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Headmaster Elisa Willows could confidently state that Professor Ludger was one of her most important allies. Since he had become her Director of Planning, balance has finally been restored in the school’s hierarchy, and the corruption amongst the nobles has greatly faded. This doesn’t even cover the time he single-handedly rescued the school from a devastating blow, when the noble investors had planned on using their power as shareholders to rearrange everything about the school (She’s still lost on how he convinced the First Princess to invest five percent of Ceoren’s annual budget, forget his apparent connections with Royal Street).
She rates Professor Ludger very highly. There is just one problem with the man: she has no clue who the hell he is.
...Okay, she knows who he is at this moment. Ludger Cherish, orphan from a fallen noble family, current youngest fourth-circle mage, inventor of the Source Code, professor of manifestation at Ceoren Academy, on and on. She’s heard some of this from his own mouth, seen some of it with her own eyes, read parts from her ongoing investigation, whatever.
It does not change the fact that she would be an absolute fool to believe anything above. She doesn’t doubt parts of it are true, certainly everything after the man entered Ceoren Academy, but she’s ninety-nine point nine percent certain the current Ludger Cherish is not the real Ludger Cherish — in fact, perhaps the real Ludger Cherish never even existed. At first, she had suspected he was part of whatever secret society had snuck their way into Ceoren, but that suspicion has since been dispelled. Then, she had suspected he was a criminal on the run, which… is still likely. However, the suspicion that had seemed the clearest, the suspicion she had thought was the truth, is that the professor is actually James Moriarty, former teacher at Ordo University, mass murderer, and the reason the Kingdom of Delica nearly went to war.
It’s funny in a distinctly serious way, that the same reason she had begun suspecting this is also the exact same reason she’s since had to reconsider.
It starts, of course, with the entrance of James Moriarty’s rival: Casey Selmore. The single-attribute mage had arrived in the city in search of James Moriarty, based on logic Elisa is not ashamed to state made absolutely no sense to her. It appeared to have been correct logic, though, since the woman had stayed since. On her arrival, she had clearly met Professor Ludger somewhere, possibly at the festival, because Detective Casey had barraged Elisa with questions about the professor, many of which Elisa was not able to answer. It’s this meeting that first raised her suspicions, suspicions which seemed extremely valid. As the detective’s questions grew more pointed, and her own research yielded more results, she had been on the cusp of simply calling the man in for a meeting, and deciding where to go from there. He’s a far too valuable ally against the nobles to demote, too impressive of a mage for her to ambush, too well-liked by the students to fire. But she would be an awful headmaster if she just let a war criminal walk around in Ceoren’s halls.
And then, Casey Selmore does a complete 180 degrees reversal in her treatment towards the man. Suddenly, she’s showing up every other day just to bother the professor, and the professor is letting her. Ludger Cherish, who talks to practically no one beyond his aide and the other new professors in his free time, who’s about as business-like as it is possible to be, lets the bubbly extrovert chatter to him for hours at a time, even replying. It’s because of this that Elisa is forced to settle her suspicions to one side, because surely Casey Selmore, known for her vendetta against Moriarty, and her years of tracking the elusive criminal down, would not freely associate with the criminal himself?
The problem here is, she has absolutely no knowledge of what happened to cause the detective’s change in personality, and the subsequent change in relationship between the detective and her professor. Actually- Elisa has to freeze there for a second, because what is their relationship? This suddenly seems extremely important. She would label it friends, but she has witnessed with her own eyes Detective Casey attempt to drown Professor Ludger with a summoned wave, and she had been about to intervene because once again, Professor Ludger was still important to the school and she had begun viewing him as a friend-
Only to stop in utter confusion as, without even looking, Professor Ludger freezes the entire wave, shatters it, and proceeds to cast a simple first circle fire spell that should just summon a stroke of fire, but he puts so much mana into it the flame is the size of a carriage. He then proceeds to hurtle it at the Detective, who waves her hand, sets up a shield, and happily continues annoying the professor, both of them completely ignoring what anyone else would consider murder attempts. They had even avoided damaging any of the stones or shrubbery around them.
So, enemies that reluctantly tolerate each other for their intelligence? Because Elisa knows herself to be very intelligent, and she is likely one of the most adept mages alive when it comes to magical theory, but when those two get into one of their long-winded discussions no one can understand them. Once, the detective had visited during lunchtime, and the entire cafeteria was treated to a debate between the two that started off as the age-old philosophical question of “is water wet?”, and somehow ended up leading to an argument on whether or not the sixteenth king of Bretus made a wise decision when he chose to allow his wife (a confirmed dark magic user) freedom, and if he was then subsequently guilty for the chaos his wife caused in the upper regions of the then Republic of Rhinesoter (annexed into the Empire of Exilion a hundred and sixteen years ago). And between those two arguments, Elisa hear them touch on the political situation of the Kingdom of Yuta (she’s pretty sure they were not supposed to know some of those details), the perfect formulation of an alibi (it makes sense for Detective Casey, but why does Professor Ludger know the most effective ways to deceive a judge?), and the correct way to cook asparagus (both of their opinions were absolutely horrifying, and an atrocity committed against the culinary art as a whole. The cooks still can’t look either of them in the eye.)
A sudden shine of light makes Elisa blink, and she realizes that she is very off topic, even in her own head. …Perhaps half an hour of non-consecutive sleep was a bad decision on her part.
However, the point is, no one else can keep up with them, so of course they’ll talk to each other.
So, she would leave it at that, a pair of debate partners, except that is clearly not it. Because debate partners don’t know each other’s habits by heart, the way those two clearly do. Debate partners don’t finish each other’s sentences, or any of the dozens of habits they’ve developed in regards to each other.
The first, most obvious example happened at a party. It’s a decently large one, celebrating the anniversary of Ceoren’s establishment, and Casey Selmore naturally received an invite due to her prestige as a mage, her mentorship during the fiasco at the capital, and her family name. She accepts the invite with little fanfare, and on the day of, she can be seen in what is now her usual spot, right next to Professor Ludger. This also means they’re both in a shadowed corner, the professor coldly glaring at any noble that even attempts to approach them. Most of them appear to take the hint. The remaining few proceed to be verbally eviscerated by the detective, as she brings up scandals with a perfect smile on her lips. Elisa is both amused and extremely impressed, even mentally drafting a potential invitation to the detective to become a teacher here. But this synergy, while amusing and quite unsettling to those unfamiliar with the two, is nothing particularly new. The surprise doesn’t happen until the meal starts, and even the most introverted of professors have to mingle to be able to reach the food.
Now, first, some context is necessary. Detective Casey Selmore has made many enemies over the years, due to her job and her righteous personality. As such, almost all of her preferences are hidden, to avoid various problems in the form of murder attempts, and the general attention that comes with being a young, single woman. Elisa understands all too well, for she is the same, collecting information and giving nothing out. All gifts are met with the same bland smile, and the detective in particular is very careful about what she eats, going so far as to never take food that she has not seen being served.
This is why it’s extremely surprising to everyone that knows her that she seems perfectly content to keep her back to the feast, talking to some noble or other, as Professor Ludger fetches food for the both of them. It’s a practiced motion, too, as he skillfully avoids certain plates and grabs more of others. And when he returns to the table, the detective doesn’t even look at the plate before beginning to eat. Elisa, for all her decorum, nearly drops her utensils at the sheer display of trust right there, sharing a shocked look with the detective’s assistant — Betty? — who’s been relegated to moodily scowling down at her own meal. Elisa wouldn’t extend that trust to anyone other than her most faithful assistant — even now, despite her shock, she is carefully watching every server close to her, every noble reaching for food she might consume later on. Come to think of it, Professor Ludger had been the one to grab food for the detective that day at the cafeteria too, but the memory had been overshadowed by the crime against food that had been committed that day. (Asparagus should never be boiled. Never. And what in the world even is canned asparagus, and why is Professor Ludger consuming it?)
In any case, it’s a show of extreme trust, one that she doesn’t think Detective Casey would even extend to her sister. And it begins to force Elisa to reevaluate her perception of the two as simple academic rivals.
The next instance only makes her doubt herself more. This time, it’s a combat demonstration to the students, once again caused by the utter fiasco that was the capital. New classes are being implemented, of course (she fully plans on getting Professor Ludger to teach one of them), but many students are sheltered, and have never seen magic actually being used in combat. As such, Elisa gathered the strongest professors and a few other mages and knights to spar today, showing students techniques used in real fights and offering them some good role models to copy.
Already, she can hear excited whispering in the audience, wondering who the first fight will be. She fully plans on having everyone fight more than once, against different opponents, but… she might as well start the show with a bang. And, this will be a perfect occasion to test a few things.
“We will begin the spars with a 2v2, me and Wilfred versus Professor Ludger Cherish and Detective Casey Selmore!” Elisa calls out quite cheerfully, relishing in the choked sound behind her and the rapid coughing.
“Headmaster, what-”
“Principal Willows, this wasn’t-”
“We have no time to waste! Are you excited, students?”
A resounding cheer comes from the audience, settled quite a distance away. It’s obviously not far enough to do any high level casting safely, and a barrier this large would require much more setup than what she had prepared for. However, high level spells were never the purpose of today anyways. After all, opponents will never grant you the dozens of seconds required to cast a fifth circle spell, and even at her peak she can’t reduce a sixth circle to less than a minute. Perhaps Professor Ludger could help with that, actually, with his Source Code? She’ll have to ask later.
She steps confidently into the ring, Wilfred closely tailing her, sword already in hand. Murmurs start in the audience again, many wondering if her assistant is actually a knight instead of the fragile old man he likes to present himself as. Elisa keeps her picture-perfect smile, waiting for the other duo. They take a bit longer, their hissed conversations barely audible even after she’s enhanced her senses.
As soon as they take their places, Elisa is off, laughing.
“First lesson, opponents will never wait for you to be ready!” She calls out quite loudly, anticipating some form of a barrier. Sure enough, her first two spells — basic first circle ones, a Shooting Flame and a Shining Stone are both blocked by a large water barrier. Elisa raises an eyebrow in surprise, not expecting the sheer volume of water. The confusion is quickly cleared away after she witnesses Professor Ludger’s hand held up, having just finished drawing a magic circle. So he cast a water spell, and the detective immediately used it to create a barrier.
She casts a look at Wilford, and the reaction is immediate, the butler leaping forwards and cleaving, faint hints of aura appearing on the blade. Not even close to his full power, but once again, if they went all-out right now not only would the field break, there would be dozens of casualties among the students.
The barrier shifts, melting together seamlessly as soon as it’s split apart. However, it’s enough for Elisa to cast the spell she’s been preparing, a third-circle lightning spell making its way past the walls of water. A dangerous gambit, as affecting the water would likely be more dangerous for them, but she trusts her precision. The thunderbolt shoots towards Casey, who’s still maintaining the barrier against Wilford’s barrage, but Professor Ludger, who’s been carefully observing so far, immediately takes action and summons stone walls to absorb the electricity. The ground shakes with the force, and Elisa crouches slightly to stay stable. For a second, they’re at an impasse.
“Well, aren’t the two of you going to attack?” Elisa calls out merrily, opening her arms wide, taunting. Wilford, silent as always, retreats too, not even out of breath. Their two opponents cast a look at each other, and then Professor Ludger strings five first circle spells together in a dazzling display of speed, earning cheers from the students. Shining Stones and strings of fire approach so rapidly Elisa has no time to set up a barrier. Instead, she chooses to employ the age-old adage: offense is the best defense. Her own magic swirls around her, pink petals burning in the flames, but a powerful barrier nonetheless, vibrant shades of color flicking towards their opponents as soon as the barrage ends. Elisa lets herself breathe for a second, heartbeat pounding in her ears. That had been far closer than she would prefer. Source Code truly is terrifying.
What she does not anticipate is the sudden tentacles of water, all rushing towards them, reaching for their arms. Elisa ducks, one lashing out sharply above her head. She can feel droplets splattering onto her hair. As the tentacles turn back, Wilford reacts quickly with a powerful slash of his sword, and Elisa immediately turns what’s left into ice via a careful cast of Ice Shard. The cold seeps through the arena, and she shivers involuntarily. Professor Ludger holds up his hands yet again, and lighting crackles, sparking against the ice, shattering it in several locations. Elisa leaps back to avoid the shards of ice embedding themselves into the ground around her, as Wilford chooses to simply charge forwards.
So far, this is going how she expected. Two formidable fighters versus two other formidable fighters, a constant back and forth of attacks, slowly whittling at each other’s defenses. At this intensity, this could take another hour to decide a winner if neither side gets lucky. And it’s clear they all realize this, as the detective’s eyes narrow sharply.
“Shall we increase the difficulty?” Detective Casey calls out brightly, even as her stance tenses, vision focused on Elisa’s hands. She doesn’t bother responding, choosing to let her next spell, a reflection of Professor Ludger’s earlier thunder wave reply for her. Immediately after, she grits her teeth and shoves her mana through her hands, crying out sharply as she summons a blooming ice flower in the middle of the field. The spell itself wouldn’t leave her heart hammering like this, but the spell doesn’t disappear after a wave of ice like it would typically do. Instead, it stays as a powerful barrier between them and any attacks, releasing intermittent waves of cold frost. The detective scowls, rapidly pulling back her water, but not quite fast enough to avoid a large amount turning into ice ropes Wilford shatters.
This is the issue with being a single-element mage. Your element can be weakened: fire with water, water with ice, earth with plant. Elisa feels a spark of pride at the ice flower that still shows no sign of disappearing. It required careful modifications to the spell circle and far more mana than typically used, but the effects were clearly worth the hours of work she had poured into this. While they could just summon more, it would be extremely costly mana-wise and time-wise considering the field steadily freezes all exposed water. What will you two do now?
…What they will do, apparently, is use a bomb. If there was anything that could make her curse, this would be high on the list, because what the hell. She had expected a fire spell, yes. She had expected to fight against the professor for control over the frozen water, a battle of mana. She had not expected for the professor to aim, then flatout blow up the entire flower without melting it. All but yelping in surprise, her heart hammers in her chest when she leaps back from the flurries of ice crystals that follow the explosion.
More explosions follow, fully melting whatever was left of the ice flower after he basically set off a bomb. What spell does that? There’s plenty of fire spells that can cause damage, but none that just. Explode. There’s a reason gunpowder was dangerous enough a spell needed to be made to counter it, and it’s this.
Next to her, Wilford’s face is stained with soot, as he blinks rather dazedly. But her poor assistant gets no rest, as the detective, somehow completely unbothered by the explosions, creates water constructs once more, a narwhal charging towards them with water swirling around its horn.
For a moment, despite three of them being mages, they engage in close combat. The detective manipulates the narwhal with skill, but Wilford blocks each blow with ease. Meanwhile, Elisa trades spells with the professor, mind focused on nothing other than each individual fluttering petal and the bolts of fire aiming to burn them. More than once, they switch opponents, and Elisa finds herself and Wilford separated through a dazzling combination of the coordinate method Professor Ludger demonstrated months prior, freezing her feet and disrupting her aim just in time for the detective to wash Wilford away with a towering wave of water. She melts the ice, but not in time to avoid the lash of fire that comes directly after, and she’s forced to her knees. Immediately, the two pounce: blade of water at her throat and a magic circle she recognizes as a Shining Stone pointed at her chest, long before Wilford rushes back to her side after picking himself up.
“I yield.” Her breaths come in uneven bursts, the battle having taken far more out of her than she expected – although that may be true for all of them, actually. The two don’t look much better, small scratches on their faces, clothes soaked thanks to the detective’s generous use of various aquatic animals.
Those last thirty seconds… Elisa’s sure she’ll be replaying it over and over in her mind, puzzling out the smooth way the professor had covered Casey just long enough for her to spread water around, and the immediate transition back to their original positions with next to no communication.
This was not the teamwork of two reluctant acquaintances thrown together. This was the teamwork of two people who know each other’s styles by heart, who are more than aware of each other’s capabilities. It had taken her and Wilford weeks of training together to fight as a team, and years to know each other’s habits by heart. The fight would obviously have been different if they were going all-out, but the implicit trust is undeniable.
She floats her way past the rest of the demonstrations, only noting a few truly spectacular fights. As soon as she finally collapses back into her seat, the mystery takes first priority in her mind despite the truly boggling amount of papers on her desk.
Debate partners doesn’t make sense, rivals doesn’t make sense… So, friends? Elisa suddenly freezes when she realizes what their relationship reminds her of: her own friendship, when she was in the academy. A way for them to be all of those things and more.
Satisfied, she settles back onto her seat. No, not friends, best friends.
_____
...And then, par for the course, everything is reversed on its head yet again, thanks to a specific fashion decision on the part of Casey Selmore.
It’s a perfectly normal day. She wakes up at three am, works on the never-ending piles of paperwork until nine am, eats breakfast, and takes a quick walk around the campus.
It’s then that a familiar head of blue hair that has been on her mind far too often shows up.
“Headmistress Elisa!” The detective calls out cheerfully, and Elisa opens her mouth to reply-
-only to choke, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.
“Detective Casey,” she replies, voice rather strangled. Can you blame her? Detective Casey is wearing a rather bold fashion statement today, a fluttering black cape that’s too long for her and contrasts sharply with the rest of her outfit. And not any black cape, a very familiar black cape that a certain manifestation professor favors. A certain black cape she’s certain he wore yesterday. She tries to fit this into the picture she’s constructed in her head, and finds no way to shift the puzzle pieces together. In the end, she’s forced to admit that she has been wrong this entire time.
The debate could have been shelved under rivals, the food under close friends, the fight under best friends. This? This only had one explanation. Her Director of Planning is dating the Cerulean Detective.
Casey Selmore looks supremely unconcerned with the huge bombshell that has just been dropped on Elisa’s head. The detective seems to notice where her eyes have headed, and beams up at Elisa.
“Are you curious about the cape? I got it from a great friend,” she offers freely, going so far as to wink at Elisa. Yes, they must be dating, and the detective is tired of hiding their relationship. She really should have seen it earlier, now that she knows. Even in the beginning, their meetings had been rife with tension. Obviously, what she had mistaken for the detective recognizing a wanted criminal was actually sexual tension, as the two danced around each other, both unwilling to make the first move!
“I am very happy for you, then.” Elisa offers honestly. Professor Ludger deserves someone good, and the two were clearly made for each other. There is a small flicker of disappointment that she doesn’t care to contemplate, but it’s quickly swept away by plans to host the marriage here at Ceoren, to leverage all the benefits of this newfound alliance.
“Thanks! I’m just so glad we’re starting to work these things out between us. You wouldn’t happen to know where Professor Ludger is, would you?” The detective chatters happily, seemingly buoyed by Elisa’s easy acceptance of the reveal. She does note the “working things out” with interest, wondering if this means they will be fully coming out into the open.
But, that can be for later. Right now, the most important thing is uniting the two, and teasing Professor Ludger about this secret.
“I believe he’s in the staff room. I could fetch him for you right now, if you wish?” She offers, unable to resist a slight smirk at the thought of something to use against the normally composed man.
“That’d be great! Thanks, Headmistress!”
“It’s no issue. No issue at all.” The detective looks slightly confused by her words, but Elisa has no plans to enlighten her. She might protest if Elisa was to, ah, use the revealed information against her lover.
Already drafting a conversation with Wilford in her mind (“Oh, you would not believe what happened today…”), Elisa finds herself humming lightly as she reaches the room where teachers meet on school mornings. If she arrived any later, Professor Ludger would likely already be back in his office, but she arrives just in time to catch the man.
“Professor Ludger!”
“Headmistress Elisa. What can I do for you today?”
“Oh, nothing. I just wanted to inform you that a certain special someone was waiting outside the school for you, likely to steal you for an hour before your first class,” Elisa laughs.
“A… special someone?” The professor seems quite confused, tilting his head slightly. Well, he probably doesn’t know Detective Casey has revealed their relationship to Elisa.
“A certain blue-haired someone,” she offers, and there’s the recognition. “She’s wearing something quite special too… Something I could have sworn I’ve seen before…” Elisa lets her eyes fall pointedly to the cape the manifestation professor favors, the exact same texture of silk, not to mention the gold embroidery around the collar. Sure, there are some minor differences, but it’s expected for the professor to have multiple versions. In fact, the one Detective Casey had been wearing seemed especially worn. Perhaps a late-night visit, in their casual clothing? Elisa can’t fathom such a thing from the stoic Professor Ludger, but maybe from boyfriend Ludger Cherish…
For a second, Professor Ludger seems rather confused, and Elisa almost doubts herself. And then, his eyes widen, and a light flush dusts his cheeks, more of a reaction than she has ever gotten with any of her other teasing.
He coughs awkwardly, almost… fidgeting? Elisa can feel her cheeks begin to ache from how hard she must be smiling, but the couple is just too adorable.
“Ah. I was… unaware she had chosen to make that part of her wardrobe. She wore it here?” His expression seems mildly disbelieving, as he carefully avoids looking Elisa in the eyes.
“She seems rather determined to… reveal certain things,” she replies. If possible, the professor’s eyes widen even further, gaze meeting hers for a second.
“And you don’t mind?” His question is quite hesitant, fingers flexing around his cane. She draws out a hum, repressing a smirk at the way he steadily stiffens with every second of her remaining silent.
“Not at all, Professor. I’m just insulted you didn’t tell me sooner,” she relents, offering a smile. “Now, I do believe the detective’s patience is about to run out. Hurry along, before she drowns this school.”
“Ah- thank you, headmistress. Truly.” And then he’s off, footsteps rapidly moving down the hallway, until it’s replaced by faint squabbling. Elisa tilts her head back, humming.
Strange. It’s almost like they were having different conversations.