157 Loco

Once Michael and Ralf were done talking, Tiffania and Charlotte rejoin with them, the latter looking over at her dragon and saying, "Illococoo."

At first, everyone but Michael is confused by this, until Charlotte's dragon, Sylphid begins shrinking down, her body morphing until she becomes a tall girl with dark blue hair matching the colour of her scales in her dragon form. She has a cute face and a curious childish expression, relatively large breasts... And is completely naked.

"Ouch!" Michael yelps as Tiffania pinches his side with a pout to stop him from staring at the naked girl before them.

"Big sis?" the new girl asks while shamelessly walking over to Charlotte without covering her visible flesh.

Charlotte taps her staff on the sand and gestures at the bag that'd been dropped from Illococoo after her transformation. "Clothes."

All the while, Ralf just watches on with wide eyes, his mouth almost hitting the ground as he murmurs, "Rhyme Dragon...?"

"Rhyme dragon?" Tiffania questions, not having ever heard of such a thing.

Ralf nods, "Rhyme dragons are, or were, rare creatures that are as intelligent as humans, can speak our language, and transform at will. They were said to be extinct after Nobles hunted all of them to acquire potion and magic materials..."

"Well, can't have been all of them if Charlotte summoned one as her familiar. She could've summoned one from another world, but I think that's only limited to Void Mages." Michael wonders aloud as Charlotte returns with a now 'clothed' Illococoo.

"Illococoo." Charlotte quietly says, glancing at her familiar with a meaningful look.

"Okay, big sis... Hiya! I'm Illococoo! Big sis' familiar spirit! It's nice to meet you all!.. Oh! And sorry for attacking you earlier, I was just doing as I was told!" she says, rubbing the back of her head despite not sounding apologetic at all.

Michael shrugs, "It's no big deal. Nice to meet you Illococoo... Er, can I just call you Illu? Your name is kinda, unwieldy for me..."

Tiffania nods, "Ah, me too please!"

Illococoo nods, "If big sis says it's okay." she says, glancing to her summoner who just nods in response. "Yipee!"

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The group spends around ten or so minutes getting acquainted under the hot desert sun, and Michael lays out his basic plans for Charlotte and Illu so that they understand his goals. They were a bit wary of going anywhere near Tristania after the coupe, but they didn't really have a choice if they wanted to help Charlotte's mother.

Specifically, Michael would have Charlotte go to the academy to speak with Osmond to see if they possessed Brimir's prayer book. Michael, Tiffania, and Ralf were obviously unable to due to their criminal status, and Charlotte would have a far easier time due to her still technically being a student there.

Everyone else would head to the capital so that Michael could sneak into the palace to search for the Prayer book. From what he remembered of the anime, Henrietta was the one who handed it to Louise, but Osmond handed it to Henrietta... He didn't know what was canon anymore though so he'd have to check both. Indeed, he didn't even know if the Princess was still in the capital after the coupe.

And with everything said and done, Michael, Tiffania, and Ralf fly off towards the capital, with Charlotte and Illococoo flying towards the Tristain magic academy.

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Charlotte glances over at the dragon she and Sylphid were flying next to, a multitude of emotions washing over her as she recalls the earlier events. She'd thought that this mission would just be like all the others, herself against insurmountable odds but barely getting through it alive, coming out all the stronger for it.

But this one had been different. Far different than all the others, while she wasn't stronger for it, she felt stronger. Happier... Hopeful. While she was still wary of these strangers, they were more trustworthy than her uncle was, and if what they said was truthful, she may just get her mother back.

She'd spend years and years looking for a cure, sometimes even doing things most good nobles would never consider. Delving into black markets, stealing potion recipes from under their maker's noses, even using stolen gold to buy master potioneers skills so that they could develop a cure... Only for every attempt to fail.

She didn't know if Tiffania was truly a Void Mage, but she decided to trust the girl's seeming shyness and inability to lie. For their troubles, she'd even revealed one of her greatest secrets, Illococoo's true race. It was a fair trade in her opinion, she knew Tiffania 'might' be a Void Mage, and they knew Sylphid was a Rhyme Dragon.

Michael didn't strike her as a liar, even back in the academy when he killed Guiche it hadn't seemed intentional. And his escape was pretty reasonable considering they were planning on executing him.

Regardless, she was worried that this would all backfire on her. she wasn't all that scared of dying, but she'd be devastated if Illococoo was hurt due to her stupid decisions... Fortunately, unlike her uncles usual missions, Michael had sent her to the magic academy instead of some incredibly dangerous area.

As for whether or not 'other worlds' truly existed? She was still unsure, the belief in Michael's tone when he told her about it made her wonder if such a fanciful thing was real. She supposed that if Tiffania really was a Void Mage, then travelling to other worlds wouldn't be too strange.

All in all, she was hopefully this tentative alliance of theirs would prove fruitful... If Michael was anywhere near as 'strong' as she'd heard, this might even be the chance to get back at her uncle for all the pain he's caused both her and her mother.