Summoner Of Death

Chapter 7

Guiche awoke to the light shining through his window, still feeling slightly sick after yesterday's...Activities. Forcing himself from his bed he quickly changed into the school uniform, cinching the runic blade to his side he paused in front of his mirror. His eyes had bags under them, denoting his restless sleep. Part of him wished to curl back under the blankets and sleep until he felt better. Alas, Mrs. Chevreuse had mostly recovered with the aid of magic and thus classes were to resume their normal schedules.

Guiche sighed internally feeling slightly bad about wishing the professor was still injured, pushing aside that thought he reached down yanking the runic blade from its sheath. He saw reflected on the blade, his stare felt slightly unnerving. He had used this glorious weapon, he had maimed another mage, he had drawn blood. He was sickened, he was invigorated, he was proud, he was ashamed, shaking his head to clear his mind. He quickly returned the sword to its sheath and walked to the door, stopping as he noticed a piece of parchment on the ground.

Picking it up he began to read the familiar flowing script, it was a message from Montmorency asking him to meet her for lunch. The sick feeling in his stomach was quickly subsumed with the fluttering of butterflies. Was she finally ready to accept his apology? Had his gift of earrings been enough for her to forgive him? Despite his lack of sleep, he felt a weight lift from his shoulders, with a small smile he left his room determined to face the morning.

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Ainz felt barely restrained energy coursing through his marrow, even after it was suppressed he still was left in an airy mood. Even the intense reading session he had put in overnight wasn't enough to dampen his spirits. Colbert had informed him the ritual would be ready today! He finally had a chance to return home!

"Your majesty, I don't wish to offend you but it is important to remember that today is an experiment. I've adapted the ritual to the best of my abilities but this is untested magic, I had to redesign the ritual from the ground up to allow it to accept magic outside the familiar summoning spell. Add on to that the fact I had to rewrite the runic characters and I can't promise we will get the results we seek on our first attempt..." As Colbert spoke nervously, walking faster than he usually would to keep up with the sorcerer-king's long stride. The maids trailed behind them, their struggle made tougher by the need to also maintain a respectful distance.

Ainz finally noticed the professors difficulty, feeling slightly guilty over forcing the professor to keep up with him. He felt tempted to apologize for allowing his excitement to get the better of him but also knew it would be improper for a king to apologize for such a minor event. Sighing internally he simply slowed his walk to better accommodate the professors shorter stride. The professor and maids both seemed relieved by this change in pace, only adding to Ainz feeling of guilt.

Ainz couldn't help but remember his old job, the nerves that came about before making a presentation. The fear of forgetting important information, or getting some data wrong and being punished by the higher brass. No doubt Colbert was experiencing a similar feeling at the prospect of presenting his hard work to Ainz. Perhaps it was even worse for Colbert though, all Ainz had to worry about was his own failures, here Colbert had to worry about failings that may well not be his own.

"Colbert you have worked tirelessly on this project since my...Unfortunate arrival here, rest assured I won't be overly disappointed if we don't achieve success in our first attempt. While I wish to return to my kingdom, I will not hold you accountable should today's attempt fail. As long as we learn something from today's attempt I shall consider it to have been a worthy endeavor." Ainz reassured the distressed professor with a light smile, while he was in a rush to return to his kingdom, today was an experiment at its core and thus success was not guaranteed. Colbert didn't seem to know how to respond to his reassurances thus they fell into an amicable silence as they neared the courtyard.