to speak to me, command her guards and servants, hold herself like true royalty, sulk when treated like the plague, and now spinning in a chair giggling. Thinking about it, I've treated her much better than most of the people I've interacted with. Her stalking was quite nerve grating, but she's fairly earnest in her admiration for my mother and subsequently myself. I suppose we can be friends. I don't really do friends or like people though. They tend to... leave me.
Whatever, begone with those thoughts. Adrian is taking forever and my annoyance with him not showing up is completely unjustified, but I don't care. Looking at the spinning girl, I get a fantastic idea.
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Adrian POV:
Walking into the head office building, I'm greeted by the secretary who informs me that Aisha and Snow walked in 2 hours ago, but have yet to leave. Their business must be important if they've been waiting this entire time.
Slightly increasing my pace, I make my way through the building. Eyeing a blank spot on the wall with a bit of amusement, I let out a small chuckle. There's only one person with enough guts to steal from my personal collection. The little klepto even did it back at the palace, so it's no surprise.
Just as I'm about to enter my office, I hear Aisha's voice clearly through the door, "I lost again! How are you so good at this game?!"
Opening the door, I look to see what game they've been playing while waiting for me. It takes but a fraction of a second for my slight amusement to turn into horror.
"My desk! You brats ruined my desk! That's a priceless antique!" I scream out.
My precious poor desk is completely covered in fresh carvings. Large hash marks with circles and crosses inside them completely cover my desk. That damn brat was even in the middle of carving a new hash with her claws when I opened the door!
"Expulsion! Expulsion! You're both expelled! My precious poor desk! What have they done to you?!" I dramatically yell out. I'm not actually going to expel them, but there must be retribution! This desk is one of only 50 made by a master carpenter. I purchased 8 of them and over the years this is the last one I have left. They may look bland, but they are perfectly crafted. Each one worth over a thousand gold.
Completely ignoring my rant, little Snow hops off the table and casually walks out the door after gesturing me to follow.
Naturally my grief stricken face is returned to normal instantly. The desk isn't of any large importance and as a Saint, I've cultivated long enough that such small matters don't effect me much if at all. I was in the mood to tease the youngsters a bit, but whatever business they have with me seems to be serious.
While I fall in step next to little Snow, dear little Aisha comes up to start explaining herself while lightly crying, "I'm so sorry Ancestor Adrian. *sniffle* Snow seemed to have something *hic* important to talk with you about, *sniffle* but we got really bored. *sniffle* I wasn't thinking about the consequences *hic* and Snow had this simple, yet fun game to play. *sniffle* I didn't even realize we were *sniffle* destroying your desk, until you arrived. *sniffle* Please please don't expel us. *hic* I'll do anything. *sniffle*"
"*sigh* I'm not going to expel either of you. The desk can be replaced. I'll think of your punishments later. What do you know about what little Snow wants to talk about?" I replied.
"I don't actually *sniffle* know what she wants. We had just finished breakfast when she *sniffle* dragged me down here. Honestly it's been very hard to communicate with her since she can't speak like us," Aisha informed as she slowly got over her crying.
While we've been talking we left the head office and have started headings towards their dorm house. Is there perhaps something wrong with the accommodations? Little Snow doesn't seem like the type to treat such a thing so seriously.
Stopping roughly 30 meters from the house, little Snow starts miming something. Biting, clawing, lunging. She acts likes she's fighting an invisible enemy. Were they attacked in the night?
Pointing her tail at me and then the house, it's obvious she wants me to investigate. Taking only a few steps forward I can feel it. I became a Saint through the mage path. I studied hundreds of spells and learned as much about the esoteric art of arrays as I could. There's been an array placed around the house. It's an array that causes beasts to go wild and lose reasoning. Who dares do this on my academy grounds?! Who dares attempt to harm my students under my nose?!
"Unacceptable!" in a fit of rage I yell out and swipe a hand as a wave of Dark essence rolls out, flattening the house and destroying the array instantly.
Still heaving in rage, I hear little Aisha's voice come out as a small squeak behind me, "All my belongings were in there..."
Snow POV:
It seems I made the correct choice in coming to Adrian for help. I may not be a master at the art of reading people yet, but his rage seemed genuine enough that I'm fairly assured he had nothing to do with the array. He could be a good actor though. I suppose it's the best I'll get for now.
Though looking between a pale faced Aisha and a former red faced, now pale faced, Adrian, I'd say there are other things to worry about at the moment.
It took quite a while for Adrian to cheer up his 'dear little Aisha'. Punishment for destroying his desk? Forgotten. Promises to replace every thing of hers he destroyed and more? Made. Free lunch and dinner at the cafeteria for the rest of her stay at the academy? Agreed. Also including Snow? Also agreed. Already planning on a bigger, better, more secure dorm house? Secured.
That's nice. He really dotes on his descendant. I'm sure he's had plenty of little descendants over the years. How he manages to still care is beyond me. If I had descendants even a few generations separated, I'd have at most apologized and that would be that. Not that I ever plan on having real descendants though. As a man, I was undecided on having kids. As a woman, nope. Maybe I'll adopt or something way down the line.
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After the morning I had, I decided classes could wait another day. Adrian gave Aisha a veritable fortune in gold so that she could replace what she lost when the house was erased. I've realized that she's a con artist in the making. She's got an interspatial ring. At most she lost a few pieces of clothes and some knick knacks, but she milked Adrian as if she lost a palace.
Currently we're touring the shops in the academy and I'm quite impressed with the variety of items. The academy grounds are massive and some of the students live here for decades. It's basically a small city.
Leaving a perfume shop, I sneeze a few times on purpose to get rid of the leftover stench in my nose. Absolutely horrid that stuff is. In micro doses, it might be ok, but the women in there bathe in the stuff. It was a miniature victory in its own right that I managed to prevent Aisha from buying anything. I'd either steal and destroy any perfume she bought or stay away from her if she used any. She smells fine naturally as long as she bathes properly.
Heading into a clothing shop, I mentally check out. I have no actual use for the vast majority of human items. The only things that matter to me at this point are medical supplies, knowledge, fate aligned resources, and food. Food is taken care of. Knowledge is in the works. Medical supplies are partially taken care of and I could use more. I have yet to find any fate aligned resources though.
A fate beast core would be nice. I could absorb the essences within and boost my own core accordingly. It's unfortunate that Fate Magical Beasts are insanely rare. I didn't find a single one in all my hunting within the Endless Beast Forest.
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After Aisha's shopping spree, we visited Adrian at his office again. His desk had been replaced with what at first glance was an exact copy, but for some reason seemed shabbier.
He led us right back to where our dorm house used to stand and in its place was somehow another dorm house. This one multiple stories tall with a garden and pond. According to Adrian, there were also arrays set up that specifically interfered with other arrays. If they were disabled or destroyed, he would know. I'll take that information with a grain of salt. The habit of flaring my essence regularly will be making a return.
