Now all he had to do was find the kitchens.
After that stunt he just pulled Louise would probably try and punish him. More than likely using food to get to him, all living things needed food. So she'd try and take his meals away.
Okay, so let her think he wasn't eating. That why he was looking for the kitchens now.
Got to be prepared, as his father had always told him.
Kiero was walking the halls munching on the spoils from lunch looking for someone who could point him toward the kitchens. Or maybe he'd get lucky and stumble upon the kitchens himself.
Hopefully this would break her of some of her uptight attitude.
As these thoughts were running through his head Kiero noticed one of the hallway's doors was open.
Hoping he wasn't in the girls dorm he glanced inside.
Ok, was she the only maid here?
Inside was Siesta making one of the student's bed.
"Um, hello there." He called out
The maid turned around, it was indeed Siesta.
"Oh, hello Mr. Familiar."
She was still sour about before was she?
"Look, I'm sorry if you thought I was making fun of you before. I don't think you're gullible just because you're a servant. If it makes you feel any better you can go to the headmaster and ask him to tell you my story, tell him I sent you and he should."
Siesta looked to be in thought for a moment, then "No, I should be sorry. It wasn't right for me to lose my temper like I should. I thought about all the things my father told me about my great grandfather and I realized that no one believed his early claims to be from another planted either. So when you claimed the same thing I just… it's hard to believe that you and my great grandfather came from a different world."
"I suppose it would be hard for anyone to believe, even the people in my world never knew about another world. I guess you could say this is history in the making."
"Y-yeah" Siesta said with a small giggle.
"Anyway, I was wondering if you could do me a small favor. I kind of got in trouble with Louise and I expect she'll try and take away my meals. So if you could show me where the kitchens are so I can sneak a bit here or there when she's being difficult I'd owe you one."
"Y-you made Ms. Valliére made, no you shouldn't do that! She's a noble, she can-"
"Have me punished? Well, she is a noble and she can try to punish me. But that's what I'm planning for. You don't have to be so scared of nobles you know, all it takes is learning how to outsmart them. Tell me, have you ever seen a frog eat an ant?"
"Um, yes?"
"That's very much like how nobles and commoners are, the frog being nobles and the ant, a commoner. Now, what happens if a whole nest of ants swarms a frog?"
"The… frog gets overwhelmed?"
"Yes, the same situation can be applied to nobles and commoners. One-on-one the noble can easily win with magic and fear. But if you think about it, how many nobles are there compared to commoners?"
Siesta was starting to get it.
"So what you're saying is that because the commoners outnumber the nobility it's only our fear that gives them power over us?"
"Exactly, I once watched a movie where a group of grasshoppers did the same thing to a colony of ants, until they overcame their fear and used their numbers to their advantage. It was made in one of the countries of my world."
"What's a movie?"
"Oh, it's… it's like a mini play that you can watch in your home."
"Oh, that sound's amazing. A play just for you and your family."
As Siesta was aglow with awe Kiero noticed something on the side of her face.
He slowly grabbed her chin, ignoring her blush, and turned her head to get a better look.
A bruise.
"Who did this?" he demanded
"I-It's nothing" she tried to lie
He then pulled her face right up to his and looked her directly in the eyes.
There was something there she saw. Something in them that flickered for just a second.
"I asked you who did this to you?"
His tone left no room for argument
"I-It was Guiche…" the words fell out of her mouth.
And with that he was gone, walking down the hall back toward the classrooms.
"W-Wait! Didn't you say that nobles would win a one-on-one confrontation like with the ant and the frog?!" she called after him.
He paused for a moment to turn back to her.
"I'm a big ant."
Louise was still being bothered by students asking her if her familiar could use magic.
Some asked her what she was thinking summoning a noble.
Class was just getting started when the door suddenly burst open.
Standing there was her familiar, her very mad looking familiar.
Giving a quick scan of the room he suddenly yelled out
"GUICHE!"
Guiche, at hearing his name almost jumped, but quickly turned a calm gaze over to her familiar.
"Can I help you?"
Without saying anything her familiar stormed over to Guiche and…
Punched him square between the eyes.
Guiche went down hard, everyone was quiet including the teacher.
What the hell was her familiar doing?!
Glaring down at Guiche her familiar yelled at him
"If you dare lay a hand on Siesta, or any servant for that matter, I will break that hand you slapped her with! She is a good person and one such as you are unworthy of her serving you, got it!"
Guiche, for his credit, took all of that calmly and stood up to regard her, completely ignoring her familiar.
"Is this how you let your familiar act?" he questioned her
She could only slowly shake her head.
"Hey, bozo! I'm talking to you!" her familiar continued.
Still ignoring him Guiche sighed "It seems I'll have to teach him for you"
Then Guiche gave her familiar a bored look.
"Very well then. I challenge you to a duel, let's say… the Vestri courtyard. Right now if you'd like."
"Perfect." Her familiar growled.
The two of them began to leave the room when the teacher called out
"H-Hey, where do you think you're go-"
Both Guiche and her familiar shot the teacher a glare that shut him up.
Then they left, with all of the students, including her, following close behind.
They had already reached the courtyard when Louise was able to think again.
She quickly ran over to her familiar
"What were you thinking?!"
"Lousie." He said
"Apologize to him."
"Louise." He said again in an annoyed voice
"If you don't want to be hurt, go and apologize. If you do it now, he might forgive you."
"Lousie." He said sternly
"You can't win. You'll be badly injured. Actually, you'll be lucky to come back alive with just injuries."
"Louise." He almost yelled, grabbing her shoulders turning to look at her directly
"If I don't do this he'll just continue abusing servants as he sees fit. I cannot allow that. Besides, against me he probably won't stand a chance. Nothing can touch me."
"And if he turns out to use fire?!"
"Then I'll still win, only it will be slightly harder"
Why is he so stubborn?!
"Fine then! I don't care if you get hurt, in fact I hope he hurts you!"
With that she stormed off.
She remained within sight though.
After Louise stormed off Kiero turned his attention back to Guiche.
One of the students stepped forward and called out.
"Gentlemen! It's a duel!"
Guiche lifted his artificial rose high, eliciting a loud cheer from the crowd.
"Guiche is going to duel! His opponent is Louise's commoner!"
Guiche then turned to him
"First of all, I commend you for coming here instead of running away!" Guiche remarked in a mocking tone, as he twirled his rose.
Kiero's only response was cracking his neck.
"Right then, let us begin," said Guiche.
He then flicked his rose, letting fly a single petal to float lightly down.
When it landed on the ground it transformed into an armor-clad female warrior made from some kind of metal.
A golem.
Seeing him regard the golem Guiche spoke up.
"I am a mage, therefore I fight using magic. Surely you have no complaints?"
"Hmph, fine by me." He responded, his voice betraying his confidence.
"I guess I forgot to mention earlier. My Runic name is "the Bronze." Guiche the Bronze. Accordingly, my bronze golem "Valkyrie" shall be your real opponent."
The golem then rushed him, almost faster than he could see.
It's right fist heading directly for his gut.
A loud impact echoed throughout the courtyard.
…
The golem's fist never made it close.
About a yard away from him it collided with something invisible and its whole arm crumbled under the force of impact.
The golem stood there for a moment before crumbling as well.
Guiche stood there, mouth slightly agape.
Kiero then began to take slow meaningful strides toward Guiche.
Panicking Guiche flicked his rose again and again, releasing six more petals to become golems similar to the first.
They all rushed him, using an assortment of weapons to try and get at him.
All of their attempts ended short of him, hitting that same invisible force, slowly wearing away at their weapons.
One by one the golems' weapons broke under their own force.
When he was only ten feet away from Guiche the golems ran over to form a wall between them.
With a simple wave of his hand all of the golems went crashing to the side.
With nothing standing in his way Kiero balled his fist and dashed toward Guiche before he could react.
For the second time that day Guiche got punched right between the eyes.
On the ground Guiche looked up at Kiero.
Kiero reached down and grabbed Guiche by the front of his shirt, pulling him to be face to face.
"Now tell me, are you going to hit Siesta again?"
Guiche shook his head
"Am I going to hear about you giving a servant a hard time again?"
Guiche shook his head again.
"Good" Kiero said, letting go of Guiche's shirt letting him fall back to the ground.
Kiero extended a hand to help Guiche up, gone was the scowl replaced with a warm smile.
"Then we'll have no problem being friends, right?" he said.
To Guiche, that smile was evil.
Siesta couldn't believe her eyes.
He had won.
So easily.
The golems couldn't even touch him.
Who was he?
Whoever he was he instilled so much confidence in her, even if it looked like he could be a noble he was so nice to her.
He had amazing power, and he didn't use it selfishly for his own purpose.
He used it to protect her.
She felt herself blush.
She would do anything to help someone like that.
Siesta left the courtyard to let the other servants know about their new friend.
She was almost to the servant's quarters when she was called out by Ms. Longueville, the headmaster's secretary.
"Excuse me, Ms. Siesta."
"Um, yes, how may I help you?"
"The headmaster just finished negotiations with Count Mott. It seems you will be transferred to work at his manor starting tomorrow. Please pack your things." She said, handing her a document showing the transaction with Mr. Osman's signature.
"What?"
"You're lucky he was an earth mage." Louise commented.
Kiero sighed.
They were on their way back to her dorm. Surprisingly, all throughout the rest of class they weren't called to the headmaster's office.
"I told you that even if he was a fire mage I could still beat him. He was rather weak anyway, I bet I could have beaten him without pysnergy"
"Don't get overconfident! If you beat Guiche then more will likely want to try and duel you, and one of them will be a fire mage."
"And if that's the case then I'll just use a different tactic."
"God, why are you so stubborn?!"
"Why do you have such little confidence in me?"
"Because…"
Why did she have such little confidence in him?
He was just a commoner, but he had proven himself to be much more than he seemed.
He was smart, had even outsmarted Kirche and her she hated to admit.
He was proving to be capable of handling any situation he found himself in.
He was capable… and she wasn't.
Even her familiar was better than her, that's why she tried to have no confidence in him.
It made her feel better about herself to think that her familiar wasn't as good as he was.
This realization made her angry.
Without thinking she turned and threw a kick right for his weak point.
Her foot stopped before reaching that point, she saw a smirk on his face.
Damn him! Then I'll just…
Louise then wiped out her wand and flicked it at him.
*BOOM*
The explosion rocked the hallway.
When the smoke cleared she saw the hallway blackened with soot and her familiar lying on the ground unconscious.
That's right, she thought as she looked at her wand He said himself that he couldn't stop energy based attacks.
Looked like her explosions fell into that category.
She smiled to herself.
She found her leverage.
Sometime later when he woke Kiero found himself in Louise room lying on his hay pile.
Looking out the window he could see that it was night.
Louise lay in her bed asleep.
Right, Louise blew him up. He didn't think she'd figure out how make use of his weakness so quickly.
But what kind of magic was that?
From what he'd heard during her lesson's there was four elements a mage could use.
Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind; and depending on the skill of the mage they could combine multiple elements. But no matter what combination of elements he could think of none of them would be able to cause such an explosion that he wouldn't have been able to block.
Just what the hell kind of magic was that?!
Wait… Now that he thought about it, the teacher mentioned one more element. A lost element and their godlike figure Brimir used thousands of years ago.
Void.
But that was supposed to be lost, how could Louise have it?
Still, all the evidence showed otherwise.
And now he had no way to stop her from using that explosion as means to punish him.
"Fuck" he whispered to himself.
He then rolled over in his hay pile and tried to think of ways he could get the advantage away from Louise until he fell asleep.
The next morning, as he expected, Louise was quick to grab her wand when he started to give her a hard time.
Damn it! She did figure it out!
So when breakfast rolled around he begrudgingly sat himself on the floor to partake of the bowl of broth on the floor while that little devil child enjoyed her meat and potatoes.
He still had one card up his sleeve though, and it took the form of a black hair maid.
After breakfast he told Louise he had some things to do before he could join her in class.
She simply dismissed him with a huff then left.
Now he had to find that maid.
After wandering around for two hours with no such luck he sighed to himself.
Just where could she have gone?
He began his search once more when a scent hit his nose.
Following the scent he found himself in the kitchens
Yes! He did it, he finally found the kitchens.
Walking in, he could see multiple cooks rushing about, likely preparing the upcoming lunch.
After a minute one noticed him. He was a largely built man, and with the way he had been directing the other cooks he was the head chef.
"What can I do for you boy?" he asked.
"Oh I was just wondering where the kitchens were. I was going to ask one of the maids where this place was but seeing as I found it I saved her the trouble."
"Wait… are you Siesta's friend?"
"Um, yes?" he said confused.
"Siesta wanted me to give you a message. She looked like she was in a hurry."
"A message, what was it?" he asked
"Ah, well… she wanted me to tell you that she had to leave. Apparently she'd been transferred to work at Count Mott's estate. She also said that she was sorry she couldn't say goodbye directly and that she was grateful for standing up to a noble for her."
Kiero was silent
"Look I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to see her off. If you'd like I could treat you to a meal anytime you want, a friend of Siesta is a friends of ours. She's was such a nice girl."
No sooner had the chef finish that last sentence than Kiero left the kitchens.
His meal would have to wait.
Louise's lessons started out just as good as they did yesterday.
With her familiar kicking down the door.
"Guiche." He called, just like before.
This time however, Guiche was quick to bolt to a standing position.
"Yes!" he cried.
Her familiar walked over to Guiche…
And put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey there bud, look I need to ask you a question."
"Uh, uh, w-what is it?" Guiche stammered.
"Do you know where Count Mott's estate is?"
"Y-yeah, I do"
Guiche told him where the estate was and was about to leave the room when she called out after him.
"Hey, wait! Just what do you think you're doing going to the Count's estate at a time like this?"
Not even waiting her familiar ran out the door yelled back "Saving a friend!"
Great, now her familiar was running off to cause more trouble.
What a dumbass she thought.
She was about to run after him when the teacher called her out.
"Ms. Valliére, just because you're familiar can make a show does not mean you can just leave class. You have missed enough days already as it is."
With that Louise had no choice but to sit back down.
A few minutes later when the teacher was wrapped up in a lecture she heard someone whispering to her.
Turning to look she saw Kirche looking at her.
Great, was she going to make fun of her here of all places, and in the middle of class.
"Louise, as much as I'd like to see that mouthy familiar of yours get some sense knocked into him I'd hate to see you get in trouble for it. I might not act like it, but I think of you as my friend"
Louise glared at her suspiciously.
"Don't worry, Tabitha's agreed to help as well."
Louise looked over at the girl Kirche was talking about.
One of the only girls smaller that Louise, Tabitha had short bluish hair and glasses.
The girl used a staff and never really talked to anyone, preferring to keep her nose in her books.
Kirche continued whispering "She'll let us ride on her dragon so we can catch him after class"
That's right; Tabitha summoned a dragon as her familiar. One of the most impressive one's this year, probably the whole school.
Well as long as Tabitha's going to help then I guess I can deal with Kirche, friend my ass
Louise gave a small nod
Kirche gave her a smile.
The walk to Count Mott's was a long one, it was already almost sundown!
Kiero tried to run there but couldn't last more than seven minutes.
Damn it, I need to get in shape he thought
As such a distance he should have traversed in only one or two hours took him all day to get to the Count's estate.
When he finally reached the gate a guard came out to question him.
"Hold it! What's your business here, it's almost dark"
Thinking quickly he answered "I'm a servant of the Valliére family, I have an important message for Count Mott."
If that girl was as important as she claimed to be then using her family name should get him in.
"Understood, please follow me"
I'll be damn, it worked. Guess Louise wasn't kidding when she claimed to be from a very important family
Hopefully she would forgive him for using her name like that…
No, she wouldn't.
Ah well, he'd figure that one out later, right now he had to think of a way to get Siesta back.
The guard told him to wait in the entrance hall while he went to inform the count of his presence.
While waiting he notice a couple of maids walk around.
What the hell are they wearing?
Almost every maid was dressing in a very provocative crimson outfits.
What kind of place is this Mott guy running here? Whatever it is that's all the more reason why I need to get Siesta out of here
Finally the guard came back and asked him to follow.
After a short walk through the mansion Kiero was shone through a door to find Count Mott sitting in a chair waiting for him.
Count Mott had very poor choice in clothing. It was all… poofy.
The count turned to address him.
"What do I owe the pleasure of having a servant of the Valliére family at my doorstep at this time of day? You have a message don't you, speak!"
Stepping forward Kiero stated his demands
"I want you to release Siesta."
"Does the Valliére family wish to employ Siesta?"
"No, she'll be returning with me to the Academy."
"So you're a servant of the Academy?"
"No, I'm just a familiar of one of the students, Louise Vallére."
"Just what is your relationship with Siesta familiar?"
"What's it matter what my relationship with Siesta is? You are going to let Siesta leave this whore house you've got going on her or there's going to be a problem."
"How dare you! Servant of the Valliére family or not I'll have you executed for this! Guards!"
Before the guards could rush him, however, the door behind Mott burst open and none other than Siesta, dressed in the same outfit as the other maids, ran in to kneel between the count and him.
"Siesta!" he called
"Sir Count. Please forgive that man's rudeness." She begged
"I will not. For me to take and insult from a meager commoner is a heavy offense. Move Siesta!" the count demanded
"I cannot." She answered
"What?"
"Count Mott, I beg of you. I'll take any punishment that you desire!"
Kiero couldn't believe this. Siesta was going to give herself to the count just like that?
He wouldn't let that happen.
The count turned from Siesta.
"You there, Valliére servant. I have a deal for you, I have a profound fondness for my book collection, and there is a book I want. It is a book that was accidently summoned here when a certain Sorcerer was experimenting with magic. It seems a distinguished family in Germania has kept it as their treasure. Their daughter is enrolled at the Academy. Whether a commoner like you knows her or not, her name is Zerbst."
Kirche?!
"If you want me to return Siesta, then bring me the Zerbst Treasure."
"I'm sorry"
"What?" asked the count turning to Kiero
"I'm no one's errand boy" he said, before punching the guard closest to him and charging the count.
AN:
Dear Readers,
I did it! I squeezed out another chapter before I left.
I'm sorry about the lacking fight scene.
What do you expect, its Guiche against a Psychokinetic.
Kind of a one way battle.
I'll be able to make better fight scenes when stronger enemies roll around.
With Kirche I figured that after mouthing off at her, even if he did beat Guiche, that Kirche wouldn't have a thing for Kiero.
And if you're worrying about the introduction of Derflinger, don't, I got plans.
As such I skipped to the Mott incident to make up for the time lost when Kiero was recovering.
That is all for now.
Your reviews, tips and suggestions are always welcome.
Sincerely,
Blegh
