Professor Colbert sat at a desk surrounded by hundreds of books strewn and stacked about. Lining the wall behind him were impossibly tall bookshelves, maybe thirty meters high. He was in a special section of the Academy library called Fenrir's Library, which was only accessible to the professors.
He had been stuffed back here since yesterday afternoon, barely even taking a break to eat. He had questions that needed answers, and he was determined to find them. Sat in front of him was a large parchment with runes drawn onto it. He was sure there had to be a reference to Saito's unusual runes somewhere. He had already scoured the main section of the library to no avail. This was his last bastion of hope.
He opened the next book: a religious text rather than anything scholarly. He took another sip of hot tea as something caught his eye. He began choking on his tea as he quickly put the cup down and exchanged it for the parchment in front of him. Comparing the two closely, he had no doubt they were a match. But that's impossible…
It took them almost four hours to finish cleaning the classroom that Louise had blown up. As punishment, Louise was made to clean the entire classroom without magic, not that magic would help her anyways. Naturally, that meant Saito was made to do most of the work.
Despite that, he managed to keep his spirits high by making fun of Louise. He repeatedly teased her with the nickname he just learned about, calling her Zero at every turn. She just continued to quietly wipe the soot off of the desks, not even responding to his comments.
When they had finally finished, they made their way to the Alviss Dining Hall for lunch. Saito never let up making fun of Louise, laughing to himself the entire time. He failed to notice Louise's face getting angrier as her eyes welled up.
As they approached the door to the dining hall, he stepped in front of her and gave an exaggerated bow. "Just remember, my lady. Don't cast any spells on the food. Imagine the mess if it exploded!" He burst into laughter.
Something seemed to snap within Louise. "Th-th-th…" she stuttered.
Saito slowly stopped laughing to himself as a sense of dread came over him.
"Th-th-this f-f-familiar…" Her eyes burned with an intense fire. Saito began fearing for his life.
"Wait! I'm sorry!" he tried apologizing. "I won't say it anymore; I promise!"
"How dare you say such things to your master!" she screamed. "No more meals for you!"
"B-But!"
"None!"
"I'll starve!"
"Good!"
She brought her wand out and Saito jumped away from the doorway to cower beside the wall. When he looked back up, Louise had disappeared into the dining hall. He sighed and sat down against the wall. Sheesh. I was only joking. He decided to leave her be for now.
On the topmost floor of the Central Tower, sitting high above the rest of the Magic Academy, was the Headmaster's Office. It was a wide office in the shape of a half-circle. The back wall curved with the outer wall of the tower and connected to a single straight wall across the middle of the floor. The curved wall was lined with numerous extravagant windows, giving a beautiful view to the fields around the academy.
At the back of the office, close to the middle of the curved wall, was a grand sequoia desk. At that desk sat an eldery man with long grey hair and a long matching beard. His bushy eyebrows outlined his wise grey eyes and deep-set wrinkles. No one seemed to know his true age, but most people suspected it was at least a hundred.
He reached down on his grand desk and opened a compartment. Out of it came a large intricate smoking pipe that he set on the desk. As he began to prepare the dried tobacco leaves, the pipe lifted all on its own. It hovered there for a second before floating across the room to a smaller desk situated in the corner beside the entry door. There it landed in the hand of a young woman with long green hair done up into a bun on her head. Her hazel eyes sparkled bright and her lips curled up in a natural smile.
"Do you enjoy taking away an old man's fun, Miss Longville?" the old man sighed.
"Managing your health is also part of my job, Sir Osmond," she replied happily.
Sir Osmond stood up and made his way over to Miss Longville's desk. "If the days keep passing this peacefully, figuring out what to do will become a major problem."
The door into the office slammed open to reveal Professor Colbert as he rushed inside. "Sir!"
"What is it?" the old man questioned.
Longville continued writing on a piece of parchment, but she listened eagerly to the conversation.
"I have some big news!" Colbert handed a book to Osmond. "Please take a look at this."
"This is 'The Familiars of Founder Brimir', yes? What are you doing digging up old literature like this?"
"I marked a page in the book. Compare it with this," he handed over the parchment with runes scribbled on it. "I sketched them from that commoner boy Lady Vallière summoned."
Osmond's calm eyes grew wide. "Miss Longville, would you please excuse us."
Drat! She stood without a word and appeared to happily walk out. As she did, she made sure to catch a glance at the runes they were discussing.
After she left the room, Osmond turned back to Colbert. "I need you to explain every detail, Professor Colbert…"
Half an hour passed while Saito sat there, his stomach protesting by growling at him. Maybe I did take it too far…
"Are you okay?" a kind voice asked.
Saito looked up to see a cute girl in a maid's outfit carrying a large silver tray. She had grey eyes and short black hair under a white headband. Her hair perfectly framed her smooth, white face. Compared to everyone else here, this girl felt… almost familiar to Saito.
"Oh, it's nothing," Saito waved his left hand and laughed at himself. But the girl continued standing there.
"Um…" the girl spoke quietly. "Are you by chance Lady Vallière's familiar?" She seemed to notice the runes on his hand.
"Oh. You know me?"
"A little," she smiled sweetly. "It's become quite the rumor, you know, that a commoner was summoned as a familiar."
This was the first time Saito had noticed seeing someone genuinely smile here. "Are you a mage too?" He asked.
"Oh, no. Not me." She laughed. "I'm a commoner, just like you. I serve the nobility here."
I'm not a commoner. I'm from Earth, he thought to himself, but he relented on correcting her. "I see. Well, I'm Saito. It's nice to meet you."
"That's an odd name…" she commented. "I'm Siesta."
Saito's stomach responded with another growl.
"You sound hungry," she laughed. "Would you like some food?"
"Yeah!" he jumped up eagerly.
"Please, follow me." Siesta smiled again and led him away.
"It's made with leftover meat scraps. I hope you don't mind." Siesta set a bowl of hot stew on the table in front of Saito. They were in the kitchen at the rear of the Alviss Dining Hall. Several chefs and kitchen staff were hurriedly running around, tending to the meal preparations.
"Thank you," he smiled at Siesta. No one had treated him this kindly since he arrived here.
He took a bite of the stew and his eyes grew wide. Delicious! It was completely different from what Louise had given him this morning. "This is good!" He started eating faster.
"That's great," she smiled sweetly. "Marteau made plenty, if you want any seconds."
"Marteau?" He looked up from his stew.
"He's the head chef. He makes the staff meals for all of us."
"Oh. Well, compliments to the chef!" Saito smiled wide.
"I'm glad you liked it. Feel free to visit whenever you're hungry."
"Thank you…" Tears started to run down Saito's smiling face.
"Wh- What's the matter?" Siesta said in a panic.
"No," Saito wiped his cheeks. "It's nothing. It's just… Sorry, I got a bit emotional is all,” he laughed. “This is the first time anyone's been nice to me since I got here."
"But what about Lady Valliére?" she asked, perplexed.
Saito lowered his head, remembering his earlier interaction with Louise. "She refuses to feed me after I made fun of her…"
"Oh no!" Siesta gasped. "You shouldn't do such things to nobles." She held her hand over her mouth in a worried expression.
Who cares about them being nobles? Saito grew upset. "Noble-schnoble. They get all high-horsed just because they can use magic."
"…You must be very brave," Siesta lowered her head, "to stand up to nobles like that."
Seriously, they're all so stuck up. Saito wasn't listening to Siesta. I'd much rather help out here with this girl. At least she's nice to me.
"Hey," Saito spoke up, "If there's anything I can do for you, just tell me. I'd love to lend a hand."
Taken aback, Siesta smiled warmly. "In that case, would you like to help me serve the desserts?"
Dessert cakes were arranged neatly on a large silver tray that Saito held. They were outside in the Northri Court situated between the Wind Tower and Water Tower on the north side of the Magic Academy. Clothed tables were set up where many nobles sat with their familiars and conversed with each other. Siesta used tongs to serve each of the nobles with a cake off of the tray Saito carried.
"So who are you going out with now, Guiche?" Asked one of the boys at the table they were serving. He had long green hair and a sharp face.
He was speaking to another boy that was just walking up to the table. The newcomer had curly blonde hair and a handsome face that held a smug grin on it. Underneath his black cloak was a ruffled white shirt and grey trousers. "Go out?" The blonde boy spoke haughtily. "There's no single woman I hold in such regard, Gimli. After all, a rose blooms for the pleasure of many, not one." He sat down at the table and snapped his fingers towards Siesta, who quickly served him a cake.
Saito rolled his eyes. What an arrogant prick.
A small bottle fell out of the Guiche's trouser pocket as he sat down. Saito noticed and bent down to pick it up.
"You dropped this, playboy." He set the bottle on the table beside Guiche, but the boy shot Saito a dirty look and pushed it away from him.
"This isn't mine." He turned his head away.
"Yes, it is." Saito insisted. "I saw it fall from your pocket."
"Ooh. Isn't that Montmorency's perfume?" Gimil asked.
"Yeah!" The third boy at the table concurred. "That's the perfume that Montmorency mixes for herself."
"So you're going out with Montmorency now?" Gimli laughed.
"No, wait!" Guiche tried to interrupt him.
From behind Guiche approached a small girl with chestnut hair and the brown cloak of a first year student. "Guiche..."
"Katie!" Guiche jumped up from his chair and faced the girl.
Tears started to stream down her face. "So the rumors are true. You and Montmorency are..."
"No!" Guiche cut in. "It's all a misunderstanding! You're the only person in my heart."
At that moment, another girl approached with an angry expression. Saito recognized her as the same curly blonde that Louise argued with when he was first summoned. "I knew it!" She began yelling. "You've been making moves on this first year, haven't you?"
"No!" Guiche turned his attention to Montmorency. "All I did was accompany her on a trip to the forests of La Rochelle. I swear!"
Katie began sobbing and ran off. "Katie!" Guiche called out.
As he turned his attention to Katie, Montmorency grabbed a bottle of wine off the table and poured it over Guiche's head. "You liar!" She screamed before storming off.
Silence fell all around them, and Saito noticed that the conflict had grabbed the attention of everyone in the courtyard. Gimli broke the silence with a long whistle.
"Those poor ladies don't understand the meaning of a rose's existence." Guiche turned back towards the table and returned to his smug expression.
Drop dead. Saito wished upon Guiche, but he held back from saying anything and turned with Siesta to walk to the next table.
"Stop there!" Saito heard the voice of Guiche call out. He turned to see Guiche glaring at him.
Louise walked along the northern pathway to the Water Tower. The overhang shaded her from the noon sun. She looked down as she walked in silence. Commotion to the left caught her attention. Looking over, she could see a crowd start to form around her familiar and Guiche de Gramont.
What did that idiot get himself into now? She took off running.
"What?" Saito glared back at Guiche.
"Thanks to your thoughtless actions, two young ladies have been seriously hurt." Guiche blamed Saito. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"It's your fault for two-timing."
The other boys at the table burst into laughter as Guiche's face went crimson red.
"Listen, servant!" Guiche started.
"I'm not a servant." Saito cut him off. "And my name is Saito!"
"Oh," Guiche seemed to realize. "You must be that commoner Louise the Zero summoned. To have expected a noble's wit from that girl's familiar was completely my mistake." Saito's blood began to boil as Guiche laughed. "You may leave."
"Shut up, you pretentious bastard!" Saito screamed. "Go suck on a rose!"
Guiche narrowed his eyes at Saito. "It seems she never taught you the proper etiquette for speaking to a noble."
"Unfortunately for you, I don't come from a place with nobles."
"Very well." Guiche smirked. "Then I shall teach you a lesson about respect."
"Sounds like fun." Saito gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Screw this guy. Even though Guiche was taller than Saito, he was lanky and looked weaker. Saito was sure he'd be able to beat him. "You wanna do it here?"
"Don't be stupid. I can't taint the tables of nobles with the blood of a commoner." Guiche replied smugly. "I'll be waiting at Vestri Court. Come once you finish serving those cakes." He then turned on his heel and walked off. Guiche's friends excitedly followed after him.
"You... You're going to get killed..." Saito heard from Siesta. He turned around to see her entire body quivering
"It's alright." Saito waved off. "There's no way I'll lose to that weakling."
Siesta took off.
"What was that?" Saito muttered to himself. Is that guy really that strong?
"Hey!" Louise came running up. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Making friends." Saito joked.
"You can't just go around promising duels."
"But that guy's really irritating." Saito was indignant. "Besides, he insulted you too, you know."
"I don't care. Just apologize to him."
"Why do I have to apologize?"
"If you don't want to get hurt, apologize to him." Louise glared at him. "If you do it now, he might forgive you."
"No way." He turned away from her.
"Why are you being so stubborn?" She persisted. "A commoner could never beat a mage. You'd be lucky to survive."
"Won't know unless I try, right?" He turned to another person watching them. "Where's this Vestri Court?" The person pointed across the field, so Saito ran off in that direction.
Jeez. Louise thought to herself. Why does this familiar keep going off on its own? She chased after Saito.
"And this rune is the same as Founder Brimir's familiar?" Sir Osmond questioned, looking down at the parchment Professor Colbert had sketched on.
"Yes!" Colbert responded. He had explained everything about the commoner that Lady Valliére summoned and the runes that appeared on his left hand. "The runes on his hand are the exact same as the runes inscribed on Gandálfr."
"And so you believe this boy to be the legendary Gandálfr?" Osmond sat at his desk as he spoke with Colbert.
"Correct." Colbert nodded, standing in front of Osmond's desk. "If this isn't big news, then I don't know what is."
"Hmm..." Osmond pondered. "The runes certainly appear to be the same. But for an ordinary commoner to be the legendary Gandálfr...?"
"What should we do, sir?"
"It's still too early to make definite claims." Osmond stroked his beard.
A knock came from the door. "Sir Osmond." A voice said from the other side of the door.
"What is it, Miss Longville?" Osmond responded.
"It seems there are some students starting a duel in the Vestri Court." She replied. "It's causing quite a commotion. One of the teachers had gone to break it up, but they can't get through the crowd."
"There's nothing worse than nobles with too much free time." Osmond shook his head. "Who's involved?"
"Lord Gramont and some commoner."
Osmond and Colbert exchanged a glance.
"Who is this commoner?" Osmond called out to her.
"I've been told it's Lady Valliére's familiar. The teachers are requesting to use the Sleeping Bell."
"Nonsense." Osmond's eyes gleamed. "There's no need to use such an artifact. Just leave them be."
"Understood." Footsteps echoed and dissipated from the other side of the door.
"Sir Osmond..." Colbert looked at him.
Osmond stood and walked to a giant mirror on the far wall. After reciting an incantation, the mirror began shimmering. It turned into an aerial view of the Vestri Court, with a large crowd of students surrounding two people.
The Vestri Court was situated between the Wind Tower and Fire Tower on the west side of the academy. The large crowd surrounded Saito and Guiche, who stood roughly ten meters apart.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Guiche said with a flair. "It's a duel!" He lifted an artificial rose high above his head while the crowd cheered. Then he lowered his gaze to Saito. "I have to commend you. I expected you to run away."
"Like anyone would run from you." Saito gritted his teeth.
Louise stood at the front of the crowd with a worried expression.
Guiche smirked back. "Right, then. Let us begin."
He lifted his rose out away from his body and gave it a small flick. Off came a petal that fell to the ground and glowed.
"What is he..."
From the glowing petal sprouted a tall feminine form made of metal. Its armor gleamed in the sunlight as it stood stoically between Guiche and Saito.
"What the Hell is this?!" Saito yelled out.
"You didn't expect me to fight without magic, did you?" Guiche grinned. "Surely you're not that dumb."
"Why you..." Saito started to worry.
"I'm Guiche the Bronze. As such, you shall fight my bronze valkyrie."
"Don't you understand now?" Louise called out. "A commoner could never defeat a mage!"
Saito ignored her and leapt forward. At the same time, the valkyrie charged at him. Before he had time to react, an armored fist impacted his stomach. He groaned and collapsed to the ground. The living armor emotionlessly stood over him, but otherwise it didn't move.
"Don't tell me it's over already." Guiche smirked.
"Guiche!" Screamed Louise. "Stop this at once. You know dueling is strictly forbidden."
"Dueling between nobles is strictly forbidden." Guiche corrected her.
"That's because something like this has never happened before!"
"I'm fine." Saito grunted as he stood up.
"Saito!" Louise called out to him.
This caught Saito's attention, and he looked over at her. "That's the first time you've called me by name..."
"What's this?" Guiche said eagerly. "I didn't think you'd stand back up again. Maybe I went too easy on you."
"Idiot!" Louise screamed. "Why'd you stand back up?"
"Because he pisses me off..." Saito glared at the valkyrie in front of him. If I can get around it, I can catch him by surprise.
"There's no embarrassment in losing to a mage." She yelled.
"Shut up!" He yelled back.
"Eh?!"
"You're getting on my nerves too! I know next to nothing about mages or nobles, but you're all just the same bunch of ego-inflated brats!"
"This is pointless." Guiche smiled faintly.
"This is nothing." Saito responded. "Your little statue is weak."
Guiche's smile fell and another hard punch hit Saito's face this time, knocking him to the ground. Blood dripped from his broken nose.
Crap... Saito held his nose and tried to stop the bleeding. I've been in a few fights before, but that punch was like nothing else. He slowly stood back up.
This time a hard kick connected with his side, sending him to the ground.
He stood up and was struck down again.
The process repeated.
He staggered up once more, just to be met with a sickening snap coming from his right arm as another punch connected with it. His swollen left eye couldn't see anymore, so he used his right eye to check his arm. It was bent at the wrong angle. Suddenly an armored foot filled his vision and everything went black.
A cloaked figure stood on the red roof of a tower. A black hood and loose blue robes hid the person's identity. Below the figure was a green field that contained a large crowd of people surrounding some sort of fight.
Well this is boring... The person thought to themself.
Just as they turned to leave, a blue glow coming from the fight caught their eye. "What the..."
Saito woke up to the image of Louise above him, contrasting beautifully with the clear blue sky behind her. It'd been a whole day since he last saw this scene, but this time was different. Those gorgeous hazel eyes were now wet with tears.
"Are... you crying?" Saito could barely speak, but he choked up the words. The pain in his chest was unbearable, and he could feel the back of his head wet with blood.
"That's enough." She said quietly. "You've done well."
Is she... being nice? His arm throbbed with pain. "It... hurts."
"Of course it hurts! What were you thinking?" Her tears fell on Saito's cheek.
"Are we quite done yet?" Guiche's voice called out from a distance.
It seemed Saito had been briefly knocked out. He was still in the duel.
That means I can still win this. "Hold your horses." Saito called back. "I'm just catching my breath."
"Saito!" Louise cried at him.
Guiche smiled and flicked his rose again. A petal flew next to Saito and glowed as it landed a meter away from him. This time, instead of a valkyrie, it transformed into a sword with its blade sticking in the ground. "If you're still willing to continue, then take that sword. If not, then all you need to say is a simple 'I'm sorry'. I promise I'll forgive you."
"Don't insult him!" Louise stood and yelled at Guiche, but he seemed to ignore her.
Saito began to stand once again and slowly shambled towards the sword. He was stopped by Louise standing between him and the sword.
"No!" She refused. "There's no way I'm letting you grab that sword. If you do, Guiche will kill you."
Saito lowered his head. "Louise..."
"What?!"
"I'm stuck in this world, aren't I?" He muttered, almost to himself.
"What about it?! That doesn't matter right now!" She moved close to his chest, looking up at his damaged face.
"I don't mind being a familiar..." Tears and blood mixed on his face and dropped on her cheeks. "I can take sleeping on the floor. I don't even care that the food sucks. But..."
"But what...?"
Saito closed his eyes. "I'd rather die than bow to such a prick." With his last bit of strength, he pushed Louise out of his way and grabbed the sword with his left hand. Louise fell to the ground, paralyzed in fear for Saito's life.
In that instant, the runes on his hand glowed a bright blue.
All of the pain suddenly disappeared from his body. I feel... light as a feather. What's going on? The sword felt like an extension of his body. That's weird. I've never even touched a sword before.
"I'm impressed you've come this far." Guiche grinned coldly.
His valkyrie charged at Saito once again. This time though, the statue seemed to be moving in slow motion.
What the Hell? Saito had time to think. I got kicked around by this crawling junk pile?
Saito slashed effortlessly. A heap of armor fell in front of him. He looked up to see a panicked Guiche and darted towards him.
Guiche waved his rose around wildly. Six new golems appeared between him and Saito.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Each one went down as quickly as the first.
The last one dropped right in front of Guiche.
Then a swift kick to the face sent Guiche flying back. He heard a loud thunk beside him and opened his eyes to see his own spawned sword sticking into the ground beside his head.
"Still want to continue?" Saito glared down at him.
Guiche shook his head and said in a shaky voice, "I... yield."
Cheers erupted from the crowd.
I... won? Saito suddenly seemed to realize.
He released the sword and began walking back to Louise. What happened to me? Saito's thoughts were in a haze. He started to feel tired, but he could see Louise running over to him. "Hey-"
The feeling of fatigue caught up with him and he lost his vision.
Louise saw Saito start to collapse and tried to catch him, but she was too far away. He toppled to the ground with a heavy thud. "Saito!"
She shook him roughly, trying to wake him. She saw his chest rising and gave a sigh of relief. Not dead. Asleep.
"Louise..." Guiche spoke from beside her. "What is this guy?"
"He's just a commoner." She retorted.
"There's no way my valkyries could lose to just a commoner..."
Louise ignored him as she tried to lift Saito, but he was too heavy for her. One of the students came up to them and levitated him off the ground for her.
Louise gently floated his body away, dabbing her eyes and face with the corner of her sleeve. This idiot... She led him towards her room so she could patch him up. I bet he didn't even care if he died. Stop being so stubborn. You're just a commoner. Her relief quickly turned to anger. You're my familiar. Stop going off on your own!
"Sir Osmond..." Colbert blinked in astonishment. "The commoner actually won."
"Hmm..." Osmond stared at the events that unfolded in the scrying mirror. Saito was being carried away by his master.
"Guiche may only be a dot mage, but even still he shouldn't lose to any average commoner. There's no doubt that he's Gandálfr, sir. We have to report this to the palace immediately." Colbert insisted.
"There won't be a need for that." Osmond turned away from the mirror and walked back to his desk.
"But sir! This is the biggest discovery of the century! No; the millenia! A Gandálfer reborn in the modern world..."
"Professor Colbert, Gandálfr is no ordinary familiar."
"Exactly!" Colbert responded. "The legendary familiar of Founder Brimir; it's said to be created specifically to protect the Founder while he incanted his spells."
"Correct. Founder Brimir's incantations were exceptionally long... and extremely powerful. Gandálf likewise-"
"It could annihilate entire armies by itself. It could use any weapon to take down its enemies. Ordinary mages were no match for it!"
"Professor Colbert." Osmond stared into Colbert's eyes.
"Yes?"
"Are you sure he's just an average commoner?"
"Certain." Colbert nodded. "I even confirmed with Detect Magic when he was summoned."
"And who was it that summoned this modern Gandálfr?"
"Lady Valliére, sir." Colbert seemed to have a realization. "But... she lacks any magical talent."
"So how does someone with no magical talent summon the legendary Gandálfr?" Osmond rested his bearded chin on his hands and pondered.
"Indeed..."
"There's more to this than we know right now. I'll take responsibility for investigating this case myself." Osmond looked up at Colbert. "Nothing spoken of here is permitted to leave this room. Understood?"
