Familiar Phases

by Sitting on the Event Horizon

Twenty five phases, twenty five stories of familiars summoned to Helkagania, and one void mage who had summoned them all - Louise Valliere.

2. Eden Familiar

Hi, Sitting on the Event Horizon here, and yes I know it was a long time since I had uploaded the first chapter of this series of one-shots. I think I'll keep my author's notes of the first chapter intact as a reminder of how long I have been gone.

Just so you know, I have a life outside of fan fiction and it had been a hard two years for me as I still need to eke out a living just to provide for my basic needs and pay for the installment of this computer and internet connection that I am currently using.

So, I have gotten new chapter and new penname for the coming new year. Yay.

Kindly be reminded that I do not own either Zero no Tsukaima or Elemental Gelade. The former belongs to Media Factory (Manga and Light Novel) and JC Staff (Anime) and the late Naboru Yamaguchi being its creator.

As for the latter, it belongs to Mag Garden (Manga and Light Novel), XEBEC (anime) and both Taito Corporation and Jupiter for the games. Written (Manga) and Illustrated (Light Novel) by creator Mayumi Azuma and written in the Light Novels by Asaka Shou.

Please read and enjoy this unusually long phase aptly named...

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Phase Two: An Eden Familiar

A certain airship was passing by a certain floating island when it found itself being chased by a pirate ship. Not a run of the mill pirate ship and equally incompetent crew, but the one owned by the most infamous sky pirates of them all – the Red Lynx.

The said pirate crew could take on any ship and leave with its valuables in mere minutes, a record for pirates anywhere. This was why the Red Lynx were feared and respected the world over.

The cargo ship's crew had snapped to it once they had heard the alarms and arrived at their battle stations to repel the fast approaching ship.

Within the said cargo ship was a sealed box with a very special cargo, a cargo whose expectant owner would literally kill to have. A cargo that would have profound changes to this world, if fate had not thrown a specific curve ball and had it whisked to a world where it was not wanted but surely needed.

To explain, we come back to the scenes outside of the cargo hold where the said box is hidden. We could see gyrocopters going head to head with the cargo ship's emplaced weaponry, guns and cannons blazing away with bullets and shells heating the air as they whizz through it.

Missiles were targeted and launched by other gyrocopter's at the rear of the ship in order to disable the ship's steering mechanisms or its power plant.

The strikes had worked thus the cargo ship had suddenly lost a bit of its lift and propulsion power, meaning that the ship could not move in the air fast enough to escape if need be.

Given the situation, the ship owner (a blonde young man wearing fancy robes) had told his ship's crew to repel any and all pirates that were now boarding the ship.

Among the newcomers was a young man named Cou Van Guiruet who had fallen from his ridden gyrocopter into the roof of the main deck and landing on the owner himself.

He had later ended up with a girl named Vito who had been discovered inside the ship and seemed to be guarding something when that something had disappeared.

-oOo-

Unnoticed by everyone during the chaos of battle, a certain box had fallen into a glowing green circle before both had disappeared. The said box was transported through space time as seen in concentric circles that the box had passed through before emerging a hundred feet in the air above a certain building with six towers.

About a day earlier, a certain class about Alchemy was being taught. The middle-aged teacher, Miss Cheveruse, was telling her class about Earth magic, that she had a dot level with, was the magic that revitalizes the plants and as such is very useful.

Notice the part that since the slightly plump red headed teacher is an Earth mage, of course she would value that element above the others.

The same could be said for a certain blond Cassanova who shall not be named until a little later.

Getting back to the story, Miss Cheveruse had asked for a volunteer to demonstrate the magical spell to turn the rocks that she had placed on the table to another, the said spell being Alchemy.

A lot of hands were raised, but one pair had remained in their places at the wooden desk. The plump teacher had seen this and thus had called upon the said student's attention.

After the said student had stood up, a wave of protests was heard from the rest of the students.

"Don't, Miss Cheveruse, she will be the end of us all." One particular student had said in panic and fear.

"Hmph, like I could actually do something like that." The pink haired girl said in reply. "Do you even know who I am?"

"Yes, you are Louise the Zero so just give up on actually trying to even make that spell." A taller and sexier girl with honey brown skin was saying to the irritation of the other girl. "It'll only end in an explosion like always."

"Well, I'll show you." Louise the…Magnificent (sweat drop) said before pulling out her wand from its holder and started chanting the same thing as her instructor, only one could see how concentrated she was in bringing the needed image to her mind's eye and transferring it to her magical power."

Then again, considering the explosion that followed (actually heard in the School Master's office in another tower and three floors up), I could not say that our little heroine had done any better than she was credited to be.

Now we come back to the present from another point of view- Louise's. Our little heroine had woken up with dread at mucking up one of the most important traditions of mages in Helkagania – the Summoning of Servants where mages receive their familiars that would help them in daily tasks and protect them while they cast their spells.

She had arrived just in time for the rest of her classmates to start their summoning of their soon to be familiars or partners in life.

Among the first group of mages that had started the tradition was a familiar face – Montmorency.

The blonde mage, whose family was among part of the old order of powerful and therefore respected mages, had just completed her summoning.

In a puff of smoke, a frog had appeared at her feet. The frog, a light orange golden frog, was examined and even cuddled by the blonde as her element was truly what she had expected – Water.

A few others had followed with different results, there was the ordinary familiar composed of ordinary pets (a hawk could be ordinary pet, you know), somewhat rare familiars composed of mostly of bugbears and other mythical but still ordinary creatures (a certain fire mage's familiar does belong in this category, in my honest opinion), and then there is the rare familiar that everyone could only gawk at.

The last example has actually belonged to a quiet (maybe even mousy, ouch!) short girl with short blue hair. A foreigner with top notch magic skills, she had smiled at seeing a familiar that is not only would be great to look at but very helpful in a fight.

After about a half-hour had passed before nearly everyone had completed their summoning tasks, when the instructor in charge – Jean Colbert had asked if there was anyone who had not called up their familiars yet.

Louise was about to sneak out of the crowd of students when she had heard an annoying (and pretty sexy voice) saying out loud. "Professor, I believe that Louise Valliere had not summoned her familiar yet."

"I'm gonna get you for that," Louise was telling her most hated classmate in a near whisper as she had passed Kirche on her way to the front of the crowd. The tall Germanian had only smiled teasingly in response.

Once the pink haired mage had reached the front of the crowd, Louise had felt an uneasiness creep into her consciousness as if she had somehow changed a world's fate. Thus she had added in a soft voice – "I beg of you."

Little did she know that she was half right as two worlds would be forever be changed with just a few words and a wave of her wand.

Shaking her negative feelings out of her head, Louise then chanted the magical words that she would remember for a very long time.

"My servant, who lives somewhere in the universe!"

Louise then paused as she had thought of her next set of words for her special summoning.

"Oh sacred, strong, and beautiful familiar spirit!"

Another pause as the other students and faculty member were surprised at the rewording of the summoning spell.

"Answer to my guidance!"

A loud explosion complete with a lot of smoke and a shockwave strong enough to push almost everyone near the spot where Louise had pointed a few feet away and most often onto their backsides and loud enough to be heard a kilometer or two outside.

After the smoke had cleared with some help from a passing wind, something had emerged at the exact spot that had given Louise a sense of pride…before it had turned to a sense of terror as a large black wooden box with many strange runic symbols was seen.

"Good grief, Louise." Someone shouted in horror upon seeing the box. "You just summoned a coffin."

"It's not a coffin," our little pink haired mage yelled back. "It is not shaped like a coffin."

"Then what the heck is it then?" Montmorency shouted back, clinging onto her boyfriend who was hugging her back.

"Other than a box, how should I know?!"

"Be quiet!" Colbert had enough thus he had lost his temper. "Louise, help me to open this box."

In truth, he was feeling strange vibes from the box that had gotten his combat instincts on overdrive. He and Louise had searched for any door or opening by looking for any slits along the body and even used their hands to feel the slit that they could not see.

After a few minutes, they had found a certain slit running across the top of the box and Colbert had put tried to pull it open with his hands. Colbert's fingers had found purchase in one of the larger depressions just beyond their view and lifted slowly.

Under the opened portion of the top, was a glass pane with a pale face of young girl with hair similar in color to a member of Royalty, but much longer and almost leaning to light purple.

Colbert then searched for any hole in the edge of the wooden plank and found it on the opposite side from him. He then lifted the plank up and put it to his side with a soft thump.

"Now, Louise." The balding instructor then told his student. "Seal the contract now."

Gulping her breath in fear and trying not to think that she was now master to a zombie, Louise then leant down towards the sleeping figure inside the box with her eyes closed.

She had later realized that her lips had met the girl's own pale pink lips. The said contact had actually done two things – wake the girl up while shaking her left hand in pain and sealing the contract.

The girl then suddenly sat up, pushing the mage out of the box and on her back in the grassy ground.

The girl then looked at her surroundings slowly before grabbing the two edges of the boxes and used her arms to lift herself out of the box. She then shakily stood up before regaining her balance and stepping out of the box itself.

Louise, angered by the sudden exit, had yelled. "Hey, you better apologize for pushing me to the ground."

The girl had only given our little heroine a blank stare and nothing more. This had infuriated the Valliere girl so much that she had grabbed her wand, hoping to give her a taste of her own medicine.

"Louise, believe it or not, she is your familiar." Colbert said while grabbing the hand that held the wand.

As for the rest of the class, other than look at her dark purple dress, the distinctly patterned ribbon that she was wearing in her hair, and finally the white metallic platform boots that she wore, they did nothing.

The boys did drool upon realizing that the girl is a real beauty in an ethereal way with the girls beginning to envy the newcomer's simple beauty.

The said girl still had gotten Louise in a staring contest that former did with nary a blink. Her green eyes had partially hidden a sliver of hate, the only sign of emotion from the skinny and pale faced girl.

"That's it," Louise said as she had raised her wand quickly. "I'll make sure that she would remain this way for the rest of her miserable life."

After mumbling an incantation, the void mage then fired a Silence spell at the staring girl. To Louise's surprise, the girl then said. "What happened?"

Everyone had already left by then on Colbert's order and thus only the three of them were left. The balding educator was not that surprised that the Valliere girl would screw up a basic status ailment spell despite her showing high marks in a written exam.

"I would like to apologize for what my student just did, young miss." The instructor said while giving the mage a silencing look. "May we know your name please?"

"I am Reverie Metherlence," the girl said with a soft voice. "Where am I? Who are you?"

"Well, I am Jean Colbert, a teacher in the magic Academy." Jean said while sighing in relief as Louise had become silent. "This is my student – Louise Valliere."

"Does she always act like that?" Even if Reverie was speaking softly, it still radiated a coldness that even the other students could feel and thus had shivered involuntarily. Even they know fear and this slim girl had brought it out easily as they could feel her real power even from far away.

It was weird to feel such a slim almost bony girl about Louise's size develop a magical aura that dwarfs their own easily.

Even Colbert was surprised at the level of power that he could now feel oozing from Metherlance's little body. This is no ordinary being that Louise had summoned to be her familiar.

As for Louise herself, she was having mixed feelings at the power that she could feel emanating from her soon to be familiar.

She was proud of herself for actually summoning a familiar with latent power that would rival even her mother's and also afraid at the fact that her familiar had looked at her with a stare so full of hate that even sleeping with the ethereal girl was a bad idea.

Colbert had shaken the cobwebs off his head before answering the given question. "No, she does not. Louise only does that for a good reason and it would be best if you and she would talk about it in private."

Louise had gulped at the stated fact as she could actually feel the green orbs boring into her soul and she had tried to ignore it as much as she could. She then said. "I-I t-think that we need to head to my room so we could have some needed rest. It-it has been a long day."

"Yes…it is."

Both girls then left with the smaller one leading the slightly taller one to her dorm room. Colbert had watched the girls leave before realizing that he had seen the runes in Metherlance's left hand before.

He too then left for the library.

-oOo-

Both Louise and Ren were quiet as they had entered the central building and walked up the stairs. The latter had turned her head this way and that, clearly fascinated with the architecture of the middle tower.

After going up three floors, the duo then reached the floor where Louise's own room was located.

They had turned to the left and walked past a few doors before stopping in the wooden door that had Louise cursory written in the gold nameplate just above their heads.

The pink haired mage then brought out her key from her school bag and used it to turn the lock hidden inside the keyhole.

Louise then stood aside to let Ren open the door for her. Ren did turn the brass knob to the right and pushed the door with ease despite her outward appearance.

Both girls then sat down on the bed and talked as the mage had closed the door and locked it. Louise was still feeling a little awed as she could easily feel Ren's aura and could not help but be envious at her hidden power.

"I can see that you hate us so may I ask why?" The pink haired noble asked with a quiet voice. "I know I'm haughty around people because they see me as a poor excuse of a mage so what's your excuse."

"I…I was coveted by people as a weapon of great power," Ren answered in monotone, surprised that she could tell a stranger, a human stranger of her own predicament. "I think it is better that I tell you about Edel Raids so you could understand."

Louise had only nodded as she could not understand how a little girl that seemed too thin to be normal be considered as a weapon.

"An Edel Raid is a humanoid that possess a gem or Elemental Gerard on her body," Ren then said while looking at Louise's body language for any signs of the other girl's interest as she had raised the hair on her forehead to show her green gem. "Each Elemental Gerard can be of different attributes that is divided into four rings, three of which is known before I had fallen asleep. It is also said that an Elemental Gerard holds the Edel Raid's own soul."

"What are the attributes then?" Louise was certainly getting interested, her tiredness forgotten. "Also what are they strong or weak against? I won't use you as a weapon though, but you're welcome to help me defend ourselves if we need to"

Ren's lips had curved into a smile at the excitement of her master as she was beginning to see that not all humans were bad as Louise was only interested in her kind as much as a child who wants to learn about weapons and not use them. She then asked the older girl if she could get a parchment so they could put it in a list.

Louise then slid out of her bed and grabbed a large parchment, a quill, a book, and an ink bottle. She then sat down on her study table where she had placed the items and held the quill in her right hand, ready to list down yet another subject that she was interested in.

Ren then spoke up. "In the first ring of the Edel Raid attributes, we have Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Greenery, and Wisdom. Earth is strong to Wind, but weak to Wisdom. Wind, which is my attribute, is strong to Fire, but weak to Earth."

After a beat, the purple haired girl then added. "Fire is strong to Water, but weak to Wind. Water is of course weak to Fire, but strong to Greenery."

Louise's nose had twitched as she said. "I'm beginning to see a pattern here."

Ren then giggled as her master had finally seen the pattern of her description. "Yes, as some attributes are strong to another attribute, weak to another attribute, and neutral to the rest."

"Ok, continue then before we have to go to sleep." Louise's eyes were sparkling at the new research material that has a lot more elements if she could call it that then their own set.

"Alright, we have Greenery that is weak to Fire, but strong to Wisdom and Wisdom that is weak to Greenery but strong to Earth."

"Wow, the list just went full circle." Louise was saying while continuing to scribble on her parchment with fervor. "I think we have just enough time to continue just one ring before we really need to sleep."

A knock on the door had deterred Louise from saying more and thus she said. "Come in."

A slightly older girl in a maid uniform then opened the door slowly and the first thing the room's occupants had seen was a pretty oriental face framed by short black hair topped with a white hairband that looked like a crown.

The girl then bowed and said. "Forgive my intrusion, but my name is Siesta and I was told by Headmaster Osmond to serve as your personal maid."

"Did you ask him why?" Louise was confused as to why she was given a personal maid just now as she had closed the ink bottle. "Did he do this to other students too?"

"No, just you Mademoiselle and he did not explain why other than there just too many maids in this school to cover all of the staff's and student's needs this year."

"Well then, I guess you could take care of my laundry then." Louise said as she stood up. "Would you please close the door?"

"Of course, Mistress." Siesta replied before closing the door quietly.

Louise then headed for the wooden screen where she had changed to her nightgown. She then emerged in a light green nightgown before handing over the soiled uniform to Siesta.

The maid then curtsied and left quickly, the taps of her brown boots quick and almost quiet. Louise then went back to her desk so she and Ren could continue their talk.

"Do you have a spare nightgown that I could use?" Ren then asked her mistress.

"Well, I do." Louise answered while opening the ink bottle once again. "You'll find it in the closet."

"Thank you," Ren then followed Siesta's lead and curtsied before heading to the closet and pulled a light pink nightgown from it. She then went to the screen before changing into her nightgown and removed her shoes.

After returning to the bed, Ren then continued her lesson. "Well start the second ring composed of the following: Beauty, Sound, Shield, Sword, Love, and Void."

"Void?"

"Well, in our case, Void is nothingness." Ren answered with a shrug. "This is why it is weak to Love but strong to Beauty. Love is…fullness of emotions or satisfaction while Beauty is beauty."

"Some of those attributes sure are out there," the noble said while writing down the newly told information.

"Yeah, I'm beginning to think so too." Ren said after a beat. "Moving on, we have Beauty that is weak to Void as nobody could even see beauty in nothingness and strong to Sound."

"I guess some things are better seen not heard," the mage said before giggling. Ren had to think about how it was related to her lecture before laughing heartily just the same.

"Then we have Sound which is weak to Beauty, but strong to Shield." Ren was able to regain her composure at her mistress that actually made her laugh, breaking her self-imposed wall even more. "Shield is weak to Sound as Sound could easily pass through walls but strong to Sword."

"Well, we could say that Shield being strong to Sword is self-explanatory."

"Yes it is, so Sword is weak to Shield but strong to Love."

"Well, hate defeats love anyway."

"And finally, Love is weak to Sword but strong to Void."

"Thank you, Miss Metherlance." Louise said while packing up her writing materials.

"Don't mention it," Ren was saying with a small smile. "And call me Ren, Mistress."

"I think it's better that you only call me Mistress in public," the noble said while standing up. "In private, you can call me Louise as you're the only person who I can relate with in more ways than one."

Ren then stood up so she could sleep in the haystack beside the bed when a lithe hand had landed on her shoulder. She then looked behind her to see Louise who had shaken her head, her cheeks colored.

"I've heard that soldiers sleep with their weapons in their beds and since you're going to be my sword so to speak, you'll be joining me here."

"I might as well then," Ren replied with a sigh as both girls then lied in the bed under the covers and slept while holding each other.

-oOo-

The next day, both Louise and Ren were woken up by Siesta who had already washed the pink haired's clothes the night before and also brought them breakfast straight from the kitchen.

Just as Siesta was about to leave, Louise had called her name.

"Mistress, there is no reason for me to clean your room at the moment as I can still clean it while you are in class?" Siesta said with her head bowed.

"Siesta, as your mistress, I order you to come eat with us." Louise said after a few minutes while looking at the floor.

"But Mistress, I can eat in the kitchen like the others and come back to clean up your mess."

"Alright, but just be proud that you're a maid of the Valliere family and thus is under my supervision." Louise said as she could not get the poor maid to be ridiculed just because the said maid is now under her control. "If anyone treats you bad, they will answer to me."

"Yes, Mistress." Siesta then replied with a curtsy before closing the door on her way out. "By your leave, Mistress."

"Granted."

Turning to Ren, the diminutive mage then added. "Let us eat before we get to class, unless you wanted to wait for me here."

"I will wait for you here, Louise." Ren said with a slight smile. "I have learned to trust both you and even Siesta, but I cannot say the same with the others."

"I understand."

-oOo-

In Miss Cheveruse's class an hour later, Louise was being asked by her classmates on where her creepy familiar had gone to.

Louise was about to blow her top at the mention of her familiar, but the arrival of the professor had stopped all chatter.

She then tapped her wand on her desk to draw the class' attention. In response, the whole class had changed their focus from the stewing Louise to the impatient teacher.

The class then continued until Miss Cheveruse had asked the class on what are the four levels of magic. She was a little disappointed that Louise did not raise her hands immediately as she always did before so she had called Montmorency who did.

The blonde water mage then said with look of superiority at Louise before enumerating the said levels. "First there is a dot mage level or only one using element. Then there is the line mage or able to use two elements like fire and wind or water and earth. This is much more difficult than using a dot level as it involves two elements who may even oppose each other."

The slightly portly red haired teacher then nodded in delight as yet another student was studying her lessons along with her magic. She then signaled Montmorency to sit down and let another student continue the answer.

Another hand was raised, this time it belonged to an orange haired student named Reynald Delacroix and thus she had called him as well.

"The third level is called triangle and it is much harder to master than line level spells as the presence of opposing elements is much higher and thus much more willpower is required to utilize it. Then there is the square level magic which is even much harder to master and even more willpower is required."

"Ah, but why is there a pentagram level of magic that even this very school had followed."

A look of confusion was seen in the class until one petite hand was raised. Cheveruse then said. "Yes, Miss Valliere."

"The final element if you could call it that is Void," Louise then said with a shrug. "Unlike the other elements, it is mostly left alone as only one man could utilize it along with the rest of the elements and that is our Founder – Brimir."

"Well done, Miss Valliere." Chevaruse was already clapping in delight as did some of the other students like Reynald, Gimli, and even Montorency even if the last one was just polite clapping.

"Well, let's try to distinguish the elements then." The red headed instructor then told her students to further test their knowledge in their elemental affinity. "I'll choose four students and ask them how they would describe their own affinitive elements. Ready?"

"Ready."

"Alright, we'll start with Tabitha." Cheveruse then looked at the blue haired girl who was listening intently at the recitation of her classmates. "Tabitha, please tell us what you think of your affinitive element."

"Wind, it is malleable, invisible, and powerful." Tabitha answered succinctly. "A force that would strike its foes with combined precision and strength."

"Very good," the professor said with a clap. "Well, then Montmorency; it's your turn."

"Water- a great force that is capable of creation or destruction." Montmorency said while thinking about what endeared her to her element. "It is capable of healing wounds or creating them."

"Well said," the Red Clay had underestimated her own class and again clapped. "Kirche von Zerbst, please do not go overboard in your adjectives."

"Oh please, superlatives would not be enough to describe the beauty and power of fire." The dark skinned beauty retorted. "Fire – it is an element that would smolder a forest, dry up a lake, crack stones, and works well with wind."

At the last one, Kirche then gave her diminutive friend a wink. Tabitha had never looked redder in the face before or ever since. Or at least, until a certain orange haired young man that she had later married had learned how to tease her properly.

"Students, quiet please."

"Guiche, as much as we share the same love for Earth magic, please do not follow Miss Zerbt's example."

"Of course, Professor." The blond Earth mage said with a bow. "Earth – it is the wall that protects us, the ground that supports us, and the provider of sustenance."

"At least, it was true and not as long as I would have thought." Cheveruse said as she had clapped just the same. "Unfortunately, we do not have anyone with an affinity with Void nor do we know much about it so let us leave it as it is. Even then, there are rumors that those that do have an affinity with them have negative affinity with the others except of course for the Founder himself."

"What?!" Louise then exclaimed as all eyes had turned to her. "Everyone knows that only the Founder is the only one who has it and he said that it is given to him by the gods."

"Miss Valliere is right," Cheveruse was trying to keep the peace as she had known Lady Karin personally and any bullying of her youngest child would raise her wrath albeit secretly. "Besides, having known to have the power of the Founder himself is considered a heretic."

The class had continued without any fanfare since Cheveruse was careful in picking volunteers to do the alchemic experiments with.

-oOo-

After the class had finished around ten in the morning, all second year students were given the rest of the day off. Louise was thinking of getting Ren outside to get some sunshine as the slightly younger girl would certainly need one.

After both Louise and Ren had gone down the stairs, they had found Siesta being verbally blistered by Guiche simply for not getting the pie that he was ordering.

As soon as the black haired maid had seen her mistress, she knelt in front of Louise and told her everything while trying to keep from sobbing. The blond haired noble was actually angry at her for getting both Montmorency, his girlfriend and a first year student named Katie to realize that he was two-timing them.

"Gramont, you pig." Louise then roared, almost forgetting the fact that Guiche's father is one of the premier generals of the Tristain Army. "Your father was a good man who did not even bat an eyelash at other women and only loved your mother since they met and you tend to place the blame solely on my personal servant. How could you?"

"Don't you dare bring my parents into your rant about what I do about your pesky maid?" Guiche was certainly enraged that his family's prestige was called into question just because of a slight error in judgment. "It is certainly not my fault that I am a flower that butterflies love to mingle about."

"Remove the butter from butterflies and replace the flower with excrement and it would be more fitting," a soprano voice was heard with some sobs. "Valliere, he had made both Katie and I look like fools so please defend our honor."

"I agree with Miss Montmorency," a second voice cried with as just as loud as voice as the first. "Make him pay, Miss Valliere."

The crowd had looked around before they all saw both Montmorency and the first year student – Katie standing together with the older girl's left arm on the shoulder of the younger one, their eyes burning like coals as they were willing to let the renegade mage to deal with the gigolo.

"Both of you; shut up." Guiche yelled as his face had turned red from anger. "It wasn't my fault that I am irresistible."

"That's enough!" Louise then yelled over Siesta's right shoulder as she had knelt down to take the crying maid into an embrace. "Those two girls that you have made fools of were not just ordinary commoner girls but nobles of their own right and seen by both the crown and my own family as people of good ranking."

"That's it," Guiche was thoroughly agitated as the Princess' pet had made him look like a bully to daughters of respectable families, one of whom was much closer to the Crown than his own. "Valliere, I challenge you and your creepy familiar to a duel."

"When and where, Gramont?"

"In half an hour within the Vestri Court," was the reply before Guiche had left in a huff. "There, I'll put you females in your place."

"We'll be there," the pink haired mage answered with an undertone filled with determination. "And we'll show you males that we women can be as good in battle as you."

Both the blonde second year and brown haired second year student then walked over to their new friends and bowed with respect, surprising the pink haired noble as well as both her familiar and maid.

Everyone else within the premises was just shocked at the fact that Guiche had challenged the youngest Valliere to a duel, not a very good idea.

"Louise, we owe you one for taking our case against that pig." Montmorency said for both students. "Thank you as well, Miss…"

"It's Siesta, but why even thank me?" The black haired maid said suddenly. "I just told you both on where Mister Gramont was."

"That's because, it was through your directions that we realized that we were played at by that stupid fop." Montmorency was still fuming at the fact that she had looked like lovesick and weak damsel in distress earlier. "If I wasn't engaged to that fop; I would have taken him on."

"And yet, you like him." Katie said rather smugly.

The older blonde's face had colored quickly before saying. "T-that's a-a lie."

"Why is your face red?" Ren had finally spoken up after observing the humans around her.

"S-shut up!"

"Don't worry, Montmorency." Louise said while putting a hand on the other girl's left shoulder. "We won't roughen him up…too much."

"I know that you won't," Montmorency said with a wide smile while wiping her tears with her right hand while her left hand had gently removed Louise's smaller hand and pushed her towards the direction of the battlefield. "Now go and make us proud…my friend."

While the trio had walked away, Ren could not help but say in a quieter voice. "Mistress, is there something wrong with your eyes?"

Both Montmorency and Katie just smiled at each other before following the three girls.

-oOo-

The pair then left for the aforementioned courtyard was talking about how to react with each other in order to fight. Ren simply said how to react and added that she would provide some guides on how to use her given abilities.

The three girls then pushed their way past puzzled spectators as they headed to the inner portion of the courtyard where Guiche was waiting for them.

"And here I thought that you would actually tell Old Osmond about me rather facing me yourselves," Guiche was saying rather cockily making even the audience begrudge him for being a jerk.

"We'll prove to you that we women could still fight as good as men do," Louise said in return. "I'm sure a lot of you guys think that Henrietta could not lead ants to a picnic. Well, if we win here, then she could do a better job than a lot of you chauvinists could."

"Enough talk," the blond son of a general said in exasperation as he had swung the rose on his left hand to let a petal fall to the ground to form a mannequin like golem made of bronze. "My Valkyrie, deal with you weaklings."

On the other side of the courtyard, Louise and Ren had held hands while chanting- "On a helpless but pretty night, soothing and comforting, and proposing on the eyelids, surrounded by the lively and bright fields of heaven."

It all happened in a moment; Ren seemed to be lifted into the air before disappearing with a bright glow that made everyone including Louise close their eyes.

After the light had subsided, in Louise's left arm is a crystal broadsword with a curved edge shaped like a ring pommel saber crossed with a scythe's blade. The hand guard where the pink haired mage's hand, wrist, and part of her arm had disappeared to has a large oval jewel that has the same color as Ren's Elemental Gelade with a large dark blue ribbon that looked like Ren's had encircled the hilt and its blade was sparkling in a peach pink hue.

The most surprising fact of the weapon was that Louise could easily swing it even though it was as long as she was tall and swung she did. The gust of wind that had resulted from the single swing was felt by Guiche and his Valkyrie almost immediately.

A set of runes had also glowed at the inner walls of the hand guard that only Louise could see and her mind seemed to be filled with information about handling the sword in her hand along with Ren's ethereal voice giving even more instructions.

"Thanks, Ren." Louise said to an ethereal figure over her right shoulder that people had tried to see. "I think we'll just go without songs today."

"Yes, Mistress." Ren said while looking for their enemy. "I still cannot understand why we seemed to be connected beside our pledge."

"So do I, Ren." Louise said as she had dashed forward to meet with the sword wielding valkyrie. "But let's leave that for later. I'm coming for you, Gramont."

Guiche had his golem try to leap then come down on the running mage and hope to shatter her own blade. Louise had seen this coming and used Ren's sword form to cover herself.

The golem's sword had shattered at the impact between the two swords and Louise had finished the said golem with one angled overhead slash as the Valkyrie was falling to the ground as dust.

"Next," Louise said without even getting tired as she had rushed at the Earth mage once again. "You're getting sloppy, Gramont."

Guiche had tried not to panic as he had pulled three petals of his flower wand; the said petals had floated to the ground before turning into three valkyries.

"Get them," he yelled in both fear and embarrassment. "You outnumber them."

The three valkyries then charged at the nearing mage/swordswoman hybrid with their weapons raised high.

Louise had dodged a slash from above by means of an ax before spinning away from a spear thrust then backpedaled to avoid getting smashed from a war hammer swung from the side, all because of Ren's timely warnings.

The pink haired mage then spun a second time in the opposite direction while holding her new weapon parallel to the ground, slashing two of the three golems in the process.

The last golem, the ax wielding one was directed by Guiche himself to backpedal so that it could evade the attack and position itself for its own strike.

The pink haired mage had seen the evasion and thus side-stepped just fast enough to be directly in front of the golem and gave it a swift thrust to where its stomach would be, hitting its spine instead. The said golem had turned into dust once defeated.

The Earth mage had produced a second rose and plucked five petals in quick succession. Louise was a bit tired by now and thus had told Ren. "Ok, maybe just one would suffice."

While the five valkyries were charging towards Louise, she and Ren had made a song* before the former swung her sword once again in a clockwise direction. "Euros Loop."

A visible green tornado was born from this attack and it had knocked out all of the golems in one pass before leaving green dust after it was gone.

Guiche's quick thinking was seen upon his sudden hitting of the dirt, letting the horizontal tornado pass him before it angled upwards and dissipating.

The nobles watching the duel along with those watching from the offices or in Osmond's case, his crystal ball, were awed at the spectacle.

Guiche could not take it anymore and yelled. "I surrender."

Louise and Ren had smiled at their victory before a slumping Ren had canceled the pledge thus reappearing just behind Louise's left shoulder.

"That's great, Gramont." Louise said while visibly panting, her hands on her knees. "Now excuse us while we take a nap."

Both girls then fell to the grassy ground before the other girls came to carry them to Louise's room.

A catatonic Guiche was carried by his own friends – Reynald, Gimli, and Malicorne to his own room, his own pride broken by two petite girls in single combat.

-oOo-

Siesta had thanked both Montmorency and Katie for helping her carry the unconscious Louise and Ren to Louise's room as they left the duo in the bed before leaving them to sleep.

Siesta then headed back to the kitchen to prepare lunch while both Montmorency and Katie had continued to talk at the latter's room.

The maid had returned to the room and left their lunch before coming back to the kitchen both to help the kitchen staff out and also to help perpetuate the legend of Louise and her transforming familiar.

It was much later that Louise and Ren had woken up and smiled at each other for winning the duel, they also ate the cold lunch that Siesta had made for them before getting back to their lessons and some additional homework for Louise.

While the girls were studying, there was a knock on the door. Ren had answered it as Louise was still doing her homework.

They were surprised to see Guiche de Gramont being escorted by Montmorency Montmorency to their doorway.

"Come in," the Edel Raid said while stepping aside to let the pair enter the room.

"Before anything else, I'd like to say I'm sorry for what I said earlier." The humbled noble said before sitting down on the bed. "You were right, Valliere. We did think the same thing about Henrietta as we did with you. It's because unlike Lady Valliere, you two are both too soft and thus incapable of being good leaders and thus would be seen as trophy wives like all of the other girls."

"When I saw your teamwork and strength used against me, I realized that gender does not determine strength but character does." The blond noble said with his head hung in shame. "It is truly a shame that women are relegated to being homemakers and not men's equals in politics or war if there are more women like you and your mother."

"Guiche, I don't know what to say." Louise was quite touched by the apologetic visitor. "But I will continue to show all women in Helkagania that we can prove ourselves to be equal to men. Even if I'm not as superior to them as my mother did, just being equal is enough."

"Well I do," Montmorency said from her place by her on and off boyfriend's side. "If Lady Valliere could prove that we girls can kick ass then the rest of us could too in our own ways. I'm actually thinking of building a school for water mages solely for healing so that we could have more healing houses for everyone, commoners and nobles alike."

"Also, could you give us some information about Ren and how did she turn into a sword?" Guiche then spoke up. "We promise that we'll keep it to ourselves."

"I want to know too," came a muffled voice from behind the door.

"Come in Siesta and we'll give you as much information as you'd like." Louise said with a sigh as she had walked to the door. "Sit down wherever you like."

The maid did so and sat on the bed beside Montmorency, her face alight with excitement and pride.

"Well, let's go to the third of the four rings of the Edel Raid attributes." Ren said with a hint of pride in her voice after Louise had told them about Edel Raids and pleasures. "Miss Louise had already listed the first two last night and she said that you are welcome to read her notes if you would like, just keep it to yourselves."

"Ok, let us start with Light." Ren said without missing a beat considering the near uproar from the visitors. "Light is weak to Death, but strong to Darkness."

"Let's not go into detail just to keep the rest of the lecture light," Louise then added to the shocked teens. "Please continue, Ren."

"Thank you, Miss Louise." Ren said with a nod. "Then we have Darkness that is weak to Light and strong to Movement."

"I think that's because you can't see any movement in the dark anyway," Siesta said as she and the others were beginning to realize the same thing that Louise did the night before.

"Yes, Miss Siesta." Ren quipped with a little grin. "That does make sense in a way. So we go to Movement."

"And what is Movement strong to then?" Guiche was still confounded with the discussion.

"Quiet," was the given reply from the lone purple haired Edel Raid. "And it is not an order either."

"Figures." Everyone else said with a shrug before they all laughed.

"Moving on," Ren then quipped while they all settled down to their normal routine. "Quiet is weak to Movement, but strong to Life."

"I think that one is just too deep for anyone to decipher," Montmorency said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Right everyone?"

"Yes."

"Life is weak to Quiet, but strong to Death."

"Except for the Quiet part, I think anyone would understand it." Louise then quipped.

"And rounding up the list is Death that is weak to Life but strong to Light."

"Thank you, Miss Ren and we will keep it to ourselves." Guiche said in behalf of all the visitors. "Good night."

The three visitors then left the room quietly, leaving the room's occupants to themselves. A half an hour later, there was a second knock on the door.

When Louise had opened the door, she was surprised to see Siesta standing outside with her suitcase.

"Um, I had to leave my room to a newcomer who will take my old job." The slightly older girl said with a polite bow. "I'll take the straw bed if anyone doesn't mind."

"Alright," Louise said as she had let the maid came in. "On second thought, my bed still has enough room for one more."

It was later that night that Louise was in between two girls and she would not have it any other way.

-oOo-

The next day was Void Day and the trio had gone to the capital of Tristain – Tristania. Since there were three of them going to town, a stagecoach was rented to take the three of them to the capital itself.

Along the way, Louise had asked Ren on what she would like to wear. Ren answered that anything would be fine as long as it is not indecent.

"Mistress, would I be of help in the choice of clothes for Miss Ren?" Siesta then asked with her head bowed. "I promise that it would not be too expensive or inappropriate."

"Well, since I am not the best authority in picking out a good outfit so I leave it to you." Louise had whispered in the maid's left ear with a nod to which Siesta had raised her head and smiled. "Just don't tell anyone that fact."

Siesta then replied in the same way, ignoring the tickle in her ear coming from the shorter girl's warm breath. "Yes, Mistress. This will be our own secret."

-oOo-

But before they could buy some needed clothes, they thought of buying a sword for either Ren's or Siesta's use as they both could now be considered as Louise's sword and shield.

Siesta was told of a few quality weapon shops in the little alleyway that the other servant's had called Armory Avenue.

After looking through each store that offered prices too high or quality too low or even both, the trio had come to the end of their rope and was about to quit finding weapons for the "hired help" (Louise's words, not mine).

The store at the end of the alley was a bit odd looking as the weapons on display were not that shiny and yet Siesta had insisted that they may get a good deal here.

"A young woman that knows her weapons," A large man said as he had emerged from a door at the opposite wall from where the girls had come from. "Quite a rarity these days."

Ignoring the insult, Siesta then raised her hand to signal that she would speak up for them. "My mistress would like some weapons for myself and my fellow servant over there."

The large man then looked at the other two girls and laughed. "Do you think these two could actually wield a weapon let alone use one?"

"Yes, I do."

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"You can bet your store that she's serious," Louise then butted in, her little hand hovering over the bag where she had hidden her wand. "We did not come here just to be insulted by the likes of you."

"I guess you're the mistress that she was talking about," the storekeeper then said as he had again gauged the character of the girls before him through their body language. "So who's she then?"

"She's my other servant and sometime guard," the pink haired mage said with her arms crossed. "Now would you give us your best wares or do we need to look elsewhere."

"Well, there is something that I was saving for a great noble like you." The storekeeper replied before turning around and walking towards the shelves that had covered nearly the entire wall where the man had come from. "Please give me a minute to look for it."

"Thank you, Mistress." Siesta said with a bow at the mage.

"Well, this sword will be more than enough to slice off any enemy's head with ease." The storekeeper was telling the three girls while showing them a ceremonial sword with four jewels for all sides of the hilt. "It'll be costing six-thousand ecu if you please."

"I'm sorry, but my mother had bought her new sword wand for even less than an eight of that amount and that was just a month ago."

"Well, since you're the expert, why don't you look for what you think is best." The store owner said with a huff before leaving the front of the store. "Just call me if you've found them."

"We certainly will," Louise said, happy that she had the final word. "You can count on it."

"Mistress, how could you find a suitable sword for both of us?" Ren had chosen to speak only now as she was trying to make sense of the swirl of activity around her once they had entered the city itself.

"My mother is not only a mage, but an accomplished knight and thus knows a lot of weapons." Louise then explained with a know it all tone that both Ren and Siesta had already expected from their mistress and friend. "She taught me that some weapons are not made to be used by some people or something similar. Since some of our maids use knives to defend themselves, that would be your weapon, Siesta."

"Ok," the maid replied as she had tested some of the knives that she had seen placed in an aisle. "No good, this thing is just too light for me. Being the eldest of five siblings, my body had gotten used to carrying heavy things and…"

"And what?" Louise was confused as to why her maid was blushing. "What were you going to say?"

"I actually could fight with a two handed sword or at least, my uncle had told me," Siesta then covered her face with her hands. "I know, a girl that could handle a weapon made for men, but I was more at ease using a sword that I could hold with both hands than slash at an enemy with little knives."

"Well, then I'm your man…err, sword." A certain disembodied and echoing voice was heard in the store.

"Who said that?" The girls were looking everywhere to find the source of the voice. "Where are you?"

"I'm here inside a clay barrel with shoddy design," the voice replied with a chuckle. "Ol' Finkerton likes junk so much that he kept me in one."

"That's because junk deserves to be with junk," the storekeeper said while emerging from the door where he had disappeared earlier. "Admit it, Derflinger. No sensible swordsman would buy you and the foolish ones who did have brought you back every time."

"That's because none of them could ever use a fine weapon like me correctly," the sword whose handle was moving while it was speaking then replied as he was picked up by Siesta. "People need to learn on how to use a weapon effectively before coming out swinging. Those 'swordsmen' only swing wildly in the hope that they get a hit; a woodsman could do a better job with an axe."

"He does have a point," Ren then said while her right forefinger was pointed at her lower lip. "A true warrior knows how to wield his weapon in order to be effective in battle."

"And how would you know that, little lady."

"Let's just say that she had put herself in their shoes and leave it at that," Louise then said while her hands had cupped Ren's mouth. "Well then, Ren will get the knives and I think I'll buy a pair for myself if my magic isn't up to scratch."

"Pick your weapons then," the store owner then said with a shrug, puzzled on how a fragile girl with long purple hair could understand how a warrior ticks. "I'll just give a price for the merchandise once you've picked 'em up."

The girls did so with Siesta still holding Derflinger upside down. "Mr. Derflinger, please teach me on how to improve my sword skills."

"Call me Derf, sexy and it would be my pleasure to teach you three a thing or two about fighting with blades."

Siesta had only rolled her eyes as she and the others had set their chosen weapons on the shelf in front of the storekeeper. The plump storekeeper then told them its price with Louise paying him, sighing in relief that all three weapons were either free or just costing only forty sous.

With smiles on their faces, Louise then led her companions to the marketplace where they could buy their new dresses. None of them had noticed that a pair of students had followed them from the academy.

-oOo-

By late afternoon, the girls were riding the carriage back to the academy. The three were happily chatting about their adventures and misadventures in the marketplace.

The three of them then ate dinner before going to sleep as they go back to their studies or duties the next day.

The day itself was normal except for one thing – Siesta was absent during dinner. Louise and Ren then finished their meals early before heading to the kitchen to ask the head chef about her.

Manteau only said in a low voice. "Siesta was picked up an hour ago by Count Mott's attack dogs. It would seem that her father was unable to pay an old debt from him and Siesta was picked to be able to pay the loan."

Louise's pink eyes flashed as she had remembered what happened to the other maids that had come through the lustful count's double doors.

"Ren, I don't think that Siesta wanted to serve Count Mott so we'll just bring her back with us."

The purple haired girl had seen the flash and thus nodded as she said. "Yes, as I miss her too."

-oOo-

The girls then rode on a school stallion with permission from both Colbert and Old Osmond to let them ride through the night to bring back Siesta.

Just to keep them from being suspected as coming from the Academy of Magic, Louise had worn her travel clothes that consisted of a light brown blouse and light gray skirt that reached to her knees. On her feet were flat heeled black shoes that were perfect for travelling.

Ren was wearing her new jumper suit and dark blue blouse and her new sandals that surrounded feet kept warm by a purple stocking.

The pair then borrowed a horse with an excuse for a short night ride through the countryside, both girls were armed thus the guard had thought little of the incident.

After the half-hour ride, both Louise and Ren had considered their options – sneak in and hope not to get caught or just come in with proverbial guns blazing. They were so busy discussing that they did not see a rhythm dragon and a manticore overhead.

-oOo-

A good twelve miles away from where our intrepid heroes were riding the white stallion of choice, the damsel in distress was taking a bath to get rid of the grime off her petite frame.

'I'm sorry, Mistress.' Siesta had thought with salty liquid threatening to come out of her brown eyes. 'I love my family as much as I love to work with you and Ren. I hope you'd forgive me for not even telling you goodbye.'

The former maid then wiped the tears from her eyes with her hands with tears flowing down her face along with warm water to join the water in the tub.

"Siesta, it's time." A muffled voice was heard from outside the wooden door.

'I wish I could serve you more, Miss Louise,' Siesta said as she stood up, water flowing down from her body in rivulets before getting out of the bathtub. 'But I also wish that I could be more than your maid.'

Aloud, she had responded to the unseen source of the voice that Siesta had thought to be Roxanne of Lutece. The black haired maid then pulled out a white towel from its holder and put on herself, shivering at the sudden entrance of a breeze.

With a last longing look at the moon through the opened window, the former maid then opened the door and headed to the master bedroom with a soft squish here and there echoing through the corridor.

-oOo-

Outside, Louise and Ren had finally noticed the airborne tails and stopped only ten meters from the main gates of the Mott mansion.

Both flying monsters had landed just behind the horse with their riders alighting at the same time as the pink haired mage and her familiar.

"Why are you all here?" Louise had tried to keep her voice down so as to keep them from getting discovered. "I don't need your help in this and Sis, you're not exactly in the pink of health."

"Well, squirt." The tallest of the group with long blonde hair then responded. "Mott had been doing some naughty things behind the Royal Court's back and I've been sent by Mom to deal with him."

The second tallest then approached the smaller version of herself and hugged her, leaving a mystified edel raid looking at them intently.

"Allow me to introduce my sisters and…classmates," Louise then told Ren. "The blonde witch…err woman is my eldest sister - Éléonore Albertine Le Blanc de La Blois de La Vallière and the one hugging me is my second oldest sister - Cattleya Yvette La Baume Le Blanc de La Fontaine. The red headed boob monster…err foreign student is Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst and the quiet one is Tabitha and she won't tell anyone what her surname is."

Ignoring the sudden exclamation of the Germanian, Eleonore then said while her younger sister had also engulfed the panicking familiar in a hug. "I think it's better to just call us – Eleonore de La Valliere, Cattleya de La Fontaine, Kirche Zerbst, and Tabitha. Believe me, our full names are a mouthful and I actually sent a letter to Princess Henrietta to make a royal proclamation to shorten the names to ease the work of those taking the census."

Louise's jaw had dropped at the casual tone of her often stern older sister. She actually thought that Eleonore was possessed only for the blonde Valliere to laugh while chastising her.

"Louise, a strange man had come to our mansion bringing a satchel full of medicine that I took every day for the past two weeks," Cattleya said with a serene smile. "I've been feeling much better than before and can actually leave the house for months at a time. Also, someone has to keep Eleonore from going too far in giving punishment."

"True," Tabitha said in a monotone rivaling Ren's to everyone else's surprise. "We need to rescue your maid as Mott has a dark secret regarding his maids."

"Yes, we have spent too much time staying here." Ren said in agreement. "We need to go."

"Well, you heard the ladies." Kirche said with a feral grin. "I'll admit I've been with young men almost every night, but I don't dispose of them after I've had my fun."

"Right," Louise then said as she then discussed their plan as they boarded their respective rides. "Let's go."

-oOo-

After fifteen minutes of peace, the next few minutes for the guards that had manned the front gate and front door were a blur as a rhythm dragon and a striped manticore had landed in the front yard and caused havoc along with their riders.

The gate itself was blown open by an explosion, causing it to hit the wall beside it with great force. The guards behind it were similarly catapulted to the trees that lined the yard with loud thumps.

Up in his bedroom, Count Mott was angry at his favorite time of the day being wrecked as much as his mansion. He then put on his waistcloth and breeches that were followed by his shoes and stockings.

He then left the room quickly, leaving a mystified Siesta only wearing a towel behind. Siesta could not see what was happening outside as the room was in the back of the house while the whole ruckus was in front.

-oOo-

In the great hall of the mansion, Mott had finally met the gatecrashers and immediately went white in fear.

Among the visitors was a young blonde who was daughter of the Royal hatchet woman along with her two younger sisters and two foreign students with one of whom was actually rumored to be related to the King of Gallia.

One of the aforementioned sisters was holding a purple sword as long as she was tall and a figure of a ghostly girl was leaning on the said smaller pink haired girl's left shoulder.

In spite of his fears, the brunet had cleared his throat and said in a loud voice. "Why are you attacking my mansion?"

Eleonore had raised her hand to keep everyone else quiet while she said. "Consider this a warning, Mott as the Royal Court is not amused with your antics. They've been told of the sad tale of a runaway noble who you had thought to be a mere commoner maid and thus they had conducted an investigation in secret in search of her."

"Lies, all lies." Mott was positively sweating now as he would stand to lose everything once his crimes were brought to light. "I have never taken on a noble as a maid in my life."

"I'm sure the evidence presented in the court would prove otherwise," the blonde said with a glint in her green eyes as the tip of the wand on her right hand began to glow. "I suggest that you surrender your whole staff and guards to the castle along with yourself. My baby sister's maid would be nice for a start."

"I give," The middle aged man said while lowering his wand as he was outgunned from the start as the others had readied their own weapons of choice. "I would like to be given the Summoned Book that I had heard about. The girl is in my room to the right."

"Oh, you mean this." Kirche said as she had pulled out a hardbound book that had seen better years from her bag and gave it to the older man. "It's not that important to me anyway."

Everyone's eyes had bulged at the cover before Cattleya had sent Louise to pick up Siesta before Ren wold ask some questions. After ten minutes, both girls had come down with the maid now fully clothed.

Eleonore then led the group back to the academy where they would stay for the rest of the term along with the said former noble girl who then served the older Valliere sisters in her gratitude.

-oOo-

The next day, Louise had practiced some routines with Ren to serve as their exhibition in the upcoming Familiar Exhibition Night in one of the open clearings within the forest near the Academy.

The two girls had reacted in front of Siesta and all three practiced on both attacking physically but also in trying to keep the pledge intact.

It was then that they had finally noticed that the runes on the hand guard that correspond to Ren's left hand.

"Hey, Ren. Do you have any idea on why these runes glow like they do?" Louise had stopped her latest maneuvers – swinging her sword to produce shockwaves that had cut down some branches that had lost a lot of leaves due to a group of aphids.

"Yes, and it seems to be our link between ourselves." The purple haired girl then answered with her ethereal voice. "I seem to be learning things about weapons like that knife that you had bought for me yesterday."

"Thank you, Ren." Louise said with a pant as they have been practicing for two hours now. "Siesta, can you lead us to Colbert's workshop?"

"Uh, sure." The maid replied with her eyebrows raised as she had given her mistress and Ren the sandwiches that she had made that morning. "But why?"

Siesta had also taken a few as she was also practicing with Derflinger who also gave instructions on how to slash, thrust, duck, side-step, trip, and hit an opponent with her elbows or knees.

Ren then answered her fellow hired help as she and Louise had cancelled their pledge and sat down on the log behind them. "I think Mr. Colbert had known something and we want to know what it is."

"Well, we still have an hour before noon so we could rest for a little while before we go see him at lunch time."

"Why lunch time?" Louise then asked with her head tilted to the left cutely.

Siesta had only smiled at her mistress' cute expression before saying. "He usually eats lunch there for some reason."

"Good point," the pink haired girl said with a nod. "We've got plenty of time before we get back."

While the girls were resting in the forest, a certain intricately decorated and guarded carriage was nearing the Academy gates.

-oOo-

Just before lunch time, the group of three girls had come back to the Academy through the same gate as the carriage as before.

Louise had quickly slid to a stop that caused the girls behind her to bump each other as well as her back after passing through the gate. Siesta had even exclaimed. "Mistress, at least tell us if you're going to stop."

'Sorry, Siesta." Louise said while shaking her head vigorously. "But is that the royal carriage parked over there?"

"Yes, it is." The maid said while covering her eyes with her right hand. "Oh no, we need to change quickly."

"Why?" Ren then said before she was pulled by Louise.

"Well, it means that the Princess is here and we need to be as presentable as possible." The pink haired mage answered with a grunt before Ren finally kept pace on her own power. "Siesta, we'll meet you in our room after you're done and if you can, please bring in enough snacks for five."

"Yes, Mistress." The brunette maid answered before turning to another hallway towards the servant's quarters with Derflinger still strapped to her back.

Both Ren and Louise then went up the stairs to their room, their quick footsteps slightly rattling the wooden steps as they passed by.

At the third floor, the girls were a bit ragged as they had reached the said floor's landing. They then rested for a bit before going to Louise's own room whose door is…ajar?

Puzzled and yet cautious, Louise had brought out her dagger and in low voice had told Ren to do the same. The duo then slowly walked towards the slightly ajar door before Louise had kicked it open.

As the door had made contact with the wall complete with a loud thump, the pair of heroes was surprised to an older woman with her blonde hair in a pageboy cut and a saber in her left hand.

A second figure was sitting near the window with her back to them. The second figure then slowly turned around as soon as she had heard the pink haired mage squeak in surprise that was followed by a second squeak and two clattering sounds as the daggers were dropped to the floor.

Thankfully, the said daggers had bounced a bit in the direction away from their owners but it was still not enough for the first visitor to sheathe her sword yet.

"Who are you?" The young woman in armor said in a harsh tone that demanded answers. "Why are you armed?"

The second figure then stood up with plenty of grace as she raised her right hand at the armored woman and slowly approached the now groveling pair.

"Agnes, we are in their room after all." The purple haired young woman said before adding. "Louise Valliere and Revelrie Metherlance, you can both stand up now."

With a confused look directed at each other, the two aforementioned girls then stood up with eyebrows also raised. The one called Agnes had sheathed her sword in response.

"I know what you are both thinking," the second figure who was actually the princess of Tristain – Princess Henrietta de Tristain. "How would I pardon you so easily when you were armed with daggers? We did expect wands to be used in this case, but that is all water under the bridge."

"Um, if you know then…" Louise was actually playing with her hands at this point.

"Yes, Lady Valliere had also known of your recent exploits and was caught in between pride and embarrassment." Agnes then added, enjoying the look of shock and confusion from both girls. "It was quite a shock to see one girl turn into a sword carried by the other girl through Osmond's crystal ball, but he did assure us that it was real."

"And thus, we would like you to refrain from using what do you call it…fusion?" Henrietta said with a pout. "It only makes you both targets by people with ill intentions, noble or commoner."

"But Your Highness…" Louise was already on her knees when she said this. "It's actually called reacting and it was because we had a pledge with each other."

The purple haired royal only sighed at the sight of her childhood friend on her knees and added. "Alright, it's called reacting, but you already are well known as Lady Karin's youngest daughter and now you seem to wield a weapon of great power in the shape of a young girl. Thus, it is best to do…whatever you do only in an emergency and only that. Is that clear?"

"Crystal clear, Your Highness," was said not one but by two girls who had picked up their dropped daggers. Ren then added as she and Louise had sheathed their weapons. "Your Highness, I am thankful that you understood my situation even though we have just met, but please consider our exhibition as a sort of test for our continuous practice."

"Well, the kid's got a point." Agnes then spoke up with a small smile at the words of the youngest girl in the room. "Your Highness, I understand that you are concerned with both Louise and Ren but the fact that they could fight together can work to their advantage as well as the kingdom's."

"The kingdom's advantage?"

"Yes," Henrietta said with soft tone that highlighted her rather sad eyes. "Militarily, we are not that powerful despite our having people like your mother around, Louise."

"I understand," Louise answered with her head down. "Ren, Princess Henrietta is right as we have two powerful nations on our borders with a third just above and to the North-East of us. This is one of the reasons why I try so hard on becoming a powerful mage; it is so I can protect the kingdom."

"I understand," the younger purple haired woman said with a nod. "Mistress, we could put on a play fight with our daggers as Mr. Derflinger had taught us."

"Derflinger?"

"He's a talking sword that likes to hang around and I mean that literally with Siesta rather than us," Louise said with dismissive wave of her left hand. "Still, he's a good teacher if not a bit perverted."

"I think that would be a better alternative," Agnes had spoken first. "How about you, Your Highness?"

"I think it would be a better option, but safety should still be top priority."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Both Louise and Ren had kneeled in front of the princess when they all heard a knock in the door. "Come in, please."

Siesta had slowly opened the door with some help from Agnes before putting down a tray with a large plate full of sandwiches and a larger glass pitcher of apple cider.

After the door was closed, the whole conversation was related to her and Derflinger.

"Well, it would be a good idea." The Sword Spirit said with aplomb. "Yet, the fact that both Valliere and Metherlance had already reacted before in response to a challenge made by a certain student named Guiche de Gramont."

"Ah, yes." Henrietta said with a slight nod. "It was that incident that had brought us here with Lady Valliere and her other daughters to arrive later. Well, it seems that we had come to a decision."

"Yes, Your Highness." Louise said quickly in between bites of her sandwich. "We will only react if and when we are or someone is in danger."

"That's good," Henrietta said as she stood up after getting her third sandwich along with her bodyguard. "Also, thank you for the snacks, Miss Siesta."

"Goodbye, everyone." Agnes then added before she had shut the door.

The three young women and one sentient sword then talked about what to do with the coming Exhibition of Familiars.

-oOo-

The night of the exhibition was exciting for the students, teachers, noble families like the Vallieres who had just arrived, and the school staff. This is partly because of the presence of the Princess of Tristain and partly because of the Valliere family.

Louise was glad that she was sitting with Ren in the other side of the loge part of the impromptu auditorium so she would not be scolded for fighting with a noble…even if he was the one who challenged her.

The said familiar exhibition is a mixed bag of good entertainment and just boring stuff. A lot of the students had resorted to showing pet tricks with their ordinary or semi-ordinary familiars.

So the audience was given to a snooze fest of bug bears floating through fiery hoops, monkeys jumping through them, dogs walking on their two legs, and things of that nature.

A few did have some originality to their credit. A good example was Montmorency and her familiar – Robin the frog. While the blonde water mage was playing the Minute Waltz on her violin, Robin was taught to dance to the rhythm of the music.

After Montmorency had finished her exhibition, we find ourselves looking at BOTH Guiche and his familiar – Verdandi the giant mole just lying around the stage floor like the couch potatoes of recent years. Yeah, you could almost hear familiar pop of the face palms from his fellow classmates and friends.

Speaking of which, I face palmed too.

After Guiche was hauled off by his embarrassed parents via a levitation spell, the stage was set for Kirche's own exhibition. And well, it was…a nice exhibition of Flame's fire ball making abilities and accuracy complete with paper targets that were tied to kites.

It was a nice way to get the audience to appreciate the show after Guiche's disaster, that's for sure.

The second to the last exhibition, as Lady Valliere had asked the master of ceremonies at the start of the said exhibition to get her daughter's own exhibition to be the last, had begun.

All eyes were on both Tabitha and Sylphid as the former had ridden on the latter's back before the rhythm dragon had stretched both her wings and legs before taking off.

As Tabitha had said "go", the rhythm dragon had flapped her wings hard and leapt a bit as the wind generated below her had given her lift while kicking up a large cloud of dust and some grass blades to the gaping crowd.

The rhythm dragon then went up high enough for it to keep the winds supporting it from hitting the audience but low enough for it to be seen easily in the moonlight and for her mistress and friend to breathe.

Sylphid had started the show by making a roll in the air with Tabitha holding tight to the reins that she had made for this situation.

After making the roll perfectly to loud cheering from terra firma, Tabitha then used verbal commands and some tugs on her leather rein to get her familiar to make a loop just above the walls.

Sylphid had acknowledged the given commands with a nod and a cry of "kyuu" that Tabitha could barely hear in the roar of the wind.

The light blue dragon then widened her wings to procure more lift while her head had straightened out to allow wind to pass her by, her tail also straightened out, and her feet were bent for the same reason.

Slyphid then slowly tilted herself to about sixty degrees to with her back (and Tabitha) now facing the ground while continuing to tilt while rising.

At the highest point, Tabitha then tugged her reins again before Slyphid then tilted her head again while slightly folding her wings to exchange height for speed and some control.

This time, the blue rhythm dragon then slowly slid down in the air in an angle before leveling off once Slyphid had reached the initial altitude.

This time, hoots and shouts had come hand in hand to reach Tabitha's and her familiar's ears as it was a difficult maneuver to master even with experienced dragon or gryphon riders.

Lady Karin had politely clapped her own gloved hands, a smile on her lips as she was impressed with the exchange student's skill in both teaching her familiar and riding it.

Tabitha then slightly tugged her reins again to signal her familiar for their next trick and this one is a doozy.

Slyphid then dropped down to almost ground level before flapping her wings hard at an angle with her head tilted high and Tabitha was thankful for the additional belt that was added to her saddle as this maneuver was something that even veteran riders would not or could not do even for fun.

What was the maneuver? Let's just say that a Sukhoi Su-27 pilot would be laughing his head off once he would see that a rhythm dragon had made a Renaissance version of the Pugachev's Cobra just a good twenty feet off the ground with the end of her curled tail almost five feet off it, while barely covered in dust.

How's that for a show stopper, eh.

The crowd had responded with a standing ovation and loud cheers. The cheers were so loud that an infamous thief had heard it while slowly making her way to the Void Tower that served as the school's depository of valuables since it is not connected to the other towers and only Headmaster Osmond knew the way into it.

Back to the exhibition, after Louise and Ren did a sword fighting play fight that was still not as amazing as Sylphid's performance, Tabitha was awarded the Grand Prize for the Exhibition – a whole large bowl of Marteau's delicious soufflé.

Then again, a hungry Sylphid had emptied the said bowl that the chef had to hold in his two large hands in two seconds and kyuued for more.

"I guess one bowl ain't enough for that performance," Marteau said in surprise after the bowl was grabbed from his hands and the rhythm dragon's snout was partially covering it.

It was then that a scream and a roar of an explosion from the Austri Court where the Void Tower is located. The guards quickly went there as well.

It was later learned the one who screamed was Louise herself who had gone to the said court as a short cut to her room along with her older sisters, her maid, and her familiar.

A large Earth Golem was standing next to the Void tower and in its left hand was the hapless Louise who was flailing and screaming to get herself or her left hand with her wand free.

The older Valliere sisters as well as their parents were standing helplessly with their wands drawn as they could not risk hitting the youngest Valliere with their spells. The same could be said for the newly minted Musketeers, the faculty and even Princess Henrietta.

In the midst of this chaos, Siesta was talking to both Derflinger and Ren on what she wanted to do.

"Ren, let's react as I'll need your help in freeing Louise." The black haired maid was telling the purple haired familiar. "Derflinger, I'll need you to act as our extra eyes and ears so we won't be caught by surprise."

"Alright, but how can you react with Ren if Edel Raids can only have one pleasure at a time." The sword spirit said with its "mouth" clanking.

"That is a secret which I would be happy to tell if we lived through this night," Siesta answered with a wink. "Ren, will you?"

"I think I understand how we can react so yes," Ren replied before she and Siesta had both started the chant that led to their own reaction.

By the time Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt had come out of the hole with her prize, she had seen one girl where she was sure there were two and a purple sword now held by the remaining girl.

She had to make a second golem to deal with the additional irritants that had shown up while she was searching for the Tablet of Destruction. She also made a few trees move to inform her allies to make their own moves.

A large whirlwind had kicked up, causing all of the attackers being forced to make shields to protect them from flying debris. Fouquet had taken this opportunity to escape while getting the youngest Valliere back to the ground before disappearing in the darkness and dust storm.

Lady Valliere did scold her youngest for getting herself in danger but hugged her all the same. Siesta was forced to use Wind Armor to keep herself, Ren and Derflinger safe during the battle and thus could not attack

Everyone had slept in the campus dormitories with families sharing a room or in Louise's case had shared it with both Ren and Cattleya while Eleanor had shared it with Cheveruse.

Siesta had also slept in Louise's room but she rather sleep in the floor as the older Vallieres had slept in her room.

-oOo-

The next day, Henrietta had made an emergency meeting with some select faculty members, members of the Valliere family, Agnes and a few of her Musketeers, Siesta, and Ren.

Siesta was forced to reveal her secret of being a hybrid of a Sting Raid and a human, a commoner to be precise. It was because of her heritage that she was able to do heavy work and even fight effectively.

It was also because of this that she and the Edel Raid could react and with Ren's runes – the mark of the Gandalfr, it made sense that she and Louise could learn a lot more about the songs that they could use to attack or defend.

It is quite a surprise to know that the one who was supposed to master weapons was a weapon herself and thus through her both Louise and Siesta could be weapon masters themselves albeit temporarily.

"I guess we'll have Louise and her staff joins the search party, given their abilities." Henrietta said with a heavy sigh. "Lady Valliere, Lord Valliere, you could join them if you want."

"No, this may be a ruse by our enemies to kidnap you." Lord Valliere said with a shake of his head. "All of my daughters will be participating in this along with a few of Louise's classmates if they could."

"We volunteer," came the chorus of voices coming from Tabitha, Reynald, Kirche, Montmorency, Guiche, Katie, and Gimli.

"I will lead the team since I have heard rumors about where Fouquet had hidden recently," Lougenville said as she too stood up. "I will get two carriages so he won't see us coming."

"Then it's settled," Henrietta said as she too stood up. "Headmaster, I will need your permission for your students and faculty to find Fouquet while I will also send Agnes and some of the Musketeers to also do a search of the nearby countryside and report back to us what they saw."

"Yes, I will give them permission to search."

"Thank you," Henrietta said with a relieved sigh. "This meeting is then adjourned and I hope that we could capture that thief within the day."

-oOo-

The convoy had left the school after lunch. The first carriage had Lougenville sitting on the shotgun seat with the Valliere sisters – Eleonore, Cattleya, and Louise plus Ren and Siesta.

Sylphid had covered the search from the air as she flew around the path that the carriages had taken.

Unfortunately for both maid and familiar, the eldest Valliere sister had gotten an interest in both of them and thus both were forced to sit on both sides of her.

On the other side sat Louise and Cattleya who were both worried about the other occupants. Joining them was Katie who could not sit with the others in the second carriage as it was too full.

Eleonore then asked her youngest sister if she had a good look at the infamous thief during the time she was held by the said thief's golem.

"I can't see much even with the moonlight as if Fouquet knew enough to stay in her golem's shadow and wear that hood on his head," Louise said with a bowed head.

"Hmm," the blonde instructor said with a nod. "That's good enough, Little Louise. It only shows how smart our opponent is to hide his true identity as well as keeping himself from getting caught."

Out of sight of the passengers, a certain person had smiled at being complimented by someone that she knew to be just as smart as she herself is.

The trip had only taken half an hour before they had arrived at location where the carriages would stop and the rest of the trip would have to be done on foot.

The various nobles and former noble then left their rides to walk towards the hidden cabin in the woods ahead.

Along the way, Guiche had complained of walking for the past half hour only for Eleonore to tell him to shut up. She had even pointed out that Cattleya who had a worse constitution than he was still able to keep up with the rest.

The blond then shut up as the shapely secretary had led the group towards the cabin in question. Lougenville could not help but smile at the gruff yet kind instructor that would make even Cobert or Osmand pause.

It was too bad that she and her troop would have to face the greatest magical thief in all of Helkagania.

-oOo-

The group had finally arrived in the cabin with Sylphid landing a short while later. Eleonore had correctly guessed that Fouquet would lay a trap for them and thus had only gotten Louise, Siesta and Ren in while getting everyone else remain outside with wands out.

Lougenville had excused herself as she needed to relieve herself in the bushes past the cabin. The older blonde gave her permission, but the campus secretary could not help but feel dread at the instructor's tone of voice.

The green haired secretary then left in a run towards the woods while the youngest Valliere sister and her party had opened the door and went in.

As for the rest, Eleonore had gotten Cattleya standing beside her a good ten feet from the cabin door along with Montmorency and Guiche to cover them.

She then had Tabitha, Kirche, and Katie to stand beside Sylphid with the boys standing just outside the perimeter around the rhythm dragon.

Eleonore then waited for whatever would happen next, hoping that she and her group would be enough to finally catch the infamous thief.

What the blonde instructor did not expect was two more huge golems that had joined the newly summoned one that sprouted just behind the cabin. Thankfully, the trio had gotten out of the cabin while running for their lives.

Tabitha had gotten herself and Kirche on Sylphid and they took off with Katie making a small golem of her own to keep the three large ones busy. Cattleya had followed Katie's example and made a golem of her own that punched one of the newcomers out of formation.

Guiche had summoned his own Valkyries to deal with the remaining two along with his fellow classmates. Montmorency had gotten his back by releasing Ice Shards at the golems that had punched through the said golem's legs and getting it to fall.

As for the last golem, both Reynald and Gimli were having trouble in fighting it until a fireball and a flight of Ice Shards had gotten its attention.

There was a flash of light and this time, it was Louise holding a large purple claw that she had used to slash the last golem along with the others as Katie's golem had helped Cattleya's own.

Eleonore had also helped by making blades of wind, hitting the arms and upper body of the two golems as Cattleya and Katie were surprisingly doing well in getting the other golem in a fistfight with their own.

As for Ren, she was holding the Tablet of Destruction with both hands and aimed it at the rebuilt golem that Guiche and Montmorency were fighting with and pulled the trigger.

An explosion was both seen and heard as the golem was broken apart with its buddies crumbling a little later.

A hooded woman had come from the dust cloud that had resulted from the crumbling golems, her expression of shock at how a group of teens and two young adults were more than enough to fight against her – an experienced triangle class mage along with two others.

Seeing that she could not just grab the Tablet of Destruction as the pink haired mage whose right hand was covered in what seemed to be a large purple claw that she was able to use efficiently against the golem was now standing in front of her, aforementioned claw raised and ready to strike.

"How, how did you all win against me and my comrades?" Fouquet said with a loud cry, a shadow covering her face from view.

Ren was moved by the enemy's outburst and moved closer to the green haired thief. Fouquet was about to grab the girl when she was hit by a blast of wind and fell down on the grassy ground, her hood blown away from her head.

"Lougenville?!"

"Damn," the now revealed thief spat in disgust after being revealed to her fellow faculty along with the students. "I've no regrets in what I have done, so ridicule me if you want to."

There was only silence as the thief's hands were tied up with hemp rope and tugged towards the carriages with Eleonore and Cattleya in tow.

Thus in one of the carriages, only three persons were sitting inside with the others either cramped in the second carriage or riding in Sylphid's back or in Guiche's case actually ride Verdandi as she burrowed the ground.

"I can't believe that sweet…ok, maybe she is a little sassy at times Miss Lougenville is actually the infamous thief," Louise had cried to her three seatmates namely Ren, Siesta, and Kate. "She's like a saint for holding up to perverted Headmaster Osmand."

"Well, there may be a reason for it but it's obvious that she won't talk about it." Siesta then spoke up. "But I think I can get her to talk about it with some help."

"Alright, but please tell her that we won't tell it to the Crown and that it is only between ourselves." The pink haired then retorted before shaking her head in disbelief. "The last thing we need is for her to think that the Crown is using us to cajole any important information for her motives."

"Yes, even I can feel that Miss Lougenville was very sad at being caught as if she was actually doing something good and could not do so anymore." Kate then added her own five cents into the conversation. "Not only that, we could not find her compatriots at all after the battle. It was as if she was used by them to their own benefit."

"You may have a point," Ren then spoke up, surprising everyone in the carriage. "Miss Lougenville seemed to be keeping something that kept her in doing these crimes but it would seem that she would not reveal them willingly."

"That's what I said," the maid said indignantly before all four girls laughed.

The girls then continued to talk as the carriages had taken them and the others back to the Academy of Magic.

-oOo-

Louise and the others were treated to a party with Louise dancing with her male classmates while the rest watched her. Siesta was also in her element serving snacks and drinks before Montmorency had pushed her to Louise before the maid and her mistress had danced to the waltz.

They had left Derflinger at Louise's room to let him have some peace and quiet.

"Hey, Ren."

Ren then craned her neck just over the chair that she was sitting on to see Katie approaching her along with Montmorency. The older girls were dolled up but not too much.

"Hi, Miss Montmorency. Miss Katie." Ren answered with a slight wave as she had just eaten some of the beef bouringuignon that she had taken from the buffet table, some of the sauce splattered on the corners of her mouth as she had laid the plate on the table.

"Oh Ren." Montmorency said as she had used the red cloth that she had brought with her to wipe off the sauce off the younger girl's mouth. "Do you want to dance with us? It's alright for us to dance even without the guys as this party is made in our honor."

"Thank you, but I can't dance at all." Ren said while the other girls had sat down. "It is still funny that both Louise and Siesta are still dancing though."

"That's alright; we're too tired to dance anyway and just want to hang out with you." Katie then said as she had sat down again once Montmorency had left the table to have a shot at the buffet table. "The boys were also called up for some reason."

"Oh," the purple haired girl could not say anything more as she was just as confused as the older girls were on why Guiche and his friends had left early. "Please sit down as you must be tired from standing around."

The girls then chatted for the rest of the party before Henrietta had called for them to meet in Louise's room.

-oOo-

Inside the pink haired mages room, Henrietta then had the door locked with a Silence spell just to ensure that no mage would listen in. She also had everyone including herself talk in low voices to keep the discussion under wraps.

"Before anything else," The purple haired royal then asked Louise to kneel in front of her. "Louise, you are now a Chevalier of mine but we will make it official after your first mission."

Louise, overcome with joy, jumped up and hugged the surprised royal. "Yay, I'm a Chevalier now."

"Yes, Louise." Henrietta was squeaking as the others quickly stepped in to pull the ecstatic mage out of her embrace. "But I need some air as well."

"Sorry," Louise answered as she had let go and now stood beside Siesta. "So what do we do?"

"There is a certain noble that is terrorizing the local businesses in a village near Tristania," The princess said in a matter of fact way. "Your job is to catch him in the act so that my Musketeers would arrest him."

"So why can't you catch him now?" Siesta had thought to ask as she had recognized the village that the royal was referring to and would join her mistress in the case.

"He's quite a slippery fellow as he could say that he's doing it for the King," Henrietta replied, a little glad that someone was paying attention. "This is why we need someone who could not recognize easily and catch him in the act before he realizes what is happening."

"I understand," Louise said while signaling her maid to keep quiet as she was beginning to understand who the princess was referring to. "Still he has a lot of well-trained bodyguards and even at our best; we would have trouble fighting him along with his goons."

"That is why I have Agnes and some of the Musketeers on standby nearby and when you give the signal, they would pounce on our perpetrator instantly," the princess then answered as if the whole arrest thing was easily done. "Also, I got my mother's permission to award the three of you the amount of ten thousand ecus since the errant noble has stolen a whole lot more than that."

"Thank you…" Louise then made a double take as she did not know how she would signal the head Musketeer.

"Just do what you usually do, blast the guy." Henrietta answered before falling over giggling. The others were stunned for a minute before they too broke out into giggles. Louise had glared at her staff and friends before she had felt a slight tug in her lips.

Those people who had passed Louise's dorm could swear that the room seemed to be laughing in different tones and volume that day.

"Alright, I will be counting on the three of you starting tomorrow." Henrietta said as she had picked herself from the carpeted floor with some help from Siesta. "Please be careful out there."

"That we will, Your Highness." Louise said with a bow that was copied by the others. "Montmorency and Katie, please keep this in between us if possible."

"Don't worry, Louise." Montmorency replied while clasping Louise's hand. "We keep secrets."

-oOo-

Early the next morning, the three girls composed of Louise, Siesta, and Ren had a carriage from the school to the village of Waterloo.

They were sent off by their friends and in Louise's case even family as both Eleonore and Cattleya were also there to see them off as they were made into instructors in the Academy, replacing two of the instructors who had either gone on a sabbatical or transferred to another

While the carriage was clattering through the dirt road towards its destination, the passengers were discussing on what they would do, where they would stay, and how to keep themselves from getting discovered.

Derflinger had gotten silent as he was more interested in knowing how his new master…well, mistress ticks as Siesta sure hid a lot of talents from her friends.

"So we could save our money and keep a low profile at the same time, we'll have to stay at my uncle's place." Siesta was telling her mistress and her fellow servant. "I have sent him a letter about you two and a little of our mission as his business was one of those where our bad guy hangs out in. So please do not act weirdly as it would tip off the bad guy and we fail this mission."

"What do you mean acting weirdly?" Louise retorted having taken offense to the words spoken. "I never act weirdly."

"That is exactly what I meant," Siesta answered with a sigh. "Mistress, you'll have to remember that you are trying not to be discovered as a noble or we will blow our cover. As for you Ren, please try not to ask too many questions that would endanger us. We may lose our lives if we goof up and I'm not kidding."

"How did you know all of this?" Ren was certainly curious at how the maid was acting.

"My other uncle, who came after my dad, is a spy master who reports to the Court and taught me a few things about spying." The maid answered with a shrug that had gotten Derflinger to rise a bit to the part just past the maid's neck. "It certainly helps in this mission."

"Good point," both younger girls said in unison.

-oOo-

The carriage had soon reached its destination before it had unloaded its passengers in the central square.

After getting their bags, Siesta then led her "charges" to the Enchanted Fairy Tail Tavern. Both the noble and edel raid had followed the maid with nary a grumble lest their cover is blown.

"Once again, please try to act as normal as possible." Siesta said in a soft voice while pulling her companions closer to herself while sitting on a bench halfway to their destination. "This village is also a hotbed of rouges and traitors of the crown because of the nearness to the capital. Once we're discovered, Her Highness would only find our dead bodies floating in the nearest bog so please do not blow your cover until it is time so that Miss Agnes would scare them off for a while."

"I understand," Louise replied in a similar manner. "It would be even worse for me because of my family."

"Miss Louise, we promised your parents that we will protect you and we shall even at the expense of our lives," The maid said while pulling the mage even closer to her.

"Thank you," the mage said while her cheeks felt a little hot, probably due to the proximity to the maid's ample right breast. "But who's the other one who promised Mom and Dad."

"That would be me," Ren said softly while also being nearly smashed into Siesta's left breast.

"Well, let's go as I still have to see if Uncle is still there." Siesta said with aplomb as all three stood up and ignored the titters from passersby.

-oOo-

After ten minutes of walking, the trio finally arrived at their destination. Siesta then knocked on the wooden door to get the occupants to notice their arrival.

The door was quickly opened an older woman with black hair tied in a green scarf was seen behind the opened door. "Who…Sie-Sie, is that you?"

'First of all, please do not call me that in public." Siesta was already frowning while she said that to her companion's mirth. "Second, I'm here on business if you know what I mean."

"Oh, yes yes." The young woman then stepped back to allow the three to enter one after the other. "I understand what you mean. Please, come inside."

Once inside, the older woman, who had introduced herself as Jessica, had led the visitors to a room for a talk behind closed doors given the topic of the conversation.

"So, you're here to weed out a noble that was terrorizing the locals eh." Jessica was saying as she had looked at her younger cousin, her mistress, and her mistress' special familiar. "Well, from what we know only Chillan would fit the bill so to speak as he is the tax collector of this row of villages. I'm surprised that the Court couldn't figure out what he's been up to."

"I think this is why we're sent here," Louise then spoke up. "Earl Chillan does know enough to keep the Court guessing from what my Mom was talking about him."

"Well, since Dad isn't here for a few days as Uncle Joffre had gotten him to do some intelligence work in Germania, I'm in charge so I'll get you three some jobs to do to provide your cover."

"Thank you," all three visitors said in unison before drinking their given glasses of orange juice.

-oOo-

That night, both Louise and Siesta were made into extra waitresses with Ren becoming the dishwasher. Siesta was a natural at both jobs and taught both girls on what to do with the least mistakes.

Thankfully, both Louise and Ren were quick learners as they had done something similar before in the past. Even then, the noble was having trouble keeping her temper in check at the weary and leery crowd that came in through the front door after a hard day's work.

The other waitress had felt sympathy for the young noble and helped in keeping the ornery ones in line. A few were actually given the boot for being too unruly and thus enough room for much kinder customers who just want a drink and nothing more.

After an hour of peace, an overweight man wearing fancy clothes and a squad of armored and armed men had entered the tavern. Seeing that the place was packed with people, the man simply gave a hand signal and seven men were threatened with bodily harm unless they leave the premises.

The staff was sickened with the obvious show of power, but they put it behind a professional smile as they continued to serve the other customers while serving the newcomers less and less.

Jessica then leaned on Louise who had just taken a new order from the big shot and whispered. "That's him, that's Chillan and you can see why people fear him."

"Good," the pink haired mage said with a feral smile. "I think it's time to roast this pig. No wonder, the Mom and the Princess hate this guy. He's worse than Guiche and that's saying something."

"Pardon?"

"Don't you worry, Miss Jessica." Louise told the older woman. "Just tell Siesta and Ren that plan A is a go. They'll understand and if we're lucky, we'll get them out of the premises before the fun really begins."

"Alright, but at least keep the damage minimal if we're not."

"Yes, Ma'am." The void mage answered with a wink as she had carried the tray full of food. The head manager then passed through the doors, ignoring the roar of laughter beyond it to see her cousin patiently waiting for the Basque Pintxo to be served.

Jessica then told both Siesta then Ren what the void mage told her. With a nod, Ren went out the back door with Siesta carrying the tray carrying the plates of full of the abovementioned snacks.

The head manager then headed for the back room where she had kept her stash of ecus that they had squirrelled for the past year.

-oOo-

Outside, Louise was already re-reading her lines to her script in her mind in order to appear natural and hopefully convince the Earl that a surprise was waiting for him outside.

All she had to do was make it interesting for the tax collector like say – a beautiful girl wearing practically next to nothing would then take her to another tavern near the woods for the needed privacy and voila – free chance to blast him and his bodyguards to submission once they confront her and her staff and get caught by the Musketeers.

I think somebody should tell Louise about Murphy's Law, then again they may have a similar law that she would have ignored anyway.

It later turned out that Chillan is a very shrewd character indeed and this was what actually happened.

After Siesta had emerged from the kitchen, the overweight noble had ignored the disguised noble's enticing proposition and grabbed the maid once her arms were within reach (after putting down the Basque Pinntxo on the wooden table).

This had raised Louise's hackles a lot as she does not want her staff to be abused as they are her property after all.

Chillan then said with a chilling tone. "I guess this girl is a noble after all. Kill her."

Seeing that she had no other choice, Louise then shot the tax collector a withering glare before retrieving her wand that had slid down from her sleeve after a short shake and quickly mumbled an incantation.

Siesta had seen what her mistress was doing thus giving the goon a good head butt before hitting the wooden floor and covering her head with her hands.

Before anyone else could react, Louise simply said in a whisper. "Fireball."

The resulting explosion had knocked out Chillan and all of his guards, while wrecking the table along with the food on top of it, along with a few shattered windows and glassware/ porcelain plates from the other tables.

While Louise was huffing at the effort of both calming down and trying to control her power to at least localize its effect to only a few feet from the table, Agnes had finally arrived with Ren in tow.

The said edel raid was carrying the staff of destruction which in reality was a hybrid machine gun/rocket launcher that had the rest of its ammunition locked up in the palace and now moved to a safe house in the Academy.

"Her Highness was joking when she gave you the password, Louise." The orange haired captain said with a shake of her head. "Even then, it could have been worse."

Turning to a slack jawed Jessica, Agnes then added. "Please send the costs incurred to the palace. Believe me; this could have gotten a lot worse if a battle would occur here."

"Alright, but Louise and her staff would also have to work to pay part of the cost so as to keep the rumors from flying." Jessica said with a sigh before looking at the cross face of the revealed noble. "And I think I know how I could do it less painfully too."

"Do it then," the Musketeer captain as she and the tavern manager shook hands. "Louise is a good kid I've been told. She just has a poor control of temper."

"Well, in this one, she could easily be forgiven as she was only protecting my cousin." Jessica said with a shake of her head. "Even then, rules are rules."

"Don't I know that," Agnes said while watching her subordinates take the now woken up goons and their boss to the royal dungeon. "Even then, this is goodbye and if I'm ever in the neighborhood, I'll drop by for a drink myself."

"You'll be served graciously," Jessica replied while Agnes turned around to join her girls. "Goodbye."

Now fully giving her attention to the three new staff members, Jessica then said. "As for you three, I am now forced to unveil this tavern's secret weapon and our family heirloom."

"You don't mean…" A blonde waitress said with bated breath.

"Yes, I will now unveil the Enchanted Fairy Bustier." Jessica said before ordering one of her busboys to retrieve it for her. "This dress is able to make a waitress rich enough for her to leave this place and establish her own tavern in her own hometown, not to mention having her childhood friend now husband joining her in running the place. So I will have everyone here work hard enough to return our prestige and a lot of ecu too."

With the loud cheers all over the dining hall, Jessica had opened the gates to getting more inspiration to her staff and got a lot of money before her father returned from her mission.

-oOo-

In three short days, Louise and company had managed to get enough profits to the tavern not only to make up for the damage they caused, but also enough to buy themselves some new clothes and two horses as well.

Of course, Louise and Siesta had both won the famed bustier and thus was given two replicas to keep as their own.

"It was fun having you guys work here," Jessica was saying while hugging the three girls separately. "We've never had as much fun here as the last few days. Hell, even the diners said that they'll clean up their acts and just come here with their wives and kids."

"It was a pleasure, cuz." Siesta answered while Ren was currently in a bear hug courtesy of the older girl. "But we need to get back to the Academy as Louise still needs to complete her semester and I need to get back to work too."

"Alright, I'll be seein' you three soon." Jessica then waved at the now departing trio as they had ridden their horses with their newly bought clothes.

"Yes, Ma'am." The three heroes said in unison before both Louise and Siesta had lightly kicked their respective horses' sides to signal that they had to leave.

-oOo-

After a straight three hour ride, Louise and her companions wanted nothing more than getting off their rides and just remain standing for a half hour or so.

Louise then picked up her bag with Ren carrying her own. As for Siesta, she carried her own bag along with a large sack that carried more clothes for both her mistress and her fellow staff member.

Siesta then left the large sack behind in her mistress' room before putting her own beside it. Louise and Ren had followed suit and they all put their new clothes in the larger armoire that was brought to fit all of their clothes.

After putting on the dresses, the three girls immediately fell asleep.

-oOo-

That night, Siesta had invited Louise and Ren to have a bath with her in a dark corner of the Suori where she and some of the gardners had set up just for the three of them.

The three now friends had used the large bush to undress and hang their clothes while still being able to see if some was nearby.

After they were sure that no one was there to take a peek, the girls then relaxed and put their weapons on the wooden table beside their bath supplies.

"Isn't this great?" Siesta practically chirped as her arms had enveloped both her mistress and the familiar in her arms and brought them closer to her. "I would never enjoy this experience unless I'm with someone special or in this case, two someones."

Both younger girls' cheeks were clearly red. It may be from the heat of the water rushing through their bodies, heat of pleasure at being considered friends, or just the heat of embarrassment since their lips were actually touching Siesta's assets.

Maybe that's why the maid herself is red-faced as well.

Moving on, an upset Montmorency had left two glasses of apple wine that she had added a liberal amount of a love potion that she had concocted beside a certain bush where she would instruct a maid to clean up later.

She had never noticed the large pot that was hidden by the bush with three girls hiding within it or so we thought.

After the blonde water mage had left, Siesta had gone down the pot and quickly took the glasses back to the pot, some drops of the light greenish liquid leaking from the tips of the glass only to fall to the grassy ground.

"I wonder why Miss Montmorency left these in a huff?" The dark haired maid was saying while examining the glass in her hand.

"Who cares?" Louise said suddenly. "Maybe she saw us and just left it for us to find."

"I think I'll ask Miss Montmorency that," Ren said while getting out of the pot and putting on her clothes. "I will wait for you in our room."

Needless to say, Ren only came back to Louise's room only once that night. This was to pick up her bed clothes and her travelling clothes for the next day.

As for Louise and Siesta, both of them had locked themselves up in the former's room for the rest of the next day.

-oOo-

The following day at sunrise, Ren had joined Montmorency, Guiche, Gimli, Katie, and Reynald in the stables as preparation for their own trip to Lagdorian Lake.

"So why are we going there?" The edel raid was asking the water mage who was guiding the horse they rode on. "I still don't understand why you left the drinks near us if you did put something on it."

The blonde's cheeks had reddened slightly before answering. "We're going to Lagdorian Lake to see a Water Spirit who is an…acquaintance of mine. As for why I left the 'drinks' near you three, I figured that at least I got Louise and Siesta together since both Guiche and Gimili saw through my plans."

"You needn't do such a thing, Mon-Mon." Guiche then interjected as he had followed Montmorency's horse down the road south. "I still consider you my most precious lily."

"Can it, Guiche." The water mage retorted. "I needed to be sure about it even I kind of overdid it. And what's your excuse, Mr. Stormmaker?"

"As much as Katie is cute, I would rather get to know her before actually courting her." Gimli answered. "Considering the effects of the potion, we may end up doing something we will both regret."

"Alright, you've got a point." Montmorency huffed in return. "Sorry, Katie."

"No need, Montmorency." The youngest of the group replied softly. "I knew that I should have gotten my act together than ask you to make a potion."

"Well, we all make mistakes." Reynald was saying at his spot behind Katie and Gimli at the back of the group. "Let bygones be bygones."

"Oh," Montmorency was saying with a smirk. "Tabitha once came to me asking for a love potion for a certain guy with glasses. I wonder who she was referring to."

"Montmorency, please." The orange haired teen with a specialty in Sleep magic said with a groan. "I know Tabitha enough that she would not resort to using potions so we would end up together."

"Was I saying your name?" the water mage replied, her smile growing bigger.

"That's not funny."

-oOo-

After an almost six hour ride through the countryside, complete with fifteen minute breaks every now and then, the group finally arrived at their destination.

"Is it me or is the lake gotten bigger today?" Katie was the first to ask as she had lived in this region of Tristain.

"It's not you," Gimli answered as he had stopped his own horse. "The lake has certainly grown bigger. It had flooded the villages beside it. This is bad."

"Yeah, but looking at the bright side, we have saved a half hour of travel." Montmorency said as she had dismounted before helping Ren dismount as well. "Let's make camp as the Spirit usually comes up at dusk."

"So why did we leave so early then?" It was Guiche's turn to ask as he was tying his horse to a nearby tree followed by his girlfriend's.

"I always loved to travel when it was not too hot," the water mage retorted. "Besides, I've already asked Headmaster Osmond that we be given a two day vacation so I've made the most out of it."

"Good point," Guiche had conceded as he had his fair share of travelling when he was younger and leaving just after sunrise is the best time to leave for a trip.

The group then set up the mat to be used for the picnic and stayed for the rest of the day underneath the trees.

Come sundown, Montmorency then stood up and pulled out her familiar from his holed satchel. She then pricked her right middle finger with needle that she brought for this very purpose.

A trickle of blood had fallen on Robin's back before his master said. "Go and carry the drop of my blood to the Water Spirit. I know she will remember me."

Robin had only nodded before leaping his way towards the water's edge and entering it with a splash.

-oOo-

On the other side of the lake, two hooded figures were gazing at the now enlarged lake with grim expressions.

"Are you sure that this is the only way to stop the lake from overflowing any further?" The taller of the hooded figure had asked at his companion.

"Yes," was the laconic answer in a monotone voice.

"You know, Mon-Mon should have done that potion as it would make you a lot happier."

"Shut up."

-oOo-

After fifteen minutes of waiting, Robin had finally emerged from water and leapt back to his mistress' hands.

Right after the frog came back to his pouch, the water nearest the shore started rising and forming into a certain shape. Once it was finished, a fifty feet figure of an adult Montmorency was formed in front of the surprised teens.

"I am Montmorency Margarita La Fere de Montmorency, a water mage belonging to the family that made a pact with you," Montmorency had yelled at the giant figure before them, ignoring that it was also naked. "If you remember me through my blood, please answer us in a way we could understand."

"Yes, I remember the fluid that flows within your body." The Spirit replied in a monotone not unlike Ren's own. "Tell me why you had summoned me, Lonely One."

"Well, I would like to ask for the Spirit's Tear." Montmorency had felt the lump in her throat upon asking for the favor.

"Before I would give my answer, at least give me a good reason why."

"Well, I made a love potion for a few friends of mine, but forgot that it was much too potent and long lasting to be of practical use." Montmorency was already pointing her forefingers at each other in embarrassment.

"Due to your sincerity, I may give you what you wanted." The Water Spirit replied. "But, in return, I would ask two favors from you."

"Name it," Montmorency had given the others a look that said that she alone would speak.

"My first favor is for you to defeat the attackers that have been attacking me for the past two nights," the water spirit said with a tired sigh. "I will tell the second once the first favor is done. It also has something to do with why I am raising the water level of the lake."

"Alright, please give us the details of the attackers." Guiche then said, ignoring the glare from his girlfriend. "It would be our pleasure to protect you, Miss Spirit."

Montmorency then walked to just beside her boyfriend and hit him upside the head and added. "You would charm anything with a pussy."

"Hey, virgin ears here." Katie yelled once Ren had asked her what a pussy was.

"Sorry, Katie." Montmorency said while patting both younger girls' shoulders. "Sorry for the interruption, Spirit."

"That is alright," the Water Spirit said in reply. "These attackers had only attacked in twos and they were wearing robes and hoods to hide their identities and they attack when the moons have risen."

"Well, we'll have to stay for the night here." The Earth mage then said to show everyone that he was in charge. "When those hooded hobos arrive, we attack."

"That works for me," Reynald said in agreement. "I'll just sneak in a spell so that they would fall quickly."

"Then that is settled," the Water Spirit now interjected. "I will await news of your success."

With that said, the giant figure had slowly receded back to the water surface.

-oOo-

As it was, two hooded figures had come only two hours after the group and the Water Spirit had talked.

On Guiche's signal, a few icicles had been thrown at the intruders. The said icicles were melted by a sudden wave of fire in mid-air.

The blond Earth mage then felt a gust of wind that knocked him down his perch with Katie taking his place and using some golems of her own to attack or at least wear down the intruders.

Gimli then fired some Air Hammers on both hooded intruders before they were evaded. Montmorency had fired some Windy Icicles to help, but were either melted in mid-air or evaded.

Ren had come from behind a bush and fired the Wand of Destruction at the intruders before it was also evaded with some difficulty.

The last straw was made when Guiche had called up his golems to corner the intruders just enough for a Sleep spell to be fired on them.

After the battle, the intruders were revealed to be both Kirche and Tabitha to their surprise.

"One question, why?" Montmorency then asked the duo.

"We'll tell it to you once we talk with the giant translucent women," Kirche retorted with a sneer. Tabitha was just being silent while sneaking looks at a saddened Reynald.

Once again, Montmorency had summoned the Water Spirit and again the giant naked figure of the adult water mage had risen from the water.

"May we ask why the attackers are there with you?"

"Spirit, we only attacked you because our lands and villages are being flooded." Kirche then said in Tabitha's place.

"Straight to the point," the Water Spirit said in reply. "Well, since you are already defeated then I will tell you the reason. We were looking for the person who took our beloved treasure from the depths."

"Beloved treasure?"

"I believe it is the Ring of Andavi, which legend says possesses the power to control minds and it is under the power of the Water Spirit." Reynald then speaks up.

Tabitha was quite surprised that the usually quiet student would know something about this as did the others.

"That is correct," The Water Spirit replied with a nod. "Here is a drawing of the one who stole it from me."

The Water Spirit then used a part of itself to tear off a portion of the bark of a nearby tree. It then ran through the bark's surface as if it was drawing something before it was given to Montmorency along with two small vials.

"Why two vials?" The water mage had asked while holding the three items on her hands.

"You never know if a certain couple needs a love potion to push them in the right direction," The Water Spirit was saying while looking at Reynald and Tabitha who were standing side by side.

"Not funny," the aforementioned couple said in unison to everyone else's amusement.

After thanking the spirit and promising that they would help extend the search for the thief of the Ring of Andavi, the group then slept in an inn before heading home in the afternoon the next day.

-oOo-

After arriving at the Academy of Magic at sundown, everyone had gone back to their respective dorm rooms except for both Montmorency and Ren.

The two girls had gone to Louise's room to give her and Siesta the antidote that the water mage had prepared with some help from Colbert after being reprimanded for making a love potion in the first place, that is.

Well, at least that was the idea, before Montmorency had cold feet once she had peeked at the unlocked door.

"Ren, let's try again after a minute or two." The water mage said while putting an arm around the puzzled familiar. "We'll have some pudding that I'm sure you'll love."

"Alright, but what are those moans and squeaks about." Ren said while following the older girl through the empty hallway.

"I'll tell you when you're a little older."

-oOo-

Inside Louise's dorm room, two naked figures were draped on each other and sleeping peacefully. It was only when the sunlight's warm rays had hit one of the two figure's face that she had woken up.

She then looked down at her companion and sighed while ignoring the pain on the lower part of her body. With content or with tribulation, I could not tell.

The girl then thought while pushing her companion's nude body away from her as she stood up. 'Why, why did this happen?'

The girl's bare feet had hit the floor causing her to shiver at the coldness that was the result of the cold air of the early spring morning. She then moved quickly to keep the shivering to a minimum while clutching her bath essentials and a robe.

While the first girl was in the bath, cleaning her body and hopefully her soul, the second girl had woken up. Her ears had caught the chirping of the birds outside her window as well as the soft splashing of the tub within the bath that was connected to her room.

Like the first girl, the second girl had learned that she was naked underneath the covers and secondly that there were red spots on the mattress near her legs. And like the first girl, she was feeling shame for what they had did only the night before and was repeated just half an hour ago.

'Why did we do it?' The second girl then thought as she was beginning to remember bits and pieces of what happened before along with the pain that resulted from it. 'I'll bet we had drunk a love potion. Then again, unless that potion was really potent, it would not lead to what we had done.'

'I think I'll tell her that I'm sorry,' the second girl thought to herself as she too got up. 'One thing's for sure, our relationship would never be the same again.'

The second figure then got out of bed and ran to the armoire and picked up her own bath essentials and a second robe. She then headed for the baths to talk with the first girl.

Once inside, the first girl had seen her companion and whispered to her with a tear escaping her right gray eye. "Louise…"

-oOo-

Both Montmorency and Ren had forgotten about the time as they talked about various topics that they had forgotten to touch in their earlier conversations. This was evident when there was a knock on Montmorency's dorm door.

Ren had opened it to see a very distraught Louise Valliere and Siesta with the latter holding the sentient sword in her hands.

Louise then spoke with a deadly undertone. "Montmorency, this is your doing isn't it?"

"Yes," the water mage squeaked in reply.

"That was underhanded," the void mage then said while Siesta had closed and locked the door. "But it still made us realize something."

Both Montmorency and Ren had looked at Louise with confused looks before Siesta then spoke up. "I confessed my feelings for her and thanks to you; Louise has realized that she felt the same for me. Only now, neither of us is now a virgin."

"Oh," the water mage said as her earlier guess was true. "Ren, please do not ask what she meant as I will be glad to tell you in a few years."

"Yes," the edel raid answered with a nod.

"Even then, I wish I was with you two." Derflinger said with a clank. "I know what I witnessed is a lad's dream come true, but up close, it was quite unnerving."

Louise's and Siesta's glare had managed to silence the sword for the rest of the day.

Ren then said to lighten the atmosphere. "I'm happy that you finally got together despite the circumstances."

"Yeah…"

"Well, I think that you should keep your new relationship a secret." Montmorency then added. "Even then, Ren and I will support you as does Katie and the boys. I mean, you two kind of made it obvious anyway."

"As long as Eleonore doesn't know, I'm fine." Louise answered with her hands shaking before Siesta had grabbed it with her own.

-oOo-

Two days after the "incident", Eleonore had found out and was about to whip her youngest sister despite Cattleya's interference when a hooded figure came in through the window saying. "Don't even think about it."

The said hooded figure was actually Princess Henrietta and she had another mission for her favorite chevalier thus she had used a Silencing spell in the room. "Louise, you had known about my relationship with Prince Wales of Albion."

"Yes, but you two are practically cousins." The void mage answered. "Then again, compared to the old Germanian Prince that wanted your hand in marriage, I think Wales is a better option."

"Thank you for the support," Henrietta had felt a lot of sweat form up near her left ear while answering. "So does that mean that your engagement with Wardes is over."

"Yes," Louise said simply. "I mean, Mom found out about his obsession the other day and sent him a letter that our engagement is dissolved."

"Thank the Founder for that," Cattleya said with clasped hands. "We never knew about it till a page had picked up his dropped notes."

"That was why we took away his position as leader of the Griffon Knights and gave the role of accompanying Louise and her staff to both you and Eleonore." Henrietta said simply as she had given the Water Ring to the void mage. "I had also talked with General Gramont and he said that Guiche and Montmorency would also be helpful."

"So when will we leave?" Eleonore then said simply.

"But I haven't even given you the mission yet," The royal said in surprise.

"I've talked with Agnes and she said that you need to get rid of the love letters between you and Wales," the eldest Valliere daughter said pointedly. "From what I can understand, we're the best people to do so."

"You really are Aunt Karin's daughter," Henrietta said with a shake of her head. "Wales told me that if he, Brimir forbid, kicks the bucket, you would be more of a match for me."

"I think I would have a talk with both Mother and Father as I have overheard them and Queen Marianne actually engaging us in secret as the Germanian Prince was revealed to be sexual deviant and was planned to be killed after his wedding day." Eleonore then added while feeling a bit under the weather.

"I-I think I'll have a talk with Mom as I need to be engaged to a young MAN, even if he is still a little boy, I won't even care."

"Whoa, and to think I'm worried about falling in love with you," Siesta then told Louise said before everyone in the room broke into laughter.

"I think that this discussion is over and I need to be home before midnight," Henrietta said before returning to the window and let out a whistle. "Farewell."

"Well, Sis." Louise then told her blushing sister. "At least, you would end up with royalty."

A minute later, everyone in the room had their ears ringing after Eleonore had made a second Silencing spell before launching her tirade at everyone in the room.

-oOo-

The next morning, the group had once again met in the stables to begin their way through the countryside towards La Rouchelle, the port city of Gallia that is two days travel from Tristain.

Since the trip would then be at least two days long, the Osmond had provided some needed items for the travellers to carry in their trip.

There was a little distraction by Belldandy the mole trying to get the Water Ring but was quieted down by Cattleya's kindness.

The travellers then left the Academy before the other students were to wake up and had reached the border by the end of the first day of travel.

"I may like Earth, but going up mountains is not my cup of tea." Guiche was complaining as they went up the mountains in the northwestern region of Gallia.

"Shut it, Guiche." Montmorency said with a spat. "We're here so we could go to Albion and La Rochelle is the only port city that we could use."

"Oh well, at least La Rochelle is very beautiful."

"That it is," Eleonore said simply, her attention still on the road ahead as she was worried for a possible ambush. Thankfully, there was none.

-oOo-

The group then checked the schedule of airships leaving for Losailes, only to find out that next ship would leave at nine in the morning the next day.

With a groan, the group then looked for an inn that is well furnished (re: not the one star class inns) with Cattleya leading the group as she has an eye for good quality inns. They had found one a good block away from the airport and stayed there for the night.

"So here's what we're going to do." Eleonore was saying after using a Silencing spell in one of the two rooms that they were staying. "Louise, you and Ren look for a man who was whistling – God Save the Queen" and he'll lead you to Wales."

Turning to the maid, she then added. "Siesta, you will act as our maid and our job is to act like tourists, but in reality looking for anyone suspicious as they could be Reconquistan spies or something."

Finally, she then looked at the blonds and said. "Guiche, you and Montmorency are going to do what you do best. Playboy here would woo the girls while Montmorency would either berate him or do some shopping to get the town's attention. It's not the cleanest job, but I'm sure that even Reconquista would direct their attention to you two."

"I think I can understand why, but if it's for the Crown, why not?" The blonde water mage said while shrugging her shoulders. "That and I can buy a few dresses with Guiche's allowance too."

Guiche was about to protest, but the oldest blonde's glare was more than enough to quiet him down.

-oOo-

The next day, the group had gotten on the air ship – Wyndham and arrived at their destination about four hours later.

After arriving at the tree airport, Eleonore had bought a ticket for their use the following day before getting the group to split up.

Louise and Ren had found the whistling man inside a liquor store and he led them to a nearby church. A certain outlaw had followed them from afar with a group of men.

Eleonore and Cattleya had bought some bric a bracs which Siesta had carried along with a few dresses.

Guiche was about to start his flirting when he saw a former noble following his classmate and immediately called it to his girlfriend's attention. Montmorency then ran towards the others and they all ran towards the church.

-oOo-

At the back of the church, Louise was about to give the rolled up letter to Prince Wales when she suddenly held her head in pain. Ren had seen a shadow hiding in the three and used her weapon to shoot a rocket on it.

The tree trunk had exploded, bringing it down to the side and parts of its branches and bark had impaled the man hiding behind it while Wales had gotten Louise and his men to the ground.

Wardes was incensed upon seeing Cromwell killed by means of a tree and charged with his men. Wales had drawn his own sword and fired a flight of Ice Arrows.

A young woman around Wales' age had made a golem to fight off Wardes' goons while the other members of the Red Thorns had engaged the other members of Reconquista that seemed to come out of the woodwork.

Louise herself had come under fire thus had kept the letter in her bag and drew out her wand. She then fired off a few spells that ended up blasting a whole platoon of soldiers that just arrived from the forest.

Ren had wisely shifted her weapon to fully utilize its fire power before Louise had called up for them to react.

As for the others, Eleonore had fired off a few Ice Arrows at the soldiers that were trying to kill her with Cattleya making her own Golem to fight off other groups of soldiers.

Siesta had drawn Derflinger and moved from place to place to defend not only the Valliere sisters but also Montmorency and Guiche who were also under siege.

Soon, more Ice Arrows and Fireballs were raining from the sky making the Reconquista run away in fear and Fouquet to be captured for a second time.

The Red Thorns then commandeered the Wyndham and other airships in the ports and used them to evacuate the townspeople and their own number.

Reconquista was not able to mobilize its fleet as Cromwell had not given them the right to do so before his death.

Upon arriving in La Rochelle, Henrietta had cried in Eleonore's shoulders while Wales and the girl who was revealed to be his fiancée had gotten their men along with their families to gather wagons and horses for their flight to Tristain.

The royal then accepted that she could not fault her old lover for finding someone else and thus had stayed in the Academy for a needed vacation.

Eleonore had accepted her family's and the Crown's shared decision in getting her engaged to the Princess to keep Henrietta from being used as a political pawn and get the more fiery Eleonore to actually scare the other royals in Tristain's favor.

The group also returned the Ring of Andavi to the grateful Water Spirit and in return, she gave them rings and earrings that boosted their own affinity with the elements including her own.

-oOo-

A few days after getting Reconquista pricked in the backside and getting the Red Thorns (actually, they were named the Red Roses but Roses is not manly enough for a group of revolutionaries thus the slight change in name), Colbert had received good news from his search for artifacts.

"C'mon, Princess." Louise was telling the young royal as they left the dining room. "Instructor Colbert just told me that he needed companions to retrieve something in Tarbes. At least, the fresh air would do you good."

"Alright, Louise." The purple haired royal said with a sigh, before it turned into a smile. "I guess the new scenery would be good to me though."

The two young women then headed for the pink haired mage's room before changing to their travel clothes. They then headed to the gate where two carriages were waiting for them.

"Agnes, what are you doing here?!" Henrietta had exclaimed upon seeing her bodyguard/Captain of the Musketeers standing next to the first carriage along with the others.

"Well, since you're on vacation, I might as well be too." The blonde swordswoman said with a wide grin. "Besides, once I learned that you girls are going to Tarbes, I jumped at the opportunity to join you as I've never been there before."

"Well, you could join us in the carriage." Henrietta said as she had climbed in followed by Agnes, Eleonore, Cattleya, Ren, and Louise. "Did we forget anybody?"

"Nope, we're all here." Colbert replied as he got in the second carriage followed by Siesta and two musketeers. "Let's us head to Tarbes."

The trip had taken two days with some stupid rouge characters trying to rob the two carriage convoy only to be blasted off each time. A musketeer was riding shotgun with two more playing outrider thus no rouge could even get near the convoy without getting blasted off.

The travellers then stopped at the large house at the other end of Tarbes before the riders had dismounted and luggage was moved.

Siesta's father had warmly greeted the visitors and even gave them rooms to sleep in for the day.

Due to a short supply of rooms, Louise and Ren had slept in Siesta's own room that all three had no problem with.

Henrietta then shared a guest room with Eleonore with Cattleya sharing the second guest room with Agnes. The last room was set for the three female musketeers.

"Siesta, you really had made a name for yourself as you actually had the princess here in our home." Siesta's father – Jules was saying to his daughter who was seated to his right along with his family. "Your Highness, please forgive this man for not preparing for your arrival."

"There is really no need," Henrietta said while raising her hands as if to placate the host of the house. "We are only here temporarily anyway."

The dinner had continued with the guests and Siesta's family talking about school, political issues, and how the crops would be harvested.

Everyone had gotten a good night's sleep after that until the following morning.

-oOo-

The next morning, Siesta had led the group through a trail that led to the mountains only a kilometer from them. The trail that was made there was not even that steep and Siesta had explained that it was used by the village as their shelter whenever something bad happens.

Halfway towards the place where the artifact was kept, two groups had met in the tunnels. In their surprise, wands, muskets, and swords, were drawn. This was added by Louise and Ren reacting to fight in close range.

It was in the light of the torches and the reaction that the identities of the groups were revealed.

"Why are you here?" Colbert said while trying to keep his temper under control. "This would have ended badly if we did not recognize you."

"Sorry, Instructor." Montmorency said in behalf of her group. "We just wanted something to do and we also like to know what the artifact is too."

"Alright," Colbert was now rubbing his temples to relieve himself of potential headache. "Now let's continue towards the exit. Lead the way, Miss Siesta."

"Thank you, Sir." The maid replied as she continued to lead the way towards the exit.

-oOo-

An hour later, the whole group was looking at a building that has a large door and only two small windows.

Everyone then stood near the tablet and bowed with clasped hands as their way of respecting the dead. After that was done, Siesta then asked for help in moving the door that she had unlocked.

The musketeers and instructor then put their backs into it with Siesta's help and the large double doors had slid back to reveal the craft – one of the gyrocopters that Red Lynx pirates had used in their raids.

And by the looks of it, it still looks like it could be operational and its newly installed front cannon is also operable along with its wing and dorsal side missiles.

"Can I check if it works?" Ren then asked her mistress.

"Sure, Ren." Louise said after a minute. "At least, we could guide it back home if it does."

"You won't have to worry about the engine conking out as Dad has been fixing it all this time and our Lord had used some spell to keep the fuel intact." Siesta then added.

The gyrocopter did work and after spending yet another night was guided home by Tabitha and Slyphid with everyone else following them in the ground.

-oOo-

A week had passed after the discovery of the little dragon – a gyrocopter and Albion finally got its act together after mourning for the death of their leader Cromwell.

Henrietta was by then emotionally stable enough to take command of the kingdom and with Wales and his wife's help had organized a sizable force of mages and mage knights as well footmen and lancers that would defend the kingdom on the ground as well as offset their weakness in the air.

Louise was with the students when Osmond had called for an emergency announcement since both Siesta and Ren were helping Colbert adjust the gyrocopter's front fit two small people comfortably.

After the adjustments and announcement was done, the three girls had met in Louise's room, all of them wondering if they would live to study or work another day.

They knew as they had eaten a light dinner that they had to fight as Reconquista would not care whether or not they did as their goal was to conquer the whole of Helkagania under one rule – their own.

The next morning as Henrietta had led her army to fight in the fields of Tarbes as they were given an advance notice of two days prior to the Reconquista's Imperial Fleet send off, Louise had used the time to learn about the gunnery controls in case Ren had to shoot some dragon riders with her new gun.

-oOo-

The day had finally come with the Imperial Fleet going up against the Tristain Royal Fleet with five ships in between them.

The ships were seen in the horizon to the west of Tarbes at around seven in the morning thus general quarters was sounded through horns and church bells.

The village population was already evacuated two days ago and everything that was not tied down was carried to underground shelters or to the caves where Siesta had led the visitors earlier.

In order to keep the enemy fleets guessing, Henrietta had the ships and Griffiths in barns or under soil or leaves.

Once the Imperial Navy arrived to bombard the town and land soldiers did the trap was sprung. Suddenly, soldiers and Griffiths had emerged from their hiding places and attacked.

The surprised Reconquista soldiers were quickly taken out and with as many as one hundred soldiers in the landing ships being killed once their crafts were blown up before landing on those directly below them.

Albion dragon riders had evened the score by firing various spells on the newly revealed footmen before getting blasted themselves by mages from the ground.

Cannons fire was heard above as the ship gunners were shelling ground units or trying to keep Griffith or dragon riders off their own backs.

Earth mages had summoned golems of various sizes to serve as heavy support to their troops and even held grudge matches in the field of battle.

Various spells were felt rather than seen except in certain instances as mages covered by infantry blast each other at long ranges.

Sometimes, mages or troop commanders had fallen on the ground due to musket balls being sent their way and thus leading Albion troop concentrations to chaos.

In the midst of this, various nobles including Karin of the Heavy Wind and her husband had used their own spells to knock out companies of enemy troops quickly and had become targets as well.

Henrietta was guarded by Agnes who had slashed or shot enemy troops or mages that were attacking them with the Princess herself using her scepter either as wand or as a blunt weapon, thus staining her royal armor with blood.

The Valliere sisters and Osmond was there as well adding their own firepower to the Tristain army thus even more companies were being wiped out.

-oOo-

In the midst of the full scale battle in Tarbes, only a handful of people were left in the Academy with Colbert being one of them.

The instructor had finally deemed the little dragon battle ready and thus gave the crew a thumbs up.

"Thank you, Instructor." Louise told the pacifist instructor with a bow. "I understand that you don't want to fight, but please do if this Academy is under attack."

"You don't have to worry about that, Louise." Jean said with a smile. "I may not want to fight, but that doesn't mean I will defend this place."

"Alright, Siesta." Louise then said as she looked back. "We're going to defend your hometown so let's fly."

"Right, Mistress." Siesta then said as she had pushed the starter button of the aircraft. "Here we go."

The gyrocopter was able to takeoff despite the short runway provided to it and joined Sylphid in the skies towards Tarbes.

-oOo-

Edward Dunch, former Member of Parliament under the previous kingdom and now a leading member of Reconquista, was watching with dismay from the portal of his flagship – Lexington.

"Damn that brat," he had muttered as he watched the battle above and below him. "We may have to call for reinforcements if this keeps up."

He then turned around to see one of the pages cleaning his desk. "You! Send a message back to the Second Fleet to back us up."

"Yes, Sir." The page replied with a salute as he dropped his rag and replaced with a quill and an ink bottle.

Edward then looked back at the chaos around him and muttered. "I wonder what was that witch thinking when she said that Tristain is easy pickings."

-oOo-

While a message was being made to the Imperial Navy's Second Fleet, a rhythm dragon and a strange craft had entered the battlefield.

Both dragon and flying craft had taken out the wind dragons in their way with minimal effort as the Albion dragon riders were actually maneuvering for a better spot to deal with the Griffith riders when they were caught by surprise.

With almost no wind dragon in the air, the rhythm dragon then broke off with a roll towards the ground while the small craft continued on to the ships.

Explosions had rained on the small craft as the gunnery crews had seen the small craft approaching and maneuvered their ships to try and stop it.

A flight of missiles were launched from the small craft and holed one of the two ships easily, damaging the wind stone within the engine room and thus it listed and fell to the ground like a rock.

A single missile fired from the dorsal side of the small craft had done the same to the other ship as its engine room was hit and it too sunk like a rock.

Three more ships and dragon had emerged from the horizon and the brave crew of the gyrocopter had thought that they were the only ones who could engage it as most of the Griffons were too tired to continue and needed rest.

It was then that the lone dragon's rider had seen them and gave chase. The dragon rider, revealed to be Wardes, had fired plenty of Air Hammers in their direction and Siesta had to jink right or left to get out of range.

Because of Siesta's maneuvers, neither Ren nor Louise could get a bead on the errant noble who was still on their tail.

Siesta then yelled over the roar of the air around them. "I'll try to lose him near the ships so hold on tight."

The maid then opened the throttle to full giving the small propeller engines a lot more of the needed power as the craft headed to the ships.

The panicking crew then moved their ship around to fire at the incoming craft, forgetting about the dragon chasing it.

Down below, a few were looking at the darkening sky as most of the enemy had turned tail and were now being chased.

Back in the air, Siesta's superb piloting had gotten herself and her fellow crew alive as they evaded the twenty pound shells sent their way. Wardes had done the same even though he had to slow down his ride to keep it from getting hit.

The gyrocopter had finally lost its pursuer when Louise had suddenly gone numb and Ren's left hand runes started glowing brightly.

The void mage then slowly lifted her right hand with her wand grasped in it.

A locus of power was seen in the end of Louise's wand before it suddenly grew to a sphere of two miles diameter, engulfing the ships and Wardes' dragon that had just passed it.

Then, something exploded. Wardes was immediately atomized being at point zero and the ships had broken into pieces as if a powerful bomb was set off in its bowels. All of the Second Fleet's forces including Wardes were killed in an instant, their remains along with the ships and their dragons had rained on the ground adding to the stench of dead bodies that had fallen on it before.

The gyrocopter had landed in the part of the field that was clean of dead bodies and that was where their friends and family had rushed them. The sun revealed itself from behind one of the moons, its rays falling on the gyrocopter as if blessing it and its occupants.

From that point on, Louise Valliere along with the maid warrior Siesta and familiar edel raid Reverie Metherlance were considered the heroes of Tristania and were given medals for their bravery and skills in the skies above.

This is certainly not the end of their adventures as they had even more adventures yet to come, but that is best told in another story.

---

Legend: * - Songs are like spells or special attacks for Edel Raids and when the bond between Pledger and Edel Raid is strong, so are the songs they make.

With that out of the way, we finally finished this second chapter of Familiar Phases and I will now start writing the next phase next year.

Only this time, I will be switching the order of the animes I will crossover with Familiar of Zero as the next phase is actually the fourth one with the one after that being the third. I will explain why I did so once I post the next phase aptly named "Dual Familiar" next year.

Before I forget, Dual Familiar deals with a teenaged boy (and his best girl friend) who is used to traveling between dimensions and thus Helkagania wouldn't be too much of a hassle. Oh, did I forget that they have a giant sentient robot with them.

Also, please forgive me if the length of this chapter may end up being the norm from this chapter onwards as my writing is beginning to go in this direction (lots of exposition and description, but short fight scenes). I think I'll lengthen the fight scenes next to make it a much better reading experience for you.

For now, Happy New Year and enjoy this phase until the next time.