Talking
Thinking
It's hard not to not update when so many reviews come in. I'm flattered by eight reviews on a single chapter on a story that just got published. Due to the nature of all the anon reviews, I decided to reply inside the chapter to everyone. Oh lord this is gonna be long.
Malix2 – Thankies
Yeza Nairomorf – Thankies
Razgriz – Thankies. I have some pretty long-lasting ideas and about a ten chapter outline that's pretty bare-bones
Colonial marine – Thankies.
PhantomGuardianoftheRepublic – Thanks. Hopefully my well of ideas for this story won't exhaust itself. I wrote this story for a twofold reason. One I wanted to write a somewhat loopy wizard that gets into situations a bit above his head, and two... well I won't reveal two. There aren't enough of these types of stories that this is going to become. That's all the hint you lot get.
Panthour – I see you found my Familiar of Zero story. Nice to see you again.
MySadistChibi – I'm going to make as original a plot as I can from the very end of season one and onwards (since that's where I stuck him in. It'll be obvious in this chapter) I'm probably going to ignore all of season four to start out. I didn't particularly love season four, and I haven't really watched it that many times.
Guest - Thanks.
Chapter II: A Wizard Goes to an Academy
"You're the crown princess!?" I almost dropped my ale into my soup bowl, "You aren't what I expected at all! I expected some evil tyrannical ruler that used magic to rule with an iron fist."
"Why?" the girl took another sip of tea
"It's what I've come to expect from dimension hopping." I shrugged, "I've dealt with tyrannical magic empires before. They usually threaten to kill common people who dare to talk to them, even if they do know how to do magic."
"So there are other worlds besides here and Saito's?" Henrietta's eyes shone, "How wonderful!"
"She just ignored my tyrannical magic empire comment. Countless." I nodded and drained another tankard of ale, "Ahhhh my magic reserves are finally full. Gotta love that alcohol does that."
"How do you drink so much alcohol?" a female soldier with short blonde looked at me like I was some sort of crazy person.
"Well I am a bit crazy. Comes with the profession." I tried to get a few more drops out of the clay tankard, "My body turns it straight into magic. I can't even get drunk. You sure you're okay with paying for all this Henrietta?"
"Princess Henrietta or Your Highness to you." the soldier rebuked me sternly
"Yeah yeah," I grumbled, "So Your Highness, which I'm only saying so she gets off my back, is it really okay for you to pay for all of this?"
"Yes." the girl giggled a little before nodding, "You did save my life, and I appreciate it greatly."
"She knows how to lay it on thick doesn't she," I felt a little bit of heat creeping up into my cheeks, "Unless she's really this sincere and down to earth. Weird princess. So! Can you take me to see Saito, or do I need to track him down myself using a tracking spell?"
"I'm heading there to the academy of magic where he and Louise are tomorrow." Henrietta pushed back her chair and wrapped a cloak around her shoulders, "I'd be delighted if you would join us at the royal home here and then travel with us tomorrow."
"I would..." I saw the blonde haired woman glaring at me, and grinned "Be delighted as well Princess."
On our way out, the soldier gave me an even more severe glare. I responded by grinning cheekily
It wasn't hard to tell which building was the Princess' local home. It was a massive, beautiful construct made of some very pretty looking wood. Smelled a bit like oak. It sort of looked like some of the houses back home in the U.S.A. that were around during the colonial age. Places like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson's homes.
"SO!" I stopped in front of the house's ornate gate, "Which of the 100 rooms is mine?"
the frustrating princess just took it in stride. No glares or laughs. I must be losing my touch. She just smiled gently and replied, "Agnes will lead you to your room Mr. Galahad."
"That girl is going to be one hell of a diplomat." I followed Agnes through the winding halls of the house, "She doesn't let a damn thing faze her."
"Here is your room Mr. Evenguard." Agnes gritted out, "Please enjoy your stay. Breakfast will be served at 7 a.m. or so."
"Thank you ma'am." I did a mock bow and waggled my eyebrows suggestively, "How may I thank you properly?"
Agnes' fist slammed into the door I managed to shut behind me just in time. I cackled evilly and flopped down on my bed, hearing a frustrated scream as Agnes stomped off away from the door, "Maybe I still got it after all. Henrietta's just exceptionally patient."
I leaned over to where I'd let my bag drop and rummaged around in it. After a short time, I pulled out a stuffed bat plush.
"Time to get to work now rather than later," I sighed tiredly, "I hate doing unnecessary magic work. Stupid thugs burning my penguin to ash."
I woke up with my face smudged in chalk and my arm crushing a small penguin. I cursed sleepily and grabbed my fedora and coat. The sun looked like it was just rising, so I was probably going to be somewhat early for breakfast. Oh well. I brushed the chalk off my face and stumbled out the door.
To my surprise, Henrietta was already there, sipping something lemony smelling and steaming from a mug. It was probably some sort of tea. It smelled delicious once I took another whiff. I wondered briefly if she would share. I was a bit partial to tea.
Henrietta smiled at me and called for a maid to bring me some food. I wasn't at all surprised to see crepes and some sort of peanut spread by the smell and color. I was already fairly certain that this country at least was related to France. I took the platter with a bow of my head and a smile. The maid curtseyed and went off to do something else. Probably to clean dishes judging by the soapy smell coming from her hands.
I grabbed the fancy silver knife and spread the peanut spread and some jelly on my crepe. I wrapped it up and bit into it. Ahhhh... Crepes were the single greatest thing the French created. I hadn't had one of these babies in years. The last time was when my master took me to that french speaking plane of one-eyed people. These were much better tasting due to sitting with a two-eyed beautiful princess, "One-eyed people are a little unnerving."
"Is that good?" the princess put her hand over her mouth and laughed softly. I was apparently showing my great appreciation of crepes with my facial expressions. At least that was what I assumed. I was never all that great at hiding emotions or lying. Wizards sucked at that. Of course that was probably because wizards are forbidden to lie. I... sometimes was forced to bend the rules a tiny bit to work my business, but that really wasn't the worst rule I'd broken as a wizard.
"Wizards are above all else adaptable," I repeated the most important code from my lessons in my head, shaking it vigorously, drawing a curious look from Henrietta, "Some rules are meant to be bent and even broken to save a life."
"Are you okay Mr. Galahad?" the princess was still looking at me.
"Should you really be calling me Mr.?" I raised an eyebrow, "You're the royalty here. I probably shouldn't even be sitting at the same table as you according to your customs."
"Hmm..."she put a finger on her chin, "Maybe. I'm sure my advisers would be begging me to do just that if they were here. They aren't though, so I'm going to do what I want."
I snorted and ended up choking momentarily on some half chewn crepe. It was good to see she didn't take her job too seriously. I was sick of dealing with the fuddy duddies in the council back home when it came to people in high power.
"You're sure you're the princess?" I teased.
"Her Highness' heritage isn't in question." Oh hello Agnes. Please try not to sneak upon me, "How long were you two down here alone!? He could have killed you at any time Princess!"
"Relax Agnes." Henrietta rested her hands in her lap, "I'm fully confident that Mr. Galahad will not be killing me now or ever. Besides we weren't alone, there were several maids here a few minutes ago. Please sit and have some breakfast before we head on our way to the academy. We'll be traveling a bit more incognito, so I'll need to go get a cloak to disguise myself with. Please excuse me."
"Way to leave me with Agnes." I sighed, "Is she trying to get us to get along or something? Either that or she wants me to get choked to death."
The carriage was very dark. The driver had pulled the curtains over the windows to prevent anyone from seeing us inside.
"So why didn't you do this at first?" I asked, "It was obvious some sort of royalty was in that procession earlier.
"I was going to switch to this once we got to my family home." Henrietta replied from underneath the hood of the cloak she had wrapped around her body, "We got attacked before there was a chance to arrive."
Seemed reasonable enough. I nodded and leaned back into the squishy seats of the carriage, "People don't make chairs plush enough anymore on 5th Earth."
For those that don't know, Earth as you would know it is the 5th time a planet in a plane that has been named Earth. Planet namers got lazy after a few hundred dimensions. Anyways on with the story.
After what felt like hours, and actually was hours, the carriage stopped, and we quietly stepped out of the carriage. It was already nighttime, and pretty late judging by the position of the two moons. I loved it when planets in planes had multiple moons. Henrietta informed me that she and I were going to use a levitation spell to lift up into Louise's room so that she could talk to her dear friend and so I could do whatever I needed to do with Saito. The whole situation smelled of something really important, and my detective senses were tingling. Hopefully the information would be as juicy as it sounded, not that I would ever use it against someone who was rapidly becoming a weirdly quick friend. Speaking of detective stuff, I needed to call up Mr. Hiraga as soon as I got the chance. I decided I'd let Saito do it.
Henrietta waved her wand and muttered some words, and I felt myself slowly lifting of the ground and up towards a window in one of the academy's five towers that branched out from the main massive building.
"If I had to guess, they're mostly dormitories like this one appears to be." I mused, looking inside some of the other windows to see sleeping people around my age.
We levitated up to almost the top floor, and Henrietta gently pushed in the window, which was luckily unlocked. She then did a few gestures with her wand, and we both landed on the floor gently.
"Nice spell work Princess," I said, "No sense of vertigo, and we went straight up without any bobbing or swaying."
"uh uh uh." I looked to the middle of the room to see a very petite girl with pink hair stuttering and looking at us like we were ghosts, "All right. Is strange hair color on girls going to be a thing on this plane?"
"Princess!?" the pink-haired girl rushed forward, almost knocking me down in her wake, "W-what are you doing here!? Especially so late! And... who is this man with you!?"
"So many questions," I did a jaunty little bow, taking note of the Japanese teen standing near the back of the room " Must be Saito. Detective Galahad Evenguard at your service. I'm here to talk to Saito Hiraga, but I believe the princess has words for you first."
"Princess?"
"Louise." Henrietta took Louise's hands into her own, "I have a very important favor to ask of you. It needs to be carried out immediately and secretly if you accept."
"Anything princess."
"Please Louise." Henrietta dropped the girl's hands and moved to sit on the bed, "When we're in private won't you call me by my first name? We are the best of friends after all."
"Princess you know I can't." the girl replied stubbornly.
"Yes... I know." Henrietta sighed, and smiled gently, "You wouldn't be you if you did. Now, onto the favor I wish to ask of you. You do not know this, but I have decided to marry into Germania."
"A classic arranged marriage for protection or peace," I mused, "This world is as medieval as it looked."
"What!? But why Princess?" Louise appeared to be outraged, "Germania is a stuck-up savage country!?"
"Oh there we go." I shook in silent laughter, "There's one of the nobles I expected. She's the stuck-up one from the sounds of it."
"It... can't be helped," poor girl sounded as depressed as Louise was angry, "I need the marriage to solidify ties between us and Germania to ensure their protection." My detective senses were tingling again, "I wonder if she's depressed over something more than being forced to marry a stranger."
"Ah so it's one of those political marriages." Saito stuck up a finger, "Good to see Mr. Hiraga's son has a brain on him."
Louise shut him up rather rudely, and Henrietta continued.
"I'm the princess of Tristain." she sighed and looked down at her feet, "And...I won't hesitate to do what I need to do to protect the citizens of this country. Even if it means to sacrifice my happiness to marry a stranger."
"Okay she definitely has someone she's in love with. I'll bet my left toe that's what this favor involves."
Henrietta rose to her feet and walked back towards the window, "I need you to recover an item for me Louis Francoise."
"An item?" Louise tilted her head to the side cutely, "I'll give her that much. She may be rude, but she does a good job of looking innocent and cute."
"Yes. A letter a sent to Prince Wales of Albion. If someone of importance reads it, the marriage could be lost." Henrietta replied, "CALLED IT! She sent a love letter of some kind and she needs it destroyed."
"What kind of letter could-" Saito (?) started, but was immediately cut off by a kick to the shin. His master had him whipped already apparently. She was a violent one.
"I...have no else I can trust to ask." Henrietta began to shake, and my sharper than normal ears barely heard a few drops of water splashing on the floor every few seconds, "I-I am sorry to ask this of my very best friend, but I have no one else to turn to."
The door suddenly creaked. Both Saito and I whipped our head around, and I immediately released my speed enhancement runes and dashed for the door, not entirely sure why I was being so protective of the Princess' and now Louise's and Saito's secret. "I must be going crazy in my elevated age. It happens to wizards quite frequently."
I bowled over a blonde haired man with a slightly unbuttoned ruffled shirt and the same kind of cloak Louise was wearing. I pinned him to the ground and gave him my best wizardly glare I could muster.
"Wait wait wait good sir!" the man stammered, "Do not harm me, I only wished to offer my assistance in the matter after hearing the Princess' unfortunate plight. I would never harm a hair on her highness's head!"
I looked back at Henrietta, and she gave me a quick nod to let the guy up. The man, which I learned was named Guiche did indeed offer his assistance, to which Louise and Saito protested heavily. I wondered why briefly, then thought about all the archetypes of personalities I had encountered over the years, "Yeah I can see why you might dislike him. Players aren't all bad though, usually they're pretty decent guys if you can get them to correct some of their less noble behaviors."
Henrietta agreed to let him help, and bid us all a good night before floating out the window. Louise promptly ordered Saito to wash her clothes the moment Henrietta's cloak vanished from view. The girl herself then left the room followed by Guiche.
"Wait a second." I was left all alone in the room, "They forgot about me!?"
-Forscythe