Dr. Holzer was half undressed when Talia and Liara went back into his office. The normally uptight man did not seem to be bothered by them seeing him in only a white shirt, loose boxers, and shirt stays, as he continued rummaging in a closet by his desk. Ms. Stark carefully tried not to look in his direction and spoke, “I heard you two out there. I cannot say that I am fully convinced yet, but even I was a little motivated by your little speech.”

“Stole my idea, didn’t give me credit, I don’t mind Talia. I’m just disappointed,” Pellas swirled in the air, his spidery legs drifted like there was a wind in the indoor office.

“Speeches mean little when a Yabanchi screamer is trying to tear your throat out,” Dr. Holzer muttered, still searching his closet, “I need to know more about your capabilities before we head out together.”

Pellas floated down to everyone else’s level, “You know Magical Girls try to keep that information confidential, Paladin. You of all people should know that.”

Dr. Holzer gave a grunt of triumph and pulled something out of the closet, a blue, sleeveless shirt that he slipped over his head. A flash of light momentarily startled everyone looking at him as a new set of pants and chest armor materialized over his body. The pants were military style, with the cargo pockets that Liara was jealous of on men's clothing, and the armor was a thick, plated affair that looked like it should have been buckling the older man down with its weight. Despite that, the dean looked perfectly comfortable, like he had just slipped on another t-shirt. Liara and the other students had heard of this type of clothing before, mana armor.

“And you know what messenger, I’m getting a little tired of kowtowing to you. Liara's the magical girl, not you, so let her speak for herself." Dr. Holzer's eyes looked Liara up and down, analyzing every facet of her appearance. "I am a dean of this academy, so I had up-to-date access to everything about you Liara. Your strength and constitution are below average, everything else meets expectations. Minor healing trait, fire mana specialization with an emphasis on flame palm strike that you demonstrated to pass your combat arts class last year."

“Hey-“ Pellas began, but Dr. Holzer continued.

“You never had heterochromia before, so I’m assuming that your red eye is a mana construct. Don’t know how though, that would be a bit pricey on the points.”

“I don’t know how either,” Liara flexed her right hand, “My hand is a mana construct too.”

Dr. Holzer grabbed Liara’s hand and started feeling it, testing the knuckles and the skin, muttering to himself and ignoring Liara’s protest.

“At least eight thousand for two mana constructs like that.”

“Actually, it was more like fourteen thousand since Pellas is upgraded with the basic medical suite.”

Dr. Holzer let go of Liara's hand and pondered the implications of what Liara had told him. Pellas, a frowning emoticon glowing on his central eye, settled on Holzer's desk and glowered at his Magical Girl, obviously displeased with her choice to disclose so much information. Eventually, Holzer waved a hand at the golem and said, "This is not a game, messenger, though the points and system would indicate otherwise. The more we know about ourselves, the better prepared Liara and I will be when we go out."

“If you’re so comfortable with us sharing information, why don’t you tell us about yourself then?” Pellas’ tone was smug enough that Liara wanted to throw a blanket at her golem and tell it to shut up, but Dr. Holzer seemed unfazed.

"Very well. Before entering this educational retirement job and pursuing my doctorate, I was a mid-tier paladin in service to Sonya Greene. My magical girl invested over seventy thousand points in upgrading my body and equipment." With a wave, he gestured to the only picture on the wall. It was a simple one with a brown-haired girl wearing a suit of green magical girl mana armor and a young man standing on top of a mountain overlooking a jungle. Liara almost did not recognize the man in the picture, but it was certainly Dr. Holzer, albeit younger and much happier looking. Between then and now something had sapped the joy out of the eyes she saw in his past self.

Talia whistled and Liara felt stunned. She thought that her fourteen thousand was a lot of points, but hearing Dr. Holzer rattle off the mana investment in him alone was staggering. If that was considered a mid-tier paladin, then he must have been on the upper tier of mid. It made sense though, given the fancy armor he was strutting around in now. Lightweight and durable, even if it was a set of light armor, Dr. Holzer's armor could stop most conventional weapons from piercing his body.

"I not only have this armor and spear," Dr. Holzer gestured to the mana weapon on his back, "but I also have a strength and speed enhancement, as well as an upgrade to my natural affinity to air mana. It lets me activate my weapon and use it for ranged attacks with a one-minute cooldown.”

“Uh, guys can’t use mana,” Talia said.

Dr. Holzer gave a disappointed flick of his gaze to Talia and replied, "You girls did not read the advanced paladin chapters yet, you were supposed to start learning this year, but a paladin can use mana weapons and with the right upgrades, can even simulate mana weapon arts that are similar to those used by magical girls."

Pellas cut in with a question, “Do you still have your paladin-bond healing and stat boosts?”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Liara felt the room cool with the look Dr. Holzer gave her golem, but the professor did not rage or scream, he only shook his head and looked at the picture on the wall. The implications for what that meant were obvious and none of them, Pellas included, wanted to push that topic further, so Dr. Holzer took command of the conversation and asked Liara about her fight with the Mylock. There was not much for her to say, other than describing how they were tricked and ambushed by the thing. Ms. Stark and Talia had the good grace to wince when she described smashing her hand and losing her eye, but Dr. Holzer kept a steady gaze on her, unflinching and seemingly unsympathetic. When she finally finished describing the upgrades and healing from the surprise of fourteen thousand points, he finally showed the first sign of emotion with a sigh.

“So, you broke every warning your combat instructors gave you to fight an obviously superior foe in an unwinnable situation. I appreciate the guts, but I’m afraid you might get yourself killed out there with that sort of recklessness.”

“What should she have done?” Talia asked, “Just left me to die?”

Dr. Holzer looked at her and nodded, "The course was clear. Abandon the field if you cannot win and regroup to counterattack."

Liara started to understand him, but she was horrified by its implications, “Like those freshmen girls, you didn’t just leave them because you were afraid.” She paused, hoping Dr. Holzer would deny her words, but he just stared, waiting for her to finish, “You actually thought it was the right thing to do.”

"Of course," Holzer cocked his head, eyebrows furrowed, "If I did not come to the safe zone as fast as I could, then Yabanchi might have attacked the students here. I told those girls to follow the mana lights. It was up to them to follow me."

“Now that’s not school policy,” Ms. Stark interjected, but Liara continued her questioning.

“How do I know you won’t,” Liara air quoted, “’do the right thing’ and leave me behind if we go out there together?”

Dr. Holzer grabbed Liara’s arm and made the young woman gasp in surprise. His grip was firm, but it did not hurt. His look was so intense that she thought he either wanted to punch her or kiss her, but he did neither and took a knee to the ground instead, head bowed in supplication. Liara felt like the air in the room had picked into a breeze and thought she was imagining it, but the way everyone's hair began to sway told her that it was reality. The focal point of the flowing currents was undoubtedly Dr. Holzer, he was whispering but the air magnified his voice in a boom.

“A paladin never abandons his magical girl. Never. I swear to you on the sacrosanctity of all three oaths I have made in my life. On the blood of my father, my sons, and my only love, that protecting you will be my ultimate priority.”

The wind settled and everyone in the room was stunned, even Pellas. Dr. Holzer had just made the kind of oath that was usually reserved for marriages or paladin bonding ceremonies. If he were to break that oath and ME-GO found out, it was likely that he would be killed on the spot.

“Please, rise,” Liara was going to call him ‘Dr. Holzer’, but a flair for the dramatic seized her heart, “paladin.”

Dr. Holzer looked up and into Liara’s eyes, there was a flicker of the young man in the picture behind the look, but it was dim, it needed stoking to come back to life. He stood back up and straightened his back, the image of a paladin starting to reform in the doughy academy professor.

Ms. Stark coughed into her hand, interrupting the moment, “Ah, I’m glad to see that you’ll be a team, but can a new magical girl and retired paladin really be all we have? Messenger, have you tried contacting anyone? Allied Command or other magical girls? Maybe the president herself?”

"Short-range communication with fellow golems is a standard part of my functionality, but a long-range communication suite would be an upgrade that requires points to purchase, which we do not have enough of. As it is, I already sent a general distress call to the local area as soon as I materialized on this plane, but so far no one has replied. That includes your president.”

“Why didn’t you tell us that golem?!” Ms. Stark looked the most surprised by Pellas’ declaration. “Does that mean that the president is dead then?”

“If Madam Anatova was killed while tapped into the system, it would explain why the barriers are not working,” Dr. Holzer mused. "Any barrier mana art she was utilizing would still be activated even after she died."

“I don’t want to hear it,” Ms. Stark snapped at the remark, “Madam Anatova is not dead. She can’t be.”

Liara felt uncomfortable watching a grown woman like Ms. Stark be on the verge of tears, so she tried to change the subject, “Whether we have backup or not, I don’t think that should stop us from trying to help the rest of the people on campus. In fact, it should make us want to help more if anything.”

“Ah, you see! She’s not reckless Dr. Holzer, I chose her because she’s selfless!” Pellas flashed a pink light at Liara that might have passed for a wink among golem, but Dr. Holzer rolled his eyes.

“It seems like we’re going out whether wisdom would advise that or not, but I want a plan before we commit to anything.”

“Finally, something we can agree on, human, perhaps I can help with that process," Pellas hummed as he talked and his eye brightened as it flickered a projection of the school campus on the office desk. It was a perfect recreation of the school, colored pink, but every building and walkway was represented in minute detail. Five areas on the map were glowing green, one of which Liara knew was the senior studies building, their location. That meant that the remaining four green zones were probably the other safe zones.

“There is of course, the admin building in the center of campus,” Pellas began, “but I do not think that we should start there. We should go to the student dormitory first.”

“As opposed to the administration building? Whatever for?” Dr. Holzer asked.

"The dormitory is closer and has a higher chance of encountering more campus personnel that can assist us. If something disabled the president, a mid-tier magical girl I remind you, then we need all the help we can get before we investigate there."

"More likely, we'll encounter more students who need rescuing than anyone who can help us." Dr. Holzer countered. "We should go straight to the administration building.”

“I may be the golem paladin, but you seem to be the one without a heart,” Pellas replied, “but ultimately the decision is not ours, but Liara’s.” They both looked at her.

Liara resisted the urge to flinch at their gaze and raised her voice above its normally low level, "Well, you mentioned that people might need to be rescued Dr. Holzer, and I see why that might be a problem, but if I'm a Magical Girl now, then I need to act like one and convenience should not be an excuse to shirk my responsibilities."

Dr. Holzer leaned forward like he was about to argue, but the words died in his mouth and he settled back, smiling, though a bit forced.

“I will follow you to wherever you go, my oath compels me.”

Liara smiled and nodded at Dr. Holzer's words, but like the wind that had accompanied his oath, Liara's confidence had faded away. It was into the unknown from here and the way was unclear except for one thing: they were alone and no help was coming.