Before everything else, I want to apologize for forgetting to put horizontal lines to separate the scenes in my last chapter. It took my three days to realize that mistake, so again, I apologize for the inconvenience that my laziness caused. I'll try to avoid such 'incidents' in the future.
Second, I want to thank to everyone for favoriting, following, reviewing, and just reading the first chapter of this story.
Third, I'll try to have every chapter I write cover at least one episode of Familiar of Zero. The last one covered both Episode 1 and 2, while this one will cover only Episode 3. The reason for that is that I got a different amount of contest to cover from each episode. After all, Evan isn't Saito so naturally the story won't follow the same adventures as the canon ones; some will be skipped.
With all of that said, I hope you enjoy the second chapter of Champion of Zero!
"Wake up."
Louise's body turned to the side as the voice spoke at her. She opened her eyes and looked sleepily at the boy standing next to her bed with an unemotional, yet calm look on his face. But what surprised the girl the most was that her familiar held one of her uniforms in his arms. It was very weird for her, she could never make him obey her orders, despite that he sometimes did exactly what she wanted from him, as long as she didn't bother him about it. Of course that wasn't always the case. Today he prepared her clothes for the day, but yesterday he didn't despite her not trying to order him around. In the end, she figured out that her familiar was going to be obedient when he decided and as much as she tried to force him into obeying, the only punishment she could force on him would be starvation and, if she did that, she feared that he would just get annoyed and leave. Something she had no way to stop him from doing.
Louise sat up and began to take off nightglow, removing the only clothing that covered her body. Indifferent to the view, Evan handled the girl's panties. Louise stood up, putting the piece of garment on before turning toward her familiar. She had no idea how that would work out for her and she expected him to throw the rest of the clothes in her face like he did before, but she still dared to try and order him.
"Dress me."
"No."
Louise sighed. At least he didn't threw the clothes in her face, but that didn't make it that much better. A disobedient familiar was still a disobedient familiar. Why was she such a failure? Failing at magic was one thing, but failing to make a single person obey her orders - she was a disgrace as a noble.
"Nobles that have servants never dress themselves!" Louise shouted back.
"And that's why you are so easy to push around." Evan retorted. "It's good for a noble to keep an iron hold over their servants, but if you rely on these rats for something as simple as dressing you up, you'll indirectly give control of yourself to them. For instance, right now I could very easily snap your neck while putting your clothes on. You'll be dead before you know that you were betrayed."
A chill ran down Louise's spine at the thought. Indeed, Evan could dispatch of her any time he wanted and leave this place undisturbed. By the time someone came and found her corpse, he would be on a good distance from the academy and no one would be likely able to catch him.
"Was that a threat, familiar?" Louise crossed her arms, glaring at the boy.
"I'm simply performing my duties by advising you." said Evan, putting Louise's clothes on the bed.
"Advising me?" Normally Louise would say that a peasant couldn't and shouldn't advise a noble, but peasants couldn't use magic and Evan used magic to summon the armor during his fight with Guiche, "Familiar, are you, by a chance, a noble?"
"What makes you think that I'm?" Evan asked back.
"Peasants are unable to use magic." Louise stated. "Only nobles and those with the blood of a noble have the potential to become mages. What you used in the last duel was a form of summoning magic, correct? You summoned that armor."
Evan paused. For once he would have to consider carefully his answer. If he answered that he wasn't a noble and just a normal boy, it would raise a lot of questions. How a normal peasant could learn magic, was he truly a human, and other stuff that Evan didn't want to deal with. But if he said that he was, indeed, a noble, everyone's reaction would be priceless. For starters Louise would begin to treat him as her equal and would be easier to fall under his influence. She was currently scared of him, he could tell that much, but fear caused people to fight back unconsciously, while respect made them follow like sheeps.
Second, this would have an effect on Louise's classmates. They made fun of her for summoning a peasant, so if Evan came out as a noble from another world, they would be both shocked and respectful toward Louise for managing to achieve such a feat despite her lack of magical skills.
"Indeed, I'm a noble from a different world." Evan lied. He crossed his arms behind his back and turned away from Louise. "But magic in my world functioned differently from the way it does here. For instance, during the duel I was trying to summon a dragon to fight for me but instead of that I got an armor made from the dragon's spirit."
"A-amazing!" Louise gasped. From her reaction Evan could guess that summoning a living creature was a much harder thing to do that call a bunch of golems.
It still didn't make sense why Darkest Diabolos turned into a set of armor. Was there some rules that prevented mages from summoning living creatures, unless they were familiars? If that was the case, it would make sense for his Duel Spirits to bypass that restriction by taking a different form, such as a set of armor. Evan rubbed his chin, he would have to do further research on that theory.
"You should dress up quickly, or we will be late for class." Evan told his master. Usually familiars didn't get to stay with their masters during classes, but they weren't forbidden by the rules, so as long as a familiar didn't cause trouble, they were allowed to stay. As a human, Evan understood those rules far better that most other familiars in the academy.
"Fire, Water, Earth, and Air magic create a different, stronger effect by combining multiple elements together. Furthermore, the level of mages is determined by how many elements we can combine. What are those levels?"
Evan appeared half-asleep while listening to that lecture. All for elements that the teacher talked about existed in Duel Monsters as well, but there were also Dark and Light, which weren't mentioned here, neither in the books, nor by the teachers. To them, his affinity for the Dark attribute was something completely unknown and it could explain why he wasn't able to use his abilities the way he did in his world.
Evan looked back at the chair where the blond girl that Guiche cheated to was sitting. Her name was Montmorency and she was explaining the levels of mages. From what he understood, when two elements combined, they formed a Line, three formed a Triangle and four formed a Square. That information was particularly interesting because it meant that Evan wouldn't always come across mages controlling a single element. Who knew that you could learn so much by staying in school?
"I believe that most of you can deal with one element at a time."
"Miss Cherveuse, I hate to say this, but a student that can't use even one element, with a zero percentage rate of magic success, is among us." Evan also recognized the red haired girl from yesterday. Of course she was taking another cheap shot at his master.
Despite everyone's glares being focused on Louise, she didn't appear to care. Was she that used to being throw in the mud and called a failure that she could brush off their insults like they were nothing? Evan shrugged, it wasn't his problem to deal with. Yet, why did he want to prove these brats wrong so much?
"Aren't you going to try and prove them wrong?" Evan turned toward his master. "After all, your magic success isn't zero anymore."
This caused Louise to actually look at her familiar in surprise. She might not realize it, but since familiars usually were neither humanoid, nor magic users, during the summoning ritual she exceeded the rest of her classmates.
"You summoned a noble as your familiar, shouldn't you be proud of yourself?" Louise turned away and didn't answer Evan's question, but she was smiling a bit.
After classes ended the due was going back toward their room when Evan suddenly walked in front of Louise and stopped her from continuing. The girl raised an eyebrow and looked up to meet her familiar's eyes. They looked at each other for a moment before Evan turned toward the green field that was just outside.
"Instead of going home, we'll practice magic today." Evan told her.
Albeit lacking expectations for his master's magical abilities, Evan wanted to use the opportunity to try out a few things that he had thought about, but didn't get the chance to use in practice. Since Monster Cards did function in this universe, albeit differently, the young man was curious if Spell and Trap Cards would work as well, and if they did, how exactly would they function. Of course that was research that he was completely capable of performing himself, but he wanted to show the result to Louise.
"It's no use." Louise lowered her head. "I've practiced a lot and my spells never worked before. I'll just cause more disasters."
"You've never asked anyone for help, have you?" Louise lowered her head even further to Evan's question. "You might think of yourself to be a failure, but the facts are that you can cast magic. Your difficulties are in turning your magic into a functional spell."
"But,"
"No excuses." Evan shook his head. "We'll train until you learn how to successfully chant a spell, even if it takes us a whole day!"
Louise hesitated for a moment, but still followed after her familiar. How came that this man was able to tell her what to do when she should be the one ordering him around? She flushed at the thought of it. The excuse she was giving herself mentally for following what the boy told her to was his status as a noble in a different universe. So, in a way, he was her equal.
The two of them stepped on the field and Evan pulled out several cards from his deck, looking them over. Louise didn't know what her familiar was intending to do, she just stood there waiting for him to tell her what he expected from her to do. Evan had already experienced the consequences of Louise's failed spells during the first time of his summoning, so it was surprising that he was willing to try and teach her how to use her magic.
"I think we should start with one of the more basic spells you have learned." Evan turned toward Louise. "Do you know any simple ones?"
"Y-yes." Louise nodded, but then averted her eyes as she continued. "I know Fireball, but when I tried to cast it…"
"…It exploded." Evan finished the sentence for Louise, causing her head to drop once again. The girl's self-esteem took so many hits while she tried to learn magic that at this point it was practically non-existing, despite how much she tried to act like her failure at casting spells didn't affect her.
"We'll work it out, don't worry." Evan tried to reassure her. "But before we start, I want to make one small experiment on my own."
Evan took one of the cards that he was looking at and returned the rest into his deck. Louise looked at him in confusion. Unlike the card which he used yesterday, this one was mostly green in color, so was it a different type of spell? Evan held out the card in front of himself, focusing on the small area before him that he wanted to aim it at, and then called out the card's name.
"Swords of Revealing Light!"
In an instant, the card in his hand began to glow and three swords made of light formed in the area that he was thinking about. Louise gasped in surprise once again. The swords were all levitating mid-air and Evan wasn't using his magic to keep them off the ground. She had never seen a magic like this being used before. It was hard to tell what kind of spell this was, it didn't appear to be Fire, Water, Earth, or Air magic.
"It didn't change in appearance." Evan muttered under his breath.
"What kind of spell is this, familiar!?" Louise grabbed the boy's arm and pointed at the levitating swords. "I-I have never seen a spell like this before one!"
"I told you that I'm from another world, didn't I." Evan sighed. Giving a proper explanation would be impossible for him since the type of magic that existed there was in most cases prohibited dark magic, but given that his cards had their own kind of magical abilities, he was going to try and explain them in a way that would make sense. "In my world, these cards are divided in six main attributes, that being Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light and Dark."
"I have never heard about Light and Dark magic before." Louise's eyes widened in awe. "What kind of magic is that?"
"Uh…" Evan rubbed the back of his neck. "Since they aren't part of the four elements of nature, it's hard to give a proper explanation. I personally specialize in Dark, almost all of the monsters that I have are from the Dark attribute."
"But you just chanted a Light based spell!" Louise pointed out. "Are you a Line mage?"
"Um," How should he answer? Making himself look all powerful and cool was good, but he shouldn't overdo it. "Why don't we start practicing your magic?"
Why try and answer Louise's question, when he could just ignore it all together and let her believe in what she wanted? This way he wouldn't prematurely destroy her expectations, or lie to her. But what was more important, he wanted her to not feel down while casting spells.
"Right." Louise nodded to her familiar's words and glanced around. "But are you sure that it's safe? I mean, casting a fireball at a field of grass could start a fire and,"
"You won't be aiming at the glass." Evan interrupted her and pointed at the three floating swords that he summoned. "You'll aim at these. It would be safer."
Louise nodded again and pointer her wand at the three swords. Since they were created from magic, in case her magic backfired, there would be no serious damage done and her familiar would be able to summon another set of swords to replace the previous ones. But what if she missed and instead of the swords…
"Calm down." Evan blurted out the words almost on instinct and put his hands on the girl's shoulders.
"You should take a step back." Louise warned her familiar.
"If your spell fails, I'll stand here and take the blast with you." That was a crazy thing to say, but Evan realized that he had a duty to stand by his master's side even if things went wrong.
Louise felt strange, there was a feeling inside her chest that she was unfamiliar with. She didn't know if her familiar was using some sort of spell on her, but all of her worries and fears were quickly fading away in her mind. The fear of failure and being called a zero had completely disappeared as well. Her lips parted away and she began to softly chant her spell.
"Fireball!"
Like previous times, her spell caused an explosion, but surprisingly, this time the magic's effect was directed toward the target that Louise had chosen instead of blowing everything around her. Despite that, when the smoke cleared, all three of the swords that Evan had summoned stood in place, unfazed by the assault.
"Another failure." Louise dropped her head. For a moment there, she believed, she truly believed that this time the result would be different…
"Not quite." Louise turned to look at her familiar. The boy kept his hands on her shoulders as he continued. "Swords of Revealing Light is a spell that neutralizes all attacks, physical or magical. Though in my world it had a certain time limit on its effect… I didn't expect your attack to do any damage."
"The why?" Why would Evan tell Louise to aim at the swords, if her magic would be neutralized? "Are you making fun of me, familiar!?"
Of course she should have known it. They did, every single person in this school had always made fun of her, of her inability to cast properly. It was humiliating, they knew it, but it was just too fun for them to make fun of someone who couldn't respond back! Louise slapped her familiar's arms off her shoulders. He too, was making fun of her. It was a lie, that moment of intimacy, the touch that made her feel calm and safe; he was just trying to humiliate her like everyone else!
"No food for you for a week!" Louise yelled at Evan and stormed off. "And you can't sleep in the room!"
"She took it worse than I expected." Evan muttered to himself and looked back at the swords. They were starting to fade away already.
Evan narrowed his eyes and turned around to walk back into the academy. Louise had a hard time believing in others because of all the humiliation that she had to go through on a daily basis. He couldn't blame her for that, but this small test did help him understand her magic a bit better. If her sleeps were correct, which they most likely were, then why did every spell end up with the same result? Why would every magic result in an explosion? One would expect the failures to be more… diverse – depending on the type of magic used.
Evan had the gut feeling that there was more to this world's magic system that was written in the books and studied in the academy. One thing he was sure about was, that Louise wasn't a failure.
Naturally, Evan wasn't going to let himself collapse from hunger because Louise banned him from eating for a week. He was planning to sneak into the kitchen and take some food, but much to his surprise, the staff were all more than happy to offer him whatever food was left for dinner.
Apparently they too thought that he was one of them and were happy to offer him their service for managing to beat Guiche in their duel. From the way the chief talked about the mages, calling them 'aristocrat brats', Evan figured out that even the regular people that worked in the academy disliked the students they had to serve. Of course, he didn't tell them how disgusted he felt to be surrounded by plebeians, since they gave him food, but he was very tempted to tell them about it.
Society could only functionate if it was split in two groups - the capable ones in the upper class and everyone else as the lower class. That was what Evan had always believed. The strong ruling the weak, it was a law of nature, the entire balance inside a society lied upon that idea. Yes, in a way it was unfair to have the dividing between the two groups be based on a characteristic that you have or don't have from birth – for instance, it would be absurd to say that people with green eyes should be aristocrats while everyone else should be plebeians, but magic was far more complicated than eye color. Explaining all the reason why this divide in society was normal would take too much of Evan's time, and he didn't have much of it as the sun had already settled down and everyone else was heading to bed.
After finishing his dinner, Evan headed back toward his room. Several hours have already passed and he expected Louise have calmed down enough to listen to what he had to say. Sadly, on his way back he was suddenly assaulted by a salamander who took him somewhere else.
Evan didn't try to fight against the overgrown wizard for several reasons, but to narrow them down to the most important ones: First, the lizard was the same as the one that acted as a certain redhead's familiar. Second, he didn't try using any lethal attacks, such as fire breath when it attacked, so Evan immediately realized that the creature's aim wasn't to eliminate him. Third, despite its rough look, the salamander tried to be gentle as it carried the sixteen years old back to its master.
Talking about the redhead, when the salamander finally dropped Evan down and gave him a chance to look around, Evan noticed several things. First, the room he was currently into had multiple lit candles that were most likely an attempt at setting up a romantic mood – spoilers, said attempt failed the moment an overgrown lizard bite Evan's jacket. But more importantly, the red haired girl that ridiculed Louise on several occasions was standing in front of him, dressed in an open purple nightgown that revealed a lot of her curvy tanned figure. She also had a smug look on her face as she looked down at him; always a bad sign.
"Welcome to my sweet room, Evan Gradesoon. Or was it, Gardenroom?" Evan raised an eyebrow? Was she trying to act cute, or did she seriously kidnap him without even knowing his name?
"It's Greyson." Evan corrected her and stood up, dusting his jacket. "From grey and son; son of grey. But more importantly, I don't think that I have had the chance to catch your name yet, miss?"
"Call me just Kirche." The girl replied in a seductive tone and walked over to him, pressing her hands against his chest. "I know it's dirty, but I also go by the nickname, The Feveret, and like a torch, I'm easy to turn on."
Evan stood unfazed by her words. He already had the feeling that the girl was a Fire type mage, but apparently she was fire in more places than just the school room.
"Hmm, you seem to have a good physique." Kirche kept talking, leaning closer to the boy until her melons pressed against his chest, her arms going to his back and his hair as her lips remained a few inches away from his. "You are pretty balanced, not very muscular, sadly, but also not skinny. And those crimson eyes, they are so… hypnotizing to look at."
Yep, she was a hoe alright.
"Most girls I have been with were interested in the fangs." Evan replied, making sure that Kirche could get a good look at his sharp shark-like teeth. "They all want to feel the bite."
"I'm sure it feels good." Kirche whispered back, one of her arms going underneath Evan's jacket and shirt, feeling his back, while the other played with the small ponytail on the back of his head. "As long as you promise to be gentle with me."
"Kirche!" shouted a man's voice.
Both Evan and said redhead turned around to see a man floating outside her window. Judging from his expression, he wasn't very pleased with what he was seeing.
"Hey, Sticks." Kirche greeted him like nothing was happening.
"You didn't show up on time so I came here and…" Evan rolled his eyes. Just how much of a whore was that girl?
"Then let's change it to two hours from now." Kirche replied calmly. Seriously?
"That isn't what you said!"
Instead of responding, Kirche used her magic to turn the flame of one of the candles into a snake and sent it flying toward the man's face. With a scream, he fell down… from the third floor…
The same thing happened again just moments later with another guy showing up at her window, and after he dealt with him, three more came to take his place. During the entire time Evan was reconsidering the girl's offer. Even if that was a one night thing, a girl as unfaithful and beautiful as her would bring him far more problems than what he signed up for.
"Now that this is over," Kirche turned toward him. "I love you."
Evan opened his mouth to protest, but the girl used that chance to plant a kiss. Her chest pressed against his even more and she pushed her tongue into his mouth. In a moment of weakness, he felt his arm reaching to grab the girl from behind, but he stopped himself. It wasn't right. He was going to let her mess around, but the moment she broke their kiss, he would leave, even if he had to slay her salamander in half, in order to do so.
A strange chill ran down Evan's back. Something clicked and he heard the door behind him opening. Kirche broke the kiss she had him trapped into and the two looked at the new guest. It was Louise. And she was really, really, really pissed off.
"Kirche!" The little girl stormed inside the room with the two teens standing side by side like little children that were caught doing a prank.
"We're busy, Valliere." Kirche crossed her arms, displeased with the little girl while Evan tried to hold back from face palming hard enough to break his skull. The redhead really didn't know what shame was.
"Zerbst, just whose familiar spirit do you think you're lying your hands on?" Louise questioned.
"What can I say, love and flames are von Zerbst's destinies." Kirche shrugged like it was nothing. "Burning our bodies in the flames of love is what we live for."
'So you live to be a cheap whore?' Again, Evan was tempted to speak up his mind, but he didn't dare to.
Louise glared at her familiar, who returned an indifferent look, and ordered. "Come with me."
"Wait!" Kirche interrupted. "He may be your familiar spirit, but he's human! It's tyrannical of you to get in the way of others' affairs."
"Sorry, but master is right." Evan spoke up, much to the surprise of both girls. The boy put his hands into the pockets of his pants and looked back at Kirche. "As lovely as it would be to feel your flames of affection, you seem to have a very busy night schedule ahead, so it's best if we leave this little… arrangement, for another time."
"Aw," Kirche looked at him with a sad puppy expression. To give her credits, if anyone with a hearth would have fallen for such an innocent expression, but sadly, Evan had no such thing and therefore he had no feelings dumping her the way that he did. It was just the last thing she said that made him sigh in annoyance: She wasn't going to give up.
"You're like a dog in heat!"
Once they got back to their room, Louise began to yell at her familiar. Her eyes were filled with anger and he could swear that he saw dark aura coming out of her while she yelled at him.
"Indeed, I am!" Evan nodded. "Sadly, you're there to keep my needs unfulfilled."
SLAP!
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Louise yelled again into her familiar's face. The boy looked at her, with his usual indifferent expression, even the slap that left a red mark across his left check wasn't enough to faze him. "It was wrong of me to treat you like a human! You're the worst! The worst!"
So she was still angry at him for what happened earlier during the training. Evan thought that this girl would be stubborn like a brick, but she didn't even give a second thought on what happened during the training.
"Of all the girls, you wag your tail toward that Zerbst…" Louise grabbed a whip for horseback riding and turned toward her familiar. "You're a dog! I was too kind! A stray dog must be treated as one!"
Even so, Evan remained calm. The small girl stepped toward him menacingly, rising the whip above her head to deliver the first strike. She swung down, the whip going straight for Evan's face.
"W-what!?" Louise gasped.
Just a moment before she could hit her familiar, Evan raised his hand to grab hers, stopping her from delivering any punishment. Louise tried to fight and kick, but the more she fought back, the tighter became Evan's grip on her arm. She pushed against his chest, calling him a dog, a liar, a backstabber and all sort of other things, while trying to order him to let go of her. Tears were running down her cheeks and her voice was trembling, she sounded more sad, devastated, than angry. She had always lost everything and she couldn't stand it anymore. She couldn't stand aside and watch as she slowly lost her familiar, the creature, or in this case person, who was meant to stand by her side for the rest of her life.
"What's so good about that woman!?" Louise kept crying and yelling, kicking and trying to pull away.
'I see now.' Evan thought to himself, while keeping an eye on the little girl. 'Louise and Kirche must be rivals. That would explain why the redhead was calling her names and insulted her the most out of all the other mages. She didn't came after me because she wanted me, but because that would hurt Louise. What a bothersome situation to be in.'
Evan pulled Louise's arm, the mage gasping as her small body was flung forward and pressed against Evan's. She tried to pull back again, but her familiar wrapped his arms around her back and held her in place with a tight embrace. She was in pain. She needed someone to be by her side, to feel the warm of another human being and not be assaulted with any more mean and degrading insults.
"It's ok." Evan told her. "Your familiar is here, so cry to your heart's content."
After several moments, Louise stopped fighting against her familiar's embrace. Her body relaxed in Evan's arms, only the sound of her soft sobs echoing against the shadowy walls of the room.
In took several minutes for Louise to stop crying and twenty more for her to completely collect herself. In that time, Evan got her a glass of water. When it all ended and peace returned to their room, Evan was sitting at the end of the book, looking at his master gulping the last remaining water before sighing in relief. She put the glass down and looked back at her familiar, a small brush still remaining on her face after the embarrassing scene that played out in her room.
"Just to be clear, I've got nothing against you going out with anyone, as long as it's not Kirche." Louise told her familiar. "Her family and mine have been enemies for generations. It's humiliating to even have a thread of string or a dog stolen away by them. Do you understand that?"
"I think I do." Evan nodded. "But it's not like I wanted to meet with her, but she used her salamander to kidnap me."
"So it was the salamander that picked you up?" Louise repeated, shaking her head in disappointment. "Pathetic. Couldn't you use your armor or a spell to stop it?"
"I could, but I didn't see a point in doing so." Now it was Louise's time to facepalm at her familiar's behavior.
"So you allowed the salamander to take you to her?" Louise asked.
"I was interested on why she choose this time and way to get my attention." Evan closed his eyes and continued. "I do admit that at first I was planning to spend the night with her, but after seeing the sheer amount of lovers she has, I realized that she was just trying to use me. Actually, you came right when I was about to try and leave."
"At least you're able to see her for what she's worth." Louise rubbed her temper. She felt stupid for getting angry without knowing the full story behind what she saw.
"I would also like to clear another misunderstanding." Evan continued.
Louise's eyes narrowed at these words, but she waved a hand at her familiar. "I remember no such things, but please tell me what else you have done."
"It's about the training session from today." Evan began. Immediately, Louise shot him a glare, but the boy raised a hand as a sign to let him finish first. "I understand why you thought that what I did today was intended to humiliate you, but that wasn't my intention in the slightest. Everything I wanted was to learn more about you, why your spells fail and what the reason behind those failures could be. I know that this won't mean much for you, especially coming from someone like me, but Louise, I don't believe that you are a failure like everyone else keeps saying."
"Stop." Louise muttered softly.
The girl was looking down again. Evan couldn't tell which part of what he said made her react the way she just did. He was trying to tell her that he believed in her abilities, so why was she…
"Please, don't lie to me next time." Louise finished what she wanted to say.
So that was it. Yes, Evan knew that she didn't believe in others, but a part of him felt annoyed that she so stubbornly tried to keep her problems to herself. Wasn't he her familiar for Ra's sake? Why did she have to push him away as well!?
"And will you stop acting like that!" Evan shouted, startling the girl. "I'm your familiar for god's sake! What will I get from making you miserable? Nothing! I'll get nothing more than a depressed mage who's a pain to drag around! I don't want you to be alone! Why can't you understand that?"
Why wouldn't she accept that he was genuinely trying to help her out? He had never known what it was like to be weak, to be anything less than the best. His entire life was filled with achievements, with victories, he never felt lesser than others. Since his birth, he was told that he was special, that big things lied before him and everyone had always believed in his abilities to overcome any obstacle destiny threw at him. That lack of weakness was exactly what drove him into helping Louise. He wanted her to feel the fame, the glory. Just like he did for many years.
The two of them stared at each other, one trying stubbornly to hide their feelings, while the other was just as stubbornly trying to unlock their master's heart and take a glimpse of the little girl hiding behind that thought facade.
"D-did you learn a-anything useful?" Louise finally asked, desperately trying to avoid looking at her familiar, who she was sure looked at her with a smug grin on his face.
Except that he didn't.
"The reason your spells fails is because your magic attribute is completely different from the ones I've found information about." Evan told her.
"I'm flattered that you try to come up with an excuse for my failures, but,"
"Have you ever tried to cast an explosive magic?"
"W-what?!"
"Don't you think there's a reason why all of your failed spells end up as explosions? Something beyond, 'it's just another failure'?" Evan asked again. "Have you even though of that?"
"You may have a point, but to cast such a dangerous magic with my record would be," Louise shook her head. No, she wasn't going to say that in front of her familiar. "Whatever! Just go to sleep already! Tomorrow is Voidday so we'll wake up early, understood?"
"Understood." Evan nodded, then pointed at the door. "So, since early today you said that I'm not allowed to sleep in the room, should I go find myself another girl's room to sleep in?"
"Y-you dog!" Louise shouted at her familiar. Her eyes became red as she then added. "Since you had good intentions, I forgive you! I-in fact, I'm going to allow you to s-sleep in my bed!"
That was definitely surprising news for Evan. Usually he would tease her about it, make her blush deeper, but not today. The familiar removed his jacket and lied down with Louise lying next to him. Not even a single word was exchanged between the two, as each of them turned to their side, so that their backs were pressing against each other. Louise pressed her fingers and the lamp in the door turned off, letting darkness sweep in.
Evan looked around himself. Early in the morning Louise grabbed him and dragged him off to go somewhere with a horse. The boy was completely lost for words at his master's sudden shift in personality, or more likely her understanding on how much she depended on him. After riding the horse for three hours the two of them reached a town, and were currently walked through a street filled with all sorts of shops. Evan had tried to ask her what they were looking for on several occasions, but she declined to tell him, until they reached a weapon store. At that point Evan had already pieced the puzzle.
"Recently, even in the castle, it's a trend to let servants carry weapons." The store owner, some weird looking guy with glasses and two rabbit-like teeth sticking out of his mouth, commented while Louise looked through the weapons. She was holding a rapier, looking the weapon, like an item she had never seen before.
"You seriously think that I would need a sword after what I did with my bare hands?" Evan asked his master. It was always nice to have more ways to displace of nuisances, but with his current power level, this looked like overkill.
"Your magic allows you to summon armors, not weapons, right?" Louise asked her familiar.
"I don't know." Evan shrugged. "I told you already that it was supposed to summon a dragon instead of armor. I'm not sure what other shapes my monsters are able to take."
"W-well, I'm still going to get you a sword, just to be sure!" Louise retorted. Her acting made Evan question the true reason behind her actions, he crossed his arms and leaned back. "I'm not much of the sword guy either way. A pair of metal sticks, or maybe a self-made weapon would be much better-"
"Get me a bigger and broader sword." Louise cut off her familiar, turning toward the shop owner.
"I'm sorry, but that size matches her person more." The shop owner remarked and Evan had to agree.
"He's right. I would have easier time using a rapier than a broadsword."
"I said, I want bigger and broader!" Louise yelled.
The owner nodded and went to the back, leaving master and familiar alone for a bit. Evan just facepalmed the moment that the man turned his back to them. Louise wasn't even listening to him and what he wanted to say - she was doing her own stuff.
"Thanks." Evan told his master. Despite her stubbornness, he knew why she went out of her way to buy him a sword, and just for that, he wanted to show her his gratitude.
"W-what are you talking about?" Louise pouted and turned her back to him, prompting her familiar to tease her some more.
"I'm grateful that you are buying me a gift." Evan stepped behind her and placed one of his hands on her head, patting her.
"N-nonsense!" Louise slapped her familiar's arm away and stepped away from him. "I'm simply buying it so you could defend yourself in case Kirche tries to attack you again!"
"If you say so." Evan chuckled.
Louise was about to retort to her familiar's claims, when the shop owner came back, carrying a shiny sword. The girl's eyes lit up at the sight and she pulled on Evan's shoulder to take a look at it. Just one look at the blade was enough for Evan to roll his eyes; the blade was made of gold.
"What do you say?" the owner asked them. "This is the best one in the store. It was made by Germania's mage-alchemist, Sir Spee. It'll slice steel right in half."
"He's trying to rip you off." Evan commented casually.
"What are you saying!?" the owner was flabbergasted at the familiar's response, just like Louise.
"Your sword is made from gold, a very expensive metal, but also a very fragile one." Evan sighed; he couldn't believe that he would have to repeat his chemistry lessons from the ninth grade. "It's pretty and would make for a very good ornament to hang over your fireplace, but in a real fight, a sword like this would easily break. So quite showing us stuff like this and give us your cheapest sword."
"F-familiar!" Louise tried to talk back to the boy, but a single glare from his crimson eyes was enough to shut her down.
"W-well I have something cheaper," the owner gulped and carefully passed around Louise's familiar to grab something from a barrel with weapons. "How about this? It's just one hundred gold."
Louise's eyes dropped at the sight of the weapon that the shop owner was suggesting. It was a very old sword covered in rust. It looked almost like it was made from trash.
"I-isn't there something better for the same price?" Louise asked.
"Most broadsword cost at least two thousand gold." The man replied. "This is the only thing in the shop that costs a hundred gold."
"We'll take it." Evan shrugged before grabbing the weapon from the owner's arms. "It's not too heavy. With some clearing, I'm sure that it's going to be like new."
In reality, he was most likely going to throw the sword in a corner to never look at it again. He didn't need a weapon when there was magic doing the trick much better for him. His only reason to accept buying this sword in the first place was because Louise obviously wanted to make a gift for him, and if not a sword, then she would most likely drag him around other shops to choose something else.
"Familiar, are you there?"
Evan raised his gaze from the book he borrowed from the academy's library and turned toward the door. Standing there was a certain redhead beauty carrying a golden sword. Oh, she was also accompanied by some blue haired girl that was reading a book. Evan remembered from Louise's classes, but he was never interested enough to learn her name.
"How dare you burst like this in my room, Zerbst!?" Louise shouted at the intruders.
"What's this about?" Kirche tilted her head. "I just came across a sword that would suit Evan and came to give it to him."
Evan raised an eyebrow. Something about Kirche's story sounded too fake to be true. For starters, she was dealing with so much lovers at once that she should be able to tell how useless of a gift a sword would be for someone with Evan's type of abilities. He wasn't the type who jumped to conclusions without all the facts being lied bare, but how more obvious could the redhead make her intentions be? Buying a worthless gift just because it was shinier than the gift his master gave him? Did she seriously believe him to be immature enough to throw the rusty trash sword and take the shiny trash sword?
"So you followed us?" Louise stated what Evan was thinking about.
"How pathetic, you can't even buy a sword this cheap." Kirche said, no mistake trying to make Louise feel miserable. "I was told that his was a great sword from Germania. Germania is known for its swords and women's, isn't it? There's no way a Tristain girl like you could win."
'So she's from another country?' Evan thought to himself before eyeing his master – who was angry again.
"W-What!? You played around with guys in Germa-"
"Louise!" Evan called his master by name, stopping her rant mid sentence. "Just tell her what I told the shop owner about this sword."
"R-right!" The obedient master nodded and turned toward Kirche. Quoting her familiar's words would hurt Kirche's pride much more than if Louise tried to insult her personally. "Allow me to quote my familiar's words about the sword, Kirche. He said 'It's pretty and would make for a very good ornament to hang over your fireplace, but in a real fight, a sword like this would easily break'!"
"W-what!?" Kirche turned toward Evan. "Is that true?"
"Gold has one of the weakest foundation of all materials that could be used to make a sword." Evan confirmed his master's words. "It's shiny, but if I try using it in a real fight, I would be dead in seconds."
"I-I see," Kirche turned toward Louise. "Since this is a good opportunity, I'm going to tell you this: I hate you."
"What a coincidence, I hate you too." Louise replied.
Evan rolled his eyes and stood up, walking away from the two girls. The fight was no longer about winning his affection with cool gifts, the two were in an open warfare with each other and Evan didn't want to find himself in the middle of their catfight. He walked over to the blue haired girl, sitting in the corner, reading her book.
"What's your name?" Evan asked.
"Tabitha." The girl replied softly and continued reading her book.
"Hey, shut up, you idiotic women!"
A moment of silence ensued. Kirche and Louise who were about to just at each other's throat a moment ago turned their eyes toward Evan. Said boy tried to mimic an awkward smile. He wasn't the one who said that, but there also wasn't another male in the room, so of course they would think that it was him.
"Sword."
"Huh?" Everyone turned toward Tabitha, who pointed at the rusty sword that Evan had left in the corner of the room.
"You're disturbing my sleep." The hilt of the sword moved like a mouth, and sure enough, everyone could tell that the voice was coming from it.
"Now that's just too stupid even for me." Evan sighed opening the window to jump through.
"Wait! Don't kill yourself kid!" the sword yelled, earning itself a hard glare from the teenager. "You're supposed to be my user. It will look bad if you commit suicide on the first day!"
"Isn't that an Intelligent Sword?" Kirche asked before Evan had the chance to open his mouth. "The type that has a mind of its own. You really brought a strange thing, Louise."
"I didn't know about it." Louise tried to defend herself. "I'll return this disgusting thing right away."
"Don't." Evan walked between the sword and the girls. "I'll use this one."
"Eh? But didn't you say that with your armor, there was no need for a sword?" Louise tried to argue back.
"As you said, it would be good to have an offensive weapon that's not a set of armor." Evan shrugged before taking the weapon into his hand. "Plus it said 'stupid women' which is always a plus on my book. Hey rusty, my name is Evan, make sure to remember it since we're going to be working together from now on."
"Sure thing partner!" the sword exclaimed. "My name is Delflinger."
Louise sighed, rubbing her temper. First summoning a familiar that was able to use magic better than second year mages, then buying an intelligent sword, which was able to talk, why did all the weird things in the world came to her and not someone else? She looked at her familiar talking with the sword and smiled a bit. As weird as all the stuff around her was, she was happy that her familiar liked the gift she brought him, even if it was Evan who choose it in the first place.
