The missing Box and the Golden Deer

The same morning, Hilda had woken up with single-minded determination. It was the same thought she'd had when her head first hit the pillow the night before: she needed to address Marianne's misunderstanding as soon as possible. Naively, when she'd fallen asleep, she'd allowed herself to imagine Marianne would see the mistake she'd made after a good night of sleep. After spending a night dreaming about Marianne's eyes, Marianne's touch, and Marianne's tongue, Hilda now realized there was no chance of that happening. Being left alone with her thoughts and feelings had probably only left Marianne wandering further down the same roads of misinterpretation.

As such, brushing her pink hair and binding it into her usual twintails, then dressing herself into an unbuttoned blouse to show off her cleavage, a uniform corset to push the girls up, and the shortest uniform skirt the Academy would likely allow, Hilda summoned her determination. She headed to the stables, where she expected she'd find Marianne early in the morning. Sometimes, it seemed like Marianne's only friends other than herself were horses. She imagined she'd find a bleary-eyed Marianne who'd also been kept awake by tough questions.

That wasn't the Marianne that Hilda found. Instead, Marianne was seated peacefully on a hale bay, surrounded by sunshine and singing birds... Hilda was pretty sure she saw one perched on the other woman's finger before it flew off upon her arrival. Her typically blue-spirited blue-haired friend was wearing a brilliant smile, a skirt that barely fell to the knees of her blue leggings, her hair in a bun with unusual bounce and shine. Even the body of the other student seemed somehow healthier, less skinny. Hilda's heart caught in her throat when Marianne turned sparkling brown eyes and a smile on her. "Good morning, Hilda! Did you sleep well?"

"Um... Not really," Hilda admitted. "Did you?" she asked, unnecessarily.

"Mhm! I'm... s-sorry to hear you didn't," Marianne crossed her hands timidly at her lap. "You look lovely, all the same. Is that a new uniform?"

"Thanks... Oh, this? No, I think it's the usual... Anyway, Marianne, listen. There's something important-"

"Oh, I need to speak to you, first!" Marianne interrupted her with rare excitement. "I have to thank you for talking me through my nervousness about that music. When it took control of me originally, I was so scared, I could hardly breathe... Then, you showed me that not only was there nothing to be afraid of, there's nothing to be ashamed of, either! So, I wanted to thank you for always being there for me and looking out for me. I still don't know why you... take such interest in me." She paused there, looking at Hilda curiously.

"Oh, you know me! I'm everyone's buddy, especially yours, Marianne. Any time! I'm always your buddy." Hilda laughed like she had told a joke, dragging it out a little too long before casually adding, "Is that all we needed to talk about? You know, uh... from last night?"

Hilda saw a new blush cross Marianne's face as she shyly turned away. "Oh, um... I'm not sure."

"You're not sure?" She realized that she and Marianne were trying to feel each other out, which was somehow more awkward than the one-sided romantic interest she'd expected to have to address.

Hilda's own fumbling seemed to make Marianne more nervous. "W-was there something else? Ah, well, if you don't remember... There probably isn't..." Marianne was still smiling, but the supernatural brilliance that seemed to have possessed her had left. "W-well, um... If you happen to remember later, we can talk about it then. For now... don't we need to do something about that music today? I mean... the music was fun, but I think it's still d-dangerous to leave it out there."

"Yeah, you're probably right..." Hilda wasn't sure she'd entirely wrapped up what she meant to, but she was happy to kick such an unpleasant can down the road if she could. "Luckily, Marianne, you and I know a guy who just loves helping me with problems."

"Oh Clauuude!" Hilda called out, shouting his name before even finishing turning an odd corner of the monastery. "Marianne and I have got a suuuper important issue for the revered leader of the Golden Deer!"

Around the corner, she found who she expected: Claude von Riegan, the young heir of House Riegan who would presumably become the head of his noble house and, possibly, take the head seat of the Alliance. That was for some far-off time, however; now, the sharp-witted noble was a marked contrast to his peers in the Black Eagles or Blue Lions, and was taken by most to be a carefree and easy-going sort. Hilda didn't fully believe that, but at the very least, she was glad she wasn't bringing these same concerns to the Adrestian Heiress, Edelgard, or the Crown Prince, Dimitri. Besides that, even though the sly student seemed to understand she was a serial work-shirker, she had a funnily high batting average getting him to help her out.

The charming young man, with rare tan skin among the students at the Academy, feathered dark hair and sharp green eyes, gave a defeated sigh and a chuckle in response to her greeting. "Hilda! You have a real knack for finding me when I'm aiming to make myself scarce. Don't tell me we're doubling up on hiding spots?"

"Hiding spots? I have no clue what you're talking about," Hilda replied, crossing her hands behind her back innocently.

"Well, people who call me 'revered leader' have a funny tendency to want something from me. No surprise from you, but it's rare to see you two together..." He regarded them with a smile, although his eyes briefly wandered. "Actually... what is this? Changing up your style is laying it on a little thick for me... Hardly fair! And Marianne too? Must be a doozy of a request."

"Hmph! Marianne and I are always hanging out. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't there."

"Y-yes! Hilda and I are special friends," Marianne added, halfway hiding behind Hilda's back.

"... Special friends, huh?" Claude looked a little surprised. "Well, nothing wrong with two girls being close, but I can't say I'm not a little jealous! I wanted to be Marianne's friend, too."

"... W-we're already quite close, I believe, Claude," Marianne replied unconvincingly.

"Ouch. I set myself up for that," the young man retorted. "So, anyway, enough shooting the breeze. What can I do for you two?"

Hilda took the initiative, as was natural. "Claude, have you heard rumors of a magic box that makes women do sexy dances?"

Claude demurred for a moment, as if trying to recall. "You know, I think I might have... Rumors get around. Honestly, I'm interested! Nobody around here knows how to throw a party... If it worked on the male half of the students too, maybe we'd finally see a proper festival around here!" Having a laugh mostly to himself, Claude mused with a hand on his chin. "I'd heard most of the effects were happening in the Blue Lions House, though. You know of this happening to anyone in the Golden Deer?

Marianne answered immediately, clasping her hands together at her chest. "Yes, we-"

"We know a couple of girls! Let's call them Student A and Student B to keep them anonymous," Hilda interrupted, easily speaking over Marianne. "The two of them told us they were **** to dance by the strange music those Blue Lions girls played. We'd like to officially propose the Golden Deer does something about this."

Claude's easy smile didn't change. "All right, Hilda. Do what?"

"Well, uh... I dunno! You're the leader! You decide."

"Ah, but Hilda, I think this could be a good learning opportunity for how things work in the Alliance, and for you to take some initiative in general. It's not a hard question. What do you think should be done to the box?"

"Uuh... Well, it seems like it's dangerous, so... I mean, that's what Student A reported to me! She said it, you know, affected her free will-"

"Th-that's not what you told... I mean, what Student A told, um, Student B!" Marianne interrupted, wringing her hands together. "She said it wasn't actually scary... that it was actually fun."

"Well, um... Student A might have been trying to calm Student B down just a little, see? But in fact, Student A might have been a little worried that Student B was a little too affected by the magic and started to do crazy things she wouldn't ordinarily-"

"S-Student B is very aware of what she did! S-S-Student B wanted to do those things, the box just made it clear that she wanted to! A-and she thought Student A liked doing them, too!"

"Student A, uh... It isn't that Student A hated doing those things, it's just, she was a little worried Student B wouldn't ordinarily act that way... that the music might have been messing with her head, so she was worried about Student B..."

Claude threw his hands in the air. "All right, enough of that! Whoever these mysterious Students are, it sounds like they have a couple of personal problems that Student C doesn't need to be a party to. All we students need to study now is what to do with the box. Hilda, Marianne... What do you say?"

Hilda gulped, looking between Marianne and Claude, then facing the latter when she answered. "The thing is dangerous. We can't risk it affecting any more students. We've gotta destroy it."

"Hilda!" Marianne cried, looking shocked... then, to the surprise of both, defiant. "I think the box isn't evil! Its magic teaches people to be confident and express themselves in ways they'd never imagine, and ways that... aren't wrong, or fake, or made up! If we find the box, we absolutely cannot destroy it! M-maybe it can help students like... Student B." She gasped, shrinking back from the other two. "I'm sorry... b-but that's how I feel."

Hilda hadn't expected this resistance. She wasn't mad about it; rather, she was disappointed she hadn't cleared things up definitively in private with Marianne earlier. Now, it seemed like some amount of their personal business was getting aired out in front of Claude. Still, she had to keep this moving. "You've heard it, Claude. Two different opinions. You're the tie-breaker."

"Not so fast. Remember I said this would be a lesson in how the Alliance works? I think it's worth spending a little extra time on this to give you a clearer picture."

"Uuugh, what are you talking about?!" the pink-haired woman whined. "Can't you tell this is serious?!"

"Oh, yes. I am dead serious. The Alliance is a round table. Everyone gets a vote. So, we're going to find out how all of our friends feel about this. We're going to go around and ask them this: if you knew there was a magic box with the power to both enable and magically influence women to perform incredible provocative dances and stripteases, would you want that box destroyed, or controlled?"

"You've got to be kidding!!"

As Claude approached the first survey target, Hilda was **** to admit that he was not, in fact, kidding. If he was playing a prank, there was no way he would willingly choose to start with the insufferable Lorenz Hellman Gloucester first in order. The tall, purple-haired student was the dictionary definition of the classic noble, as though he'd been sculpted for the role. Perhaps, in a way, he was: the noble had been raised by his father, the influential Count Gloucester, to fill his influential role at the Alliance roundtable. This upbringing informed nearly every aspect of his character, and so his first question in response was no surprise: "Does this hypothetical mystery box control noble women or common women?"

Claude laughed. "Does that matter? For the sake of the hypothetical, let's say both."

"It matters greatly, Claude von Riegan!" the nobleman reacted in horror. "Why, for a noblewoman to lose her will to such absurd magic in the manner you're describing is unthinkable, unacceptable, and, in fact, utterly impossible! For can a woman truly be called a noblewoman if her upbringing and self control can so easily be shaken by carnal lusts-?!"

"Excuse me?!" Hilda interrupted furiously. "Have you got wax in your ears? Claude called it 'magic influence!' It doesn't matter if they're a pauper or an emperor, and I don't take kindly to your implication it has anything to do with the character of the students affected!"

"Hilda! My apologies, I... didn't mean to offend," Lorenz backed off. It was clearly taking a lot of his brainpower to imagine his deeply-rooted concept of a noblewoman, the type of woman who most assuredly saved herself for marriage to a noble husband and strengthened her family's lineage, surrendering to music that made her do a bawdy dance. After a painstakingly long time, he seemed to find it. All three of them were amused to see the haughty noble's face redden as it visibly struck him. "Destroyed! I vote destroyed! Something like that could ruin the nobility of Fodlan in its entirety! Now, Claude, please reassure me this is a hypothetical exercise!"

"Who knows? Later, Lorenz!"

"You said it makes them want to...?" The huge student they surveyed next muttered, crossed his bulging biceps across his pecs for only a second before coming to a conclusion. "So if they want to, it has to be good! I vote we keep it."

Hilda shook her head with an incredulous smile. "No no, Raphael. You're not thinking this all the way through."

The man in question gave a grunt of consternation. A mountain of a muscle who was impossibly the same age as his classmates, Raphael Kirsten scratched the back of his short blonde hair while rubbing his square jaw with the other. "No one really comes to me asking for thinking, you know? What am I not getting?"

"So, here's a hypothetical... Say you've got a nice juicy steak in front of you."

"I like this one! Okay, keep going."

"Now, say the box plays music and makes you want to dance instead of eating your steak."

"... Am I a woman in this?"

"It doesn't matter! Doesn't it bother you that you want to dance now instead of eating your steak?"

"Huh?! But you said I wanted to dance! Do I want to dance or eat steak?!"

"You want to dance now!"

"Then great, sure! I'll dance! I want to dance, the box is good, we keep the box."

Hilda groaned and ran her hands down her face in frustration.

Claude put a hand on her shoulder and offered to take up her torch. "Okay, better example. Picture your little sister, Maya, needs your help, and then this box makes you want to dance instead of help her. What do you think now? Don't get angry. Think about it hard."

Raphael's brow and all of his muscles seemed to tense. He was silent for a while, then suddenly relaxed. "The two choices... were destroy or control, right? It's real bad if someone uses it for evil... but if it lets people do what they want, it can't be all bad, huh? So we should control it." An easy smile returned to his face. "Yep, I have no trouble at all if you control it, Claude."

"Thanks, big guy," Claude gave him an easy clap on the back. "You seen Ignatz around?"

The spectacle-wearing commoner from a family of merchants, Ignatz Victor, raised his blonde, bowl-cut head at his three classmates bothering him in the classroom, seeming to believe at first that by asking him for his opinion, they were in some way playing a joke on him. Once he heard the question, however, he seemed surprisingly curious, his brown eyes lighting up under his blunt bangs. "This is purely a hypothetical, correct?"

"Haha! You're sharp, Ignatz," Claude admitted, shaking his head. "It's not purely hypothetical, I'm afraid."

"Ah. Then I don't care to answer," Ignatz replied, burying his head in his book.

Hilda planted her fists on her hips, leaning forward in a way that gave her classmate more of a downblouse glance than she might have intended. "We need an answer from everyone, Ignatz. Just because you say that doesn't mean we're going anywhere."

Ignatz glanced up at her, his eyes widening as he caught sight of his cleavage. He adjusted his glasses, sighed and shut his book, focusing on her face with effort. "All right. You promise this isn't a prank? I can speak my mind freely without incriminating myself?"

"Please," Claude assured him.

"All right, well... It's fascinating, isn't it? The idea of being able to pick up a skill like dance instantly and carry it out skillfully. There's no technology like that in the world that I know of. It would be a terrible waste to destroy it, I think. Plus..."

"Plus?" Claude egged him on.

"... Doesn't it sound incredible? When you hear the words 'provocative dance' and 'induced by magic,' doesn't it tickle the imagination? You can't all tell me you wouldn't be interested to see exactly what kind of dance women under the effect perform!"

All three of the other students were quiet, looking between each other. Finally, Claude spoke. "Okay, that's another for control. Thanks Ignatz. Talk to you later." All of them walked away without another word.

Ignatz watched them go with growing unease. "Wait... y-you said you wouldn't judge me! Claude! Hilda! Marianne!!"

"It's a waste of time to think about. And as a hypothetical, it's doubly so. Please quit wasting my time, Claude."

Claude understood that getting Lysithea von Cordelia, the young heiress of House Ordelia, to input on a just-for-fun hypothetical was probably pointless. The woman might be the youngest student in the academy, just barely meeting the eighteen-year-old requirement to be in their class. She was the shortest, and one of the traditionally cutest, with big pink eyes and large, fluffy white hair down to her shoulders. However, she was also one of the most serious. For whatever reason, she was incredibly jealous with her time, and often carried herself with the demeanor of a busy adult. He figured he'd probably have to use an exploit to get her input. "Okay, sorry. I can't imagine this is a subject that has much interest to someone like you, anyway."

"Yes. I am extremely busy," Lysithea agreed, not even looking up from the book of magic studies in front of her.

"Yeah, and, well... The whole business about sexy dancing is kind of the realm of the mature, right? Not something you'd-"

Lysithea shut the book and whipped it towards Claude's throat, holding it a fingertip away. "Hold it right there! I think you're implying something you'll regret."

"Oh? Seems I suddenly caught your interest!" Claude backed off and held up his hands in a relaxing gesture. "Well, an adult like you has her own opinions about this kind of thing! Just give us your thoughts and we'll leave you alone."

"Hmph. I can't see what value there is to spending any time on that at all. Destroy it and be done with it. There's far more useful and beneficial magics to study in this world. Magic that controls others sickens me."

Marianne spoke up, objecting timidly. "I-it's not quite like that, Lysithea... The magic doesn't control you, it opens you to new possibilities of how you enjoy yourself... and gives you tools of how to do it-"

"As if enjoying oneself is the end goal humans should strive for during their time before arriving at the feet of the Goddess," Lyisthea replied with surprisingly cold dismissiveness. "We all have only so much time and so much we are capable of doing. I'm surprised I have to say I object to spending it on something so banal."

Lysithea didn't seem to realize how badly she'd upset Marianne. Hilda calmed down her friend, while Claude gave Lysithea a nod, aiming to get his group of three out and away. "That's a vote for destroy, then. Thanks, Lysithea." He leaned over and whispered into her ear before she could draw away. "I know your time is precious, but spare a little attention at least for your classmates, huh? Not everyone has your same priorities or rigorous mindset. There are some people with emotional stakes in this."

"... I'll apologize later," Lysithea muttered, not looking up, but sounding moody.

"You're last on our list!" Claude called to his last target at the archery range, raising his hand in defense when she turned to him. "Woah, there! I must ask that you not literally shoot the messenger!"

The young woman who'd been practicing, Leonie Pinelli, let her bow go slack and returned her arrow to its quiver. With short orange hair and a fit figure, she could possibly have been mistaken for a young man if not for her modestly impressive assets (modestly, seeing as Hilda's already voluptuous figure seemed to have grown even more impressive overnight). "Hey there, Claude. What kind of list did I make?"

She listened as Claude explained, showing surprise at first, then confusion. "Uuh... Okay. So why are you asking me about this?"

"Well, because I'm asking everyone. But I have to say, I'd expect you to have some interest as a woman who'd theoretically be controlled."

"Yeah, well, I'm not interested at all. You may not have noticed, Claude, but I'm not exactly the type to suddenly strike up a sexy dance. I wouldn't even know where to start! If someone had a box like that, wouldn't they be using it on someone like Dorothea?"

Marianne clarified. "It'll happen no matter who you are, as long as you're a woman, I think... I was... I mean, um, Student B is a very timid woman, but I heard she shed her clothes and... even k-kissed another woman..."

Everyone else's eyebrows raised. Claude was the first one to swallow his surprise and speak. "You kissed Hil-?!"

"Student B!" Hilda shouted loudly, clapping a hand over Claude's mouth with fury in her eyes. "Student B kissed Student A, okay, Claude? A-and it was influenced by magic! It didn't mean anything romantic! So don't start any weird rumors about those students, okay?!"

Marianne looked at Hilda, hurt. "... I wonder if Student A is... really upset that it happened... I'm sorry if you were upset, Hilda... I just thought..."

"Woah woah, hold up!" Leonie interrupted with an uncomfortable frown. "This has nothing to do with me, okay? I meant what I said, I've got no part in this! I abstain. No vote!"

With his merry band of three back in the Golden Deer classroom, empty of classes for the day, Claude let out a cry of mock pain. "You're killing me here, folks! Three each way and one abstaining? Now the vote really is down to me, huh? Okay, cards on the table. As a guy who likes a party as much as he likes having an ace in the hole, I vote to control it. So that's four for control. The Golden Deer move to take control of the box if we have an opportunity. Sorry, Hilda."

The two women with him barely seemed to be listening to him any longer. There was a strong, uncomfortable tension between the two of them. Marianne raised her hand as if addressing a teacher. The shorter skirt and less twiggy thighs were the only remaining trace of her transformation earlier in the day; the rest of her seemed to have withered back to her ordinary pitiable form. "I'm sorry... May I be excused? It's been a stressful day... I think I'd like to be alone."

"Wait, Marianne!" Hilda shouted, trying to stop her. "I've been trying to explain to you, it's just-"

"N-no, I think I understand. M-maybe I've been a bit silly, is all. Maybe the box makes some people do want they want to, and forces others to do things they'd never dream of... I'm sorry if I was being presumptuous. And thanks for always worrying about me, Hilda..."

"Marianne... I don't know what to say," Hilda finally admitted. "You're important to me! We're special friends, right?"

The young woman nodded and smiled, but turned away and hurried off.

Hilda started to run after her, but Claude whistled after her. "Hilda! I think you ought to give the girl some space. It sounds like whatever happened between Student A and Student B had a big effect on you two. I'm no expert, but a girl like Marianne is probably experiencing a bunch of emotions for the first time since last night. She's fragile, but I don't think she's volatile. Give her a little time to come to her own conclusions, and you think a bit about what you want to do, too. Both of you take it easy, yeah?"

She started to snap back, then reigned it in. "Uugh... Why am I having to do this? I'm... supposed to be the one making Marianne feel better, not hurting her feelings... Whatever! I'll figure it out. Just promise me one thing, Claude."

"Hmm? I didn't think I was part of your problem."

"Promise me if there is a thing like this magic box, and we have a chance at it, you'll keep us all looped in. Promise me you don't have some shady plan you keep the rest of us out of. You seem like a good guy, so I'm trusting you're a good guy. If I find out you aren't, and you're going to use this thing to hurt Marianne or any other girls like her, you'll answer to my axe. Got it?"

"... Crystal clear," Claude replied. "No need for all of that, now! This whole business with magic boxes and sexy dances is brand new to me, too, and I hate making pretty girls cry more than anything. We did this whole business by a democratic vote, didn't we? If I was the type to keep this sort of thing secret, I wouldn't have put it to a vote, would I?"

"... I never know just what you're thinking," Hilda admitted with a shrug. "But I'm trusting you!" she repeated, running off.

Even just running was enough to reveal flashes of the skimpy, hot-pink panties Hilda was hiding beneath her all-too-short skirt. Claude watched her leave, then rubbed the back of his head. "... I don't think Student A and Student B know as much about this magic as they think they do. There's more going on here than anyone understands, and I have a feeling I'll regret it if i sit on my thumbs and watch Hilda's skirt get shorter without saying anything. Seems like my own plans might have to be put on hold for a bit..."