59 A not so Friendly Punishmen (1/2)
”… And that's pretty much it, I couldn't do anything at all before she got hit by the fireball. Maybe if I hadn't underestimat…”
”That was enough Leon, you did the best you could. I won't blame you for that unfortunate accident, just take it as a friendly play between two children. Now go.”
The normally lazy magician tried to argue with Arthar, but seeing the closed face of Alexander Arastil looking at him, he decided to keep his mouth shut. Even after he told the entire thing, over and over again, he never saw the two men reacting weirdly or with an important concern about the princess Istuienn. Leon wasn't necessarily the sharpest, but he was not dumb either. Keeping his feelings for himself, he left the room but not without looking one last time at the two little girls near him.
It had been several dozens of minutes already, but the scared princess was still with her arms around her legs, curled into a small ball. Her little toes were barely hanging in the air, the rest of her feet deeply rooted on the edge of the chair. The contrast with her neighbor was plainly obvious. Leilade had her back straight, looking fearlessly at the adults like she did nothing wrong. And now that the only foreigner was out, Alexander and Arthar finally sighed of relief.
The first thought that traversed the mind of the father of Leodagan, when he heard that Istuienn was injured, that Leilade probably did it. And it was entirely true, even when the old man tried his best to convince otherwise. But when they both saw Leon taking extra measures just to hide the state of the princess, they were both equally shocked. And now, they had to deal with this. A very uncomfortable silence was present for the next minutes because no one spoke. Leilade couldn't justify herself in front of her, supposedly, victim.
”Oh my poor little girl, tell to your big sister Sarah what happened?” The voluptuous principal of the academy opened the door and immediately hugged Istuienn, nearly suffocating the poor soul. But that touch of affection provoked another river of tears and cry, making the two males rolling their eyes. The worst part was the fact that she was virtually untouchable and even her father, that was one of the strictest warriors of the country, didn't train her at all.
”Come on, take my hand, I will take you to a warmer place …” Sarah threw a dark stare at Alexander. Because they were in his office, the room was abnormally cold and it was only at this moment that he realized he didn't cancel the spell. ”… and you will have some cookies and a hot chocolate. This one is from Durtang, the best in the world.”
She managed to grab the hand of the princess and led her away. Just before finally getting out of sight, the gorgeous woman stopped for a second, before turning her head toward Leilade. Staring into the eyes of the peculiar kid, she saw nothing unusual but something still bothered her mind. Shrugged it off, she concentrated her effort on the mentally injured one.
Now, the three responsible for this total fiasco was finally alone in a room and the moment they double checked it was totally safe to speak, reproaches flew.
”Damn it, Arthar, I repeatedly told you to watch your words with her. She is dangerous, like really dangerous for a kid. If there is a single loophole, she will exploit it. The last time I left her alone with a kid, she was choking him and he was turning blue!”
The old man was also trying to blame Alexander, but when he heard what the latter said, he was shocked. He never heard of this before, he was not even supposed to be part of that plan originally. If not that extraordinary event that disturbed the very balance of the world, they wouldn't even have this conversation. But Arthar was no pushover either, and certainly not in front of the young magus.
”What was I supposed to do? I don't have so much free time that I can leisurely stay in my office all day! I have projects to supervise, designs to approve and many magicians often asked for my advice. Leon maybe has a very hard time managing his sleep, but he is very good with kids, or at least that's what I heard. And you couldn't have told me that she was capable of accurately aiming with a [Fireball]? That's a 2nd Circle spell that even some 2nd years still have a hard time mastering perfectly. She nailed it, twice in a row!”
To that Alexander had no answer. He knew that she formed a [Fireball] even before arriving at the Academy since Oscar Moo explained that to him. He used that fact to prove that Leilade was far more talented than he officially announced, but the thing he described was just the bare minimum for a fireball. Not something as big as a head and thrown at such a speed that even a true magician didn't manage to catch the spell before it hit.
”Ok, fine, we were both wrong. But now that you are his official teacher, please, be more careful with your words. What did you say that made her do such a thing?”
”Nothing at all, just the origin…” The two looked at each other with weird expressions. They realized now what could have been misunderstood as motivation. Arthar shook his head while Alexander facepalmed his.