After the farcical duel had concluded, the team pursuing Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth to reclaim the "Staff of Destruction" saw some changes.
Due to her familiar Saito's exceptional performance in the duel, Louise was granted special permission to join the mission team.
Worried about her friend Louise's safety, Princess Henrietta also entrusted Wood with looking after them.
To be honest, if it hadn't been for the duel, Henrietta initially thought Wood was just an ordinary commoner familiar.
However, the strength Wood displayed tonight left everyone in awe. Despite being an ordinary human, he possessed strength that absolutely surpassed that of a dragon.
Previously, Henrietta had been concerned about how to handle Wood's situation.
It must be noted that the current ruling power in Tristain is held by Henrietta's mother, the queen, as there is no king. Henrietta also has no siblings.
In other words, the royal family of Tristain is entirely female. Even though Wood is Henrietta's familiar, bringing a young man back to the palace might invite some gossip.
But since Wood has proven himself with such outstanding martial skills today, all those concerns were now easily resolved.
Henrietta could appoint him as her personal knight, making it perfectly acceptable for Wood to accompany her back to the palace without raising any eyebrows.
If her mother or the ministers had any objections, Henrietta could simply have them test Wood's abilities, given that Wood was genuinely skilled.
"Hey, hey, Wood, would you mind marrying into a family? And if the woman is a bit older than you, would you care?"
On a rural path leading to a small village, a group of young men and women was discussing their plans aboard a cargo carriage. Among them, a red-haired, voluptuous young woman was trying to cozy up to a certain young man.
Her ample bosom pressed against the boy, making the other boy across from them, dressed in a tracksuit, gulp nervously. Meanwhile, the girl beside him was gritting her teeth in frustration.
Unable to tolerate the red-haired girl's shameless behavior any longer, the petite, pink-haired girl sitting across from her finally snapped.
"Kirche, do you even know what shame and decency mean? You've completely disgraced the noble name. We're on an important mission, not here to watch you flirt. And Wood is Princess Henrietta's familiar—don't you think you're going too far?"
Needless to say, the red-haired girl was Kirche von Zerbst, and the pink-haired girl was Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière.
Ever since Wood defeated her, Kirche had been obsessively pursuing him.
As Kirche's longtime rival, Louise was naturally furious to see her making advances on her familiar, especially since Kirche was now also targeting Princess Henrietta's familiar. Louise wasn't about to let her get away with it.
In an effort to prevent Wood from falling for Kirche's charms, Louise began to list out all of Kirche's past misdeeds, proving that she was a notorious "man-eater."
"This time it's different, Louise. If Wood is willing to accept my feelings, I'll give up all my bad habits. The Zerbst family motto is to seize the initiative when encountering an excellent man. Although Wood is Princess Henrietta's familiar, they don't have any romantic ties, right? Even as his contract master, Princess Henrietta has no right to interfere with my pursuit of him. So, Louise, what grounds do you have to stop me?"
As Louise was about to use her usual "unreasonable argument" to deflect, Guiche de Gramont, who was driving the carriage, suddenly issued a warning.
The reason Guiche remained in the team after Wood and Louise joined was largely due to his mole familiar, Verdandi.
Verdandi had an extremely keen sense of smell, especially when it came to rare and valuable items.
When Fouquet stole the "Staff of Destruction" from the Academy of Magic, she also made off with a number of other precious gems and magical materials.
It was thanks to Verdandi's tracking abilities that Wood and the others were able to pursue her to this abandoned village.
In the original story, Louise and her group found Fouquet because she had deliberately led them there.
After stealing the "Staff of Destruction," Fouquet had no idea how to use it, so she intended to have the "Gandalfr" figure it out for her. But things didn't go as planned.
However, this time, Fouquet stole the "Staff of Destruction" on someone else's orders, and this abandoned village was the place where she was supposed to make the exchange with her client.
What Fouquet didn't expect was that before the client could show up, the Academy of Magic students had already caught up with her.
As a professional thief, Fouquet would normally choose to flee in such a situation.
But when she realized that her pursuers were only students from the Academy of Magic, not the professors, she relaxed.
Having infiltrated the Academy for some time, Fouquet had a good understanding of its situation.
While the students pursuing her were indeed some of the Academy's top performers, in Fouquet's eyes, they were just a bunch of inexperienced kids.
With the appointed time with her client fast approaching, if she chose to flee now, the "Staff of Destruction" might end up being useless in her hands.
And when she looked at her pursuers, she only saw a group of students with no real combat experience.
So, after a brief moment of hesitation and confirming that there were no other ambushes nearby, Fouquet decided to make her move.
As her title suggests, Fouquet was an expert in earth magic.
Almost as soon as Guiche issued the warning, a giant golem, over ten meters tall, erupted from the ground and swung a massive fist at the carriage carrying the group.
For those untrained in physical combat, if they didn't use magic to defend themselves, a single punch from the golem would be fatal.
The earth golem was over ten meters tall, and Fouquet, dressed in a black robe, stood on its shoulder.
The golem's massive fist, as large as a horse, smashed the carriage to pieces in an instant. Even the horses pulling the carriage were killed instantly.
However, as Fouquet looked at the shattered carriage and then at the few figures standing nearby, a hint of surprise appeared on her face.
Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 200+ at patreon.com/Betek.