Once we returned to the academy I visited Gronir's office to give him the dagger. I did not want to get into trouble but I was slightly intrigued by a possibly magical weapon. I had Kaito, Hatsumi and Nyx with me and started by telling Gronir about the raid itself. He listened silently, then inspected the blade.

"Interesting. I think it is magical, but I am not an expert on enchantments. I will have to consult Durath." He mused.

"Sir, will I be in trouble for not handing the blade to Colonel Duncan?" I asked.

"Since you reported it to me, no. Kaito defeated the man wielding it and you are not yet officially part of the military. One could argue that he earned it in combat. However, it might be relevant to the investigation so it is important that you reported it. Magical items are not that common." Gronir replied.

I felt relieved, now I could focus on my curiosity. "Sir, could it be a blade made to kill undead?"

"Hm. Such weapons exist. The more common ones would use light magic, however there are necromantic enhancements that can hurt undead. They target the spell keeping them alive and can be rather complex. But that is not the feeling that I am getting from this dagger. I think this is meant to kill the living." He replied.

"Then why did he use it against an undead?" I wondered.

"It is still a blade. It might even be sharper, or more durable, than a normal blade. Magical items tend to use high quality materials. And it's not like undead are immune to anything harming the living. You could drain the blood from Hatsumi, for example. Or you could easily burn or electrocute most undead. Only death magic is usually a rather poor choice." He explained.

Then Gronir opened a drawer and retrieved a sheet of paper. "Since you are already here, this is a list with your homework for the classes you have missed today. I had a feeling you might come to me after your raid so I had it prepared. Although I expected you to come with a corpse, not a dagger." He chuckled.

My ears drooped. Of course there was homework.

When I returned to my room I handed Helena the list, then I flopped down onto the bed.

"What is that?" She asked.

"Homework." I mumbled.

"You would think busting a thieves guild hideout would get you out of homework for a day." She grumbled.

I felt the bed shift as she sat down next to me, then she grabbed my tail and started petting it. It felt nice.

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"Do you think there will be any retaliation for today's raid?" I wondered.

"Who knows? I think there might be a lot of unhappy people. I suspect the thieves guild will have some blackmail material. A lot of nobles are probably sweating right now, or trying to put pressure on the guards. Hey, maybe they will find some dirt on Archibald. That would be nice." She replied.

"Duncan did not trust the local guards. Maybe some of the evidence disappears." I mused.

Helena shrugged. "Maybe. At least we got prisoners this time. Hopefully we get some information about the Brotherhood, and their plans concerning you."

"I wonder how many necromancers at the conference will have ties to them?"

"Probably not too many. I think they mostly attract the uneducated ones." Helena replied.

"Do you think we will meet the princess again?" I wondered.

"Considering your achievements? Probably. Maybe we should go and buy some fancy dresses!" Helena suggested.

"I am comfortable with pants…" I replied.

"Nonsense! We are getting some reward money for that raid. We should go shopping. I think an elegant dress would suit you. Black, with some purple highlights that match your eyes. Or maybe a light blue? You mostly wear dark clothes, something lighter might look good as well. It would add some contrast. Imagine your fluffy black tail with a white gown…" Helena mused.

"I am not sure about white. It would stain far too easily." I replied.

Helena grinned. "We can try different colors. With your tail you will need something custom made anyway. We need to go shopping on Solday!"

"We have to work on Hatsumi's spellblade project." I replied.

"A few hours won't change that. It does not have to be this Solday, there is still some time left until the conference." Helena pointed out.

"Ok…" I agreed, then I sat up and looked at the sheet with our homework. "I guess we still have some work to do."

Helena sighed, then she let go of my tail and stood up to grab some books. "I guess so."

The next day at breakfast rumors had already started about the raid. Students stared at us, more than usual.

"How did word spread that fast?" I wondered.

"It was a rather public raid of a fancy shop." Skadi pointed out.

"I guess that makes sense. There was a customer inside who thought rather highly of himself. I don't know who he was, he seemed like a person who would immediately complain to everyone." I mused.

"I bet he will soon be outraged that it was a criminal hideout and loudly proclaim how he knew nothing of that." Cassie added.

"Can you imagine being part of the guard now? They will have to ask questions to a lot of very important people. They will likely get yelled at a lot. Thankfully we are not part of that." Helena said.

"I would not mind having a chat with some of those people." Kaito mused.

"Oh. Yeah, I could see that work. Especially if your actions from the raid spread." I said.

"YOU! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" I heard a shout and saw a very angry Florence coming our way.

"Please calm yourself, this is not the right tone to address my mis… to address Koyuki." Kaito said.

She paled a little, staring at the dullahan. Then she turned back to me. "You have framed Archibald! The guards arrived this morning to question him!"

I scratched my head. "Really?"

"I wonder what deal he made with them. Was he responsible for the Iron Beak theft?" Helena wondered.

"Ohhh, do you remember the ambush after the ball? Didn't they find some evidence pointing towards his house?" Cassie said.

"What?" Florence asked, looking confused.

"Right, I remember!" I replied. "The pouch found on the driver! If he went to the guild to hire them they might have records."

"Wait, didn't we see Eva go into the store as well? Do you think they worked with Ilestria?" Cassie wondered.

"Interesting." Hatsumi said and smiled sweetly at Florence. "Have you visited the store? Eva was part of your group and Archibald is your fiance. Do you think he was involved in treason?"

"I…" Florence lost a lot of her anger, and looked a lot more concerned now. Then she just turned around and left.

"Curious." Kaito mused.

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