Felt a little shaky about the beginning of this chapter. But then again, I always seem to think that. But seriously, I wasn't very sure about how well the beginning scenes went, but that's mainly because for original content, I don't actually have a template to follow, so keeping things somewhat believable is… difficult, to say the least.

Anyways, I think the rest of it turned out well. Not a lot of plot movement, but set up. Then again, everything seems to be set up, huh? But I suppose that's how it should go.

Review reply time, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

ZeroStealth 117: Heh, yeah. Printing Press is going to be fun. And chaotic. Though as for Mott, definitely! Justice by the gun and sword indeed!

Guest (May 20): D'aaaaw, thanks. I did stick somewhat to the plot of FoZ, but that's only because events so far as yet to make a massive dent on direction. But the plot line will take a sledgehammer to the face eventually. And yes, can't wait for Tabitha to join in!

Ddragon21: Unfortunately, weather manipulation is out of Gig's power set. Technically he could influence weather with electron control, but it would be a lengthy and unpredictable process.

The tuxedo man: Thanks! And the Badass Tattoos know about Nerve Vision as well, so it'll be an interesting battle between the two.

Quelthias: Yeah, I did want to have original elements. After all, fanfiction should serve to introduce new ideas, not just rewrite. And well, let's just say those things go through. But it's going to take a lot of work.

Guest (May 1): O RLY? Hehheh, just kidding. Do you mind providing a little context on why?

Darkerdeepdown: Muahaha, yeah. And just wait for the Church to react! : D

Ww1990ww: Oh no, Gig wouldn't be a king. He's not… leadership material, exactly. And yep, equal and opposite reactions! Hooray!

WraithHeart: It's more of a silvery-grey that looks white from a distance, but it was mentioned in the first chapter.

Karthik9: Thanks!

KO: Yeah, that's the problem with neon-kinesis. That, and I'm not exactly too sure on the properties of neon. That would be an interesting thing to see as a fanfiction, though.

PEJP Bengtzone V2: Well… I guess. Though I really wanted to stick to more of the sciences that I could calculate myself or find the calculations. Chi manipulation is a little tricky for me to do. Besides, Gig would be pissed at lack of conservation of energy :D And as for the wind generator idea, well, let's just say that Gig will figure something out. God bless having friends that are physicists that have waaaaay too much free time on their hands. I'm considering another crossover as well, but another FoZ one right away is sort of out of the question.

Indecisive Bob: Thanks! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!

Anyways, new cover! What opinions do you guys have of it? Bonus points if you can read every word on the cover!

Chapter 10: Church and State

"Separation of Church and State"

"Drop your wands!"

"I told you all that flying over the palace was a bad idea!" I hissed, "Everyone stay quiet and let me talk to the guards."

With that, I dismounted from Sylphid and held my hands up in a surrendering pose, "Hey, hey. Let's talk this out now."

"Silence, commoner!" one bellowed.

"Commoner?" I let out a small smile as the commander, who looked quite smug with his moustache, glared, "Well, sure. I might not be nobility," I let a little electricity spark around my arms, "But I happen to be Gig. And we've got some important business with the princess that is of the utmost urgency."

By now most people here knew who the hell 'Gig' was. The 'Electric Demon Swordsman' that supposedly was the one who really took down Foquet, alongside being known as the 'Defender of the Common People'. It was rather surprising when we were travelling here and made a few stops what people said about me.

"Not to mention that Louise Vallerie is here as well on the same grounds," I continued, "This is very urgent. In fact, so urgent that I believe it may or may not be grounds for treason if someone were to continue holding us here. That wouldn't be very pretty now, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't. But I cannot allow a possible threat to freely see Her Highness. Arrest them!"

Oh you have got to be kidding me.

"Louise!" THANK GOD.

"Princess!" Louise cried, leaping off of Sylphid as Henrietta shoved her way through the guards. They quickly began to hug, and the guards began to put their wands away, "We were successful."

"Where is…"

"I mean no offense, and pardon my interruption," I cut in, "But these matters are not to be lightly spoken of. We should find more private quarters to speak."

"But of course," Henrietta nodded, "Let us go. Let the others go as well, commander. They are my guests."

With that, we quickly left to go to Henrietta's bedroom. No one said a word, but there was definitely a growing aura of grimness that wasn't going away any time soon. Not to mention that Tristain would be next once Reconquista and the Absolute Liberators finished duking it out.

Kirche, Tabitha, and Guiche were left outside as Louise and I made it in. This wasn't going to be a fun conversation. Not at all.

With a solemn look on her face, Henrietta sat down. Louise didn't make a peep, but I think that was because she didn't want to break the news to her.

"Alright, I'll start then." I mumbled before retelling our story, which included how the others joined in, the pirate raid, and then how the pirate was really Wales, up until the final day. Then I covered how Wardes was actually a traitor and nearly killed Wales but I stopped him, and how Louise finished him with Void Fire.

"He wished for you to know this, as was his last request. He wished for you to know that he cherished you in even his last moments, and wishes he could be by your side, but you'll have to settle for just being watched from afar."

She looked like she was ready to cry as Louise tentatively handed her the letter.

"He was ready to die so your kingdom would be preserved," I mumbled, cautiously putting a hand on her shoulder, "While… it may sound insensitive for me to say this, he did love you… so much that he would rather die than even give you the least of troubles that it would bring had he fled here. Fleeing would only give them more incentive to invade right away."

"They will invade regardless though." She said with a sigh.

I didn't know how to respond. After some careful thought I replied, "If it helps, he died a glorious and dignified death."

"Such is the privilege of those who fight to their death," she said with a false smile, tears glossing her eyes. Seeing that sort of smile on anyone's face was a real heartbreaker, "But what about those who get left behind?"

I paused, giving thought to my answer. What would Cynthia say… got it, "We live for that person. We live for the life that they could not have. Make every day one of amazement."

"To live for someone who has died…" she smiled, finding the irony amusing, "Your partner is an odd one, Louise, but has a way with words. Regardless, the mission has been accomplished. Albion will not be able to invade us as easily. For that, I thank you, my best friend Louise." She then held Louise's hands, going over to her, "Please hold onto the Water Ruby, it is the least I can give you for taking on such a dangerous mission."

I took the Wind Ruby out of my pocket and held it out to her, "Princess, this is from Prince Wales. I suppose that it would do well for you to have a reminder of him."

She took it with a slight look of wonder, mumbling some sort of spell as it shrank, "Thank you. I… I will take your words to heart, and live as bravely as he died."

"Your Highness," said a man as he walked in, ruining the mood, "The Pope's familiar is here with some knights, they are asking if they may stay the night before they continue on their journey."

"Yes…" she looked at us two, "If you'll excuse me. You are welcome to stay the night, though. You and all of your friends."

I made my way to the library to find the bookbinder who worked with Colbert and me, "William, are you here?"

"I am," said a blonde young man who was probably at most three years my elder, his bright blue eyes shining with life, "What is it, Kurt?"

"I merely came to see how you were doing. Binding all of those books surely must've taken a lot out of you."

"It's worth it," he said, despite his bandaged fingers which he waved, "Though one day I wish that the books that reside here in the library will be able to be read by the masses. It's not that they lack the ability to read, it's merely that there is only one copy, an entire life's work penned into the pages. That's one of the reasons I joined with you. You brought forth a path that can stop that."

I nodded, "Yeah. It's rather odd for me, not being able to pick a book at random and just read it for pleasure. I'm sure that we'll be able to start mass producing books from here as well."

"Removing a book from the royal library is going to be tricky business though," he said, dropping his voice to a whisper as we went into the office of the librarian, which William happened to be, and librarian I meant he was in charge of anything that went on in the library, like window changes, yadda yadda, "It's not a matter of appearance though, so replacing the book and hoping that the royalty doesn't choose that one book in particular isn't the hard part. There are magical enchantments on all of the books; they're bound to alert someone if we attempt to remove them through the doors."

"Damn," I mumbled, "We'll have to work on something for that."

"I'd rather not talk about this here, though," he admitted, "If I can get a break soon, I'll see if I can make it to the school. We can talk there."

"Good. Talk to you some other time, William. Meanwhile, see if you can find out what exactly those detection systems do."

It had been a week and a half since returning from Albion and Colbert and I were working on the printing press which he upgraded while I was away, moving another stack of papers in our further automated press.

A week ago, William had the idea of printing the equivalent of the Bible here… and while I knew the possible consequences of such an action, I suppose it wouldn't be too bad. We had already put out plenty of copies, and with William working more on bookbinding since the royalty wasn't concerned with the books as much which freed him from his duties, we were making good progress.

Their Bible equivalent wasn't the only thing we printed though, we did also make some money by printing a few books that we bought off merchants. And since we needed markets, we already had a massive underground book network going that reached out to the various kingdoms. It seemed that once people found out they could get books for cheap, they wanted to buy.

After all, escapism is a great thing to exploit. A book would allow them to get away from the dreariness of life underneath the nobility. Of course, there wasn't a bookshop yet, but that's mainly because book printing has been something so new that it's more of an underground movement than anything else.

"Isn't this wonderful?" Colbert said with wonder, "To think that now we can provide religious education to the masses! Every person can have their own copy, the knowledge shared."

"The only good knowledge is shared knowledge now, ain't it?" I laughed, "It's why we keep deep dark secrets locked away from the public."

"Agreed," he nodded, "Spreading ink."

"Readying press," I put my hand near a lever as Colbert put the ink across. He pulled away, "Pulling!"

The press clamped down, putting the ink on the paper. When I pulled the lever up, the part that held the paper partially slid away onto a track to be stored elsewhere. Colbert then slid in another piece of wood that held paper on it and began to ink the machine.

Oh automation, how much I love you.

"I'm quite surprised that you managed to automate this," I said with a bit of admiration, "I was actually struggling to come up with a mechanism for it."

"Ah," he chuckled, "Well, you were gone for some time and the idea just struck me. Also, if you wouldn't mind looking at my other machine?"

I looked at the hunk of metal that was in the back of the room, the form looking more familiar, "The engine? Sure, I'll take a look at it."

"Many thanks!" he grinned, "And it is called an engine in your world?"

"Yeah, they power a lot of things in my world." I nodded, "You know that in my home, massive engines can carry massive bodies of metal into the air? They can travel the world in a few mere hours."

"Mere hours…" he looked stunned, "How fast they must travel."

"It's quite amazing." I agreed, "If only we could have gotten that technology without war. It's a bit of a sad fact, that the best way to accelerate technology is to have war. Most technology is usually military before getting repurposed for civilians."

"Unfortunately," he sighed, "If only, indeed."

Our peace was interrupted by several soldiers with chainmail armor entered Colbert's rather huge office with white tabards with blue pentagons on them… must be the church of this place. What, did it get out that I'm a Void familiar and now they're going to take Louise for heresy? Because I'm going to start a riot then.

They parted as the apparent leader came in. He was dressed with a blue cloak with white underneath, white-blonde-ish hair rippling down. He had mismatched eyes, one red, one blue. Just like the moons of this place…

"Good morning, gentlemen." He said in an infuriatingly calm voice, "I am Julio, here on behalf of the church, from the Holy Empire of Romalia."

"Well," Colbert said, taking the lead in case I ended up doing something wrong, "What can we do for the church?"

One of the knights handed him a scroll which he handed to Colbert to read. I looked over his shoulder and started to get rather pissed.

"You wish to…"

"I do not wish. The Pope would like source of heresy ended." I clenched a fist at this asshole's words.

Yeah, I might be a little judgmental but I mean, what the hell, he comes in here all calm and shit while holding the letter that says to destroy the printing press (well, at least to stop the 'source of heresy', there's no formal order to destroy it) that is our thing, acting like he's got some sort of fucking superiority over us.

…Damn these feudal times.

"While it is admirable that you wish to spread the holy words and the Pope is glad that some have taken interest in spreading religion, the people do not have the knowledge to interpret the holy texts correctly and with the increased production of the holy texts they now have it in possession, where they interpret it incorrectly and have come up with many wrongful ideas. We have come to stop the source of this heresy, and it has been traced to this location."

"Hey, you don't have to destroy it." I growled, "We could just stop printing them so much if you care so much."

"The church does not wish to risk the further possibility." I swear I am going to deck him in the face so hard, "And thusly it must be destroyed. Please do not resist."

"Like hell! What right do you have to take this piece of personal property away from me! And what heresy are you even talking about anyways? I'm willing to bet that you just want this machine for yourself!"

"The heresy I speak of is the Protestant movement in the countrysides. With their insufficient ability to interpret the texts, they have formed wrong ideas and split away from the church." He repeated, "This machine will be destroyed. You may see it if you wish."

I clenched a fist, "Screw you! You have absolutely no claims to this property of mine! I will not give it up, no matter what! Go and tell your Pope to come take it himself if he wants to stop it completely. I will compromise here and say that I'll stop producing your holy texts, but I will continue to produce other texts as I wish!"

"And how will we know that you are no longer producing the holy texts?"

"You won't. But I know a thing or two about keeping a promise."

"He's right!" Colbert interrupted, "Kurt here has never yet once broken a promise. You can trust his word. Many students can attest to that."

"Word alone is not enough."

"Well, ain't that a lot coming from you," I shot back, "You come in here and just expect me to do as you say just because of words."

"I brought not only words, but a letter from the Pope himself." He said, that damn 'let's be friendly about this' smile not fading from his face.

"But a letter is only words on a paper." I retorted, "Tell you what. You go back and explain to your Pope that I'm not going to produce your holy text anymore. Hell, go and take the copies we have now if you want to. Actually no, Colbert, burn them here in front of them. But leave me and my machine alone. They are not under your control, they are my personal property and I am not a member of your religious body so any direct commands from your Pope are just as equal as any other man to me."

Every knight in the room drew their weapon as I lunged forward with a Gigawatt Blade in my hand and stuck it in the guy's face, the searing blade of electricity a few inches away, "Because honestly, you can't tell me what's right and wrong. I'll be the decider of that for myself, thank you very much."

"I see we will not reach any sort of progress here," he said with a sigh, stepping back from the Blade, "Very well. I shall report back to the Pope with your words. Perhaps he will be willing to compromise. We are not as barbarian-like to come in and destroy everything all for a single purpose."

"As a sign of good faith then," I cut in, "I'll stop producing any of the holy texts until you come to a decision. Hell, take the ones we have now if you really want to. I'll even sign a contract, now that I think about it. Colbert, burn them."

Colbert hesitantly set fire to papers in a metal crate, where we watched them all burn just to show that we were willing to somewhat cooperate. I couldn't directly oppose them now, I had no credibility, so I'd have to play my cards right.

I could keep the printing press up since the order was to stop the source, not destroy the press, though.

"A contract will not be necessary." He turned around, seemingly satisfied, "Come, let us go."

"But Sir Julio-!" the knights interrupted, "The mission!"

"I am sure this can be solved another time. If the man will keep his word, and has already shown his good faith, then we have stopped this for now," this man named Julio replied, "Until then, gentlemen."

I waited until the last one had left, the door closing behind them, "I really fucking hate that guy. That goddamn smile on his face made me want to punch him to kingdom come and then drag his sorry ass back just to beat him down again."

Colbert flinched, "You feel that way already?"

"That smug attitude as well," I seethed, "We'll keep to our verbal agreement here, to not bite us back later… however… we must move the printing press. Somewhere where it can be hidden and not as targeted… Hey, how much money did we make from selling the books anyways?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me right, Headmaster Osmand," I said with a killer smile, "I would like to buy a bit of the land inside the school. Only a small amount."

"But your proposition… it is a mere small patch of land! What are you going to do there?"

"Well, what else? I'm going to make an underground research lab. With Professor Colbert's assistance."

After that I presented my plan that involved some simple rooms and the design of the supports so I wouldn't cause a sinkhole, plus magic so I wouldn't be at risk as much. Osmand seemed to agree and decided to sell the small amount of land.

Sure, it may have been one and a half by one and a half meters on the surface, but we were digging down and then expanding, that way it hopefully wouldn't collapse with people stepping on it.

I enlisted in the assistance of Guiche and a few other Earth mages who needed some coin to create the place. With everyone's assistance, it only took a day and a half. Of course, some of the commoners were willing to help, in order to show that they could be as much of a help as nobility. In fact, I argued that what the commoners were doing was better, but I was drowned out by their thoughts. Guiche though, seemed to buy into the idea that the wooden supports they helped set up were a bigger help because they would last longer and besides, science.

It did take a longer while to move the printing press since Colbert and I had to do it alone under cover of night because the place was supposed to secretly be our printing press area. I had concealed the true entrance into the printing press area behind a bookcase. And with magic and some rudimentary gears, we got it enchanted so you had to find the key which when put into the right place (which of course, was a hidden slot in the bookcase) the bookcase would slide away. There was another magical mechanism to close it behind you. I think it was similar to those weird bar-jail things that guy in that mansion a while back had.

Also, it wasn't just a room right there. It looked like the tunnel lead to a collapsed point but the trick was that you had to dig past that to get to the printing press, so even if someone made it past the bookshelf they might give up. There also wasn't a shovel anywhere in here, so it wasn't exactly obvious that you had to dig. Plus the signs about "Warning: Tunnel May Collapse" helped.

Up front though, it looked just like some living quarters with torch lighting that had papers and chalkboards lining the walls with mining-beam supports. Equations lined the walls, so it didn't look like the printing press area.

The final touches weren't much, a secret trapdoor of sorts was put on the top so that way it looked like nothing had ever been done there, though moving all the dirt had certainly been a chore.

There was still plenty of money left over though, which I partly gave to the kitchen staff who had long become my friends. Shame there aren't many fiction books available to read, since they're all in the Royal Library. Then again… we've got a plan soon.

"Ah," Colbert said as the bookcase closed behind us, "I almost forgot to mention it, but if you would like, I could take you to see the Vault now. It would be best to do so while everyone is sleeping."

"Yeah," I nodded, "Let's go."

The door slid open to reveal a variety of things that I knew and didn't know. This was crazy… there are artifacts, paintings, things my world that seemingly vanished.

...There's a camera in there. A polaroid-take-a-picture-and-it-comes-out sort of one.

"I'll sort what I know into 'safe', 'potential danger', and 'dangerous' piles." I said, picking up the camera and moving it onto an empty table in here, "This is the safe pile. On the other side I'll put the potential danger… and I'll warn you about the 'dangerous' pile."

I sorted through the wee hours of the night, the safe pile getting rather large but some things that were in there included a blood transfusion kit, a toolbox, and a microscope! There weren't a lot of things in the 'dangerous' pile, but there was a good amount in the 'potential danger' pile. For example, in the potential danger pile there was a stun gun, a massive knife collection, and other weapons. In the 'dangerous' pile was a chainsaw, what looked like a sniper rifle, and some cigarettes. Nooooo way was I about to introduce nicotine to this world. I would just disintegrate the chainsaw but who knows, it might be useful sometime later.

Also, guess who found pens and pencils here! It's great! Finally, less having to use that damn quill all the time!

"There is still a secondary room." Colbert said, "Come."

I got up from fooling around with a Newton's Cradle that was lying around and followed him- Oh fuck yes.

"Headmaster Osmand once told me he found an iron horse but it does not seem to move." Colbert said as I threw my arms around the sleek, black motorcycle that sat in the room. I then looked on a box attached on the side and dug around, pulling out a key.

"Oh my God, this is amazing." I laughed, "I know why it doesn't move. You don't have the fuel for it. I am the fuel for this. It's an electric motorcycle. In my home it's the Zero DS-ZF9. You know that engine you have, Colbert? Imagine that, using wheels and gears to move this wheeled machine. It'll be awesome."

"Wait… you are the fuel?"

"I'm like a walking battery…" I paused, "Oh, so where I come from a battery can store electric energy for later use. Well, technically, there's this whole chemical reaction thing but never you mind. I'm essentially a walking, living one. And this 'iron horse' runs off electricity. It'll drain me a bit…" I turned away to look at the 'safe' pile, where there were a few solar panels and plenty of copper wire that I might be able to use, "But I think I can fix that. Come on, let's get this stuff moved away and then I can render the dangerous stuff okay. Then I can show you the power of this thing."

The underground lair, or the Contact Light as I liked to call it, was much more decorated with the various trinkets and objects lying everywhere. There was a gyroscope, a Newton's Cradle, and a Rubik's cube sitting on the table while across the room sat an acoustic guitar on a chair, and then the bookshelf now played host to the camera and medical equipment amidst other things. God bless the fact there was also a toolbox in there.

I also pulled out the motor of the chainsaw and as for the sniper rifle, disassembled it. As much as I love guns, they tend to blow up in my face.

Though Colbert had fallen asleep from the sheer tiredness, crashing on the seats in here. I suppose I can show him the motorcycle tomorrow… after I get these solar panels adjusted. Unfortunately I don't have nearly enough wiring to get them all the way down the tower so I'll have to just leave a place where I can recharge nearby the solar panels.

Hm, though that leaves the danger of a live current since I don't have anywhere to feed the solar power into. Crap. I might just end up trying to splice just stuff together so I charge the motorcycle while I'm away. Yeah, that could work.

Then again, I might as well just sleep for now… Though I can't wait to test out the 'iron horse' tomorrow.

The purr of the motorcycle was sweet music to my ears as I sat on the 'iron horse'.

"Check out my horse, my horse is amazing!" I sang with laughter, "God bless modern science! Alright Colbert, check this out!"

I gunned the engine and shot off, leaving tracks in the ground as I dashed along the ground. Ooooh yes, thank God for the fact I managed to get my motorcycle license back in New Marais!

With the skills I picked up back home, I made a sharp turn and kept on going in a massive circle. Within a minute or two I had circled back to Colbert, slowing down and stopping. He looked absolutely amazed, "What speed-!"

"Exactly," I said, "But man am I tired… It takes quite a bit of power to keep this thing running… I'll need to get those panels up and running."

"Panels?"

"The black and white rectangles, they can take energy from the sun and convert it to electrical energy. It'll be useful for me since now I can recharge without having to rely on sapping it from people. Getting it to work will be tricky. I've barely even started teaching you and Tabitha about the basics of chemistry and now with physics… ugh." I shook my head, "I should be okay though. Besides, handling electric equipment would be dangerous for you guys since you don't have an idea about it works, let alone that you could die from it."

"Die?" he asked, looking rather surprised.

"The current that runs through the wires if they're live can kill you if you touch them," I explained, "But for me, it can't hurt me, so I can work with it with considerably less risk."

"I see," he nodded, "You should block wherever you're going to put those panels, then."

"I know, I'll have to find a locksmith then," I sighed, "Ah well, it's the price of progress, I guess." With that, I slipped off the motorcycle, "I'll float this up to a safe place with my magnetism abilities… Actually that might not be a good idea, I could screw with the system. Professor, do you think you can cast a 'Float' spell on it and get it into one of the towers?"

"Of course. Ah, do you think you can go to the Headmaster while I do this and inform him you've rendered the dangerous materials in the Vault safe?"

"I will." I nodded.

I did as Colbert requested, heading up to Osmand. The old guy was telling a perverted joke to his mouse and quickly stopped the moment I walked in.

"Whatever's dangerous in the Vault has been rendered harmless… for the most part. It would take a lot more time to dull the sharp points of some of the things I found in there, but regardless they shouldn't be able to harm anyone unless you just clobbered someone over the head with them, which makes a lot of things dangerous in that regard."

"Thank you," he said, before shifting his tone to a much more serious one, "And one last thing."

"What is it?"

"I have heard about your… dealings with the church. While I may dislike their rather unscrupulous methods, they are a very powerful group. You may have enough power to stand up to them, but not the students. As Headmaster of this institution, should any of your dealings directly cause a conflict between this school and the church, I am afraid I will have to side with them if they choose they wish to destroy you. Nothing personal, but I must protect the students I have been entrusted with."

…Heh, I like this guy. He might be old and has seen what the hell I'm capable off, but still can look me in the eye and say he's willing to fight me.

"I have no aims to involve your students, but I see where you're coming from." I said calmly, keeping eye contact, "I'll make clarifications if they come after the students that it is a conflict between them and me, I just happen to live around these parts."

He gave me a nod before I turned around and left. Might as go to Colbert's classroom and inform him.

Oh holy hell, Colbert has managed to build a successful engine.

And everyone in this class in an unappreciating dolt except maybe for Louise and Tabitha. Fuck you mages who don't understand the awesomeness of technology.

"What's so special about it?" asked one student that I wanted to throw a book at.

"What's so special?" I repeated, cutting in, "This thing, called an engine, can move and do things without magic once given the proper upgrades. Imagine your flying ships without any Wind Stones soaring through the air. Now imagine those ships made out of metal flying at insane speeds.

"Now take your horse drawn carriage and imagine it without any horses, yet pulling forward with the strength of forty. Imagine your ships on water without any sails nor need for Wind Magic. All of that starts here with the engine."

Colbert looked like he was going to ask something, but stopped. Probably where I was from, but I had told him a while back so he stopped himself.

"Hey Louise, why don't you try it?" Montmorency asked, pointing at Louise. Really? What the hell is her problem?

"Why don't you do it, Louise the Ze-" she stopped as electricity flared from me.

"I will have to politely ask as Louise's partner that you don't taunt her like that," I growled, "If she wishes do to so, then let her have a clear head. Why don't you go and do it as well?"

"Kurt, I will go ahead and do it," Louise said calmly.

She approached the platform and much to the student's horror, began to chant. Wait… if I've taught her well about Willpower management…

"Louise, low willpower."

Louise nodded, finishing the chant.

Everyone's jaw hit the ground as the engine worked. Montmorency's mouth was absolutely agape as her plan crumbled to pieces.

"W-well done, Miss Valerie!" Colbert said with half-relief, half-enthusiasm, "Would anyone else like to try?"

Everyone remained silent at this, considering that the supposed 'failure' had totally just outperformed all of them. Colbert then shrugged and continued on with his normal lesson. Well, I suppose that a demonstration in the engine's power is necessary then. I'll probably help him out with powering it up and making it up to date with my standards for an engine later. I'm still hella tired from moving all of that crap around the place…

"Hey, Kurt…?"

"Yeah, Louise?" I asked as I put out the last candle at the desk, signaling the end of my lesson planning for tomorrow with Colbert and Tabitha.

Louise snapped a finger, turning out the last magical lamp in the room, as she sat on her bed, "I-if you really don't like sleeping on the floor, then it's fine if you sleep on the bed. I-I trust you."

I chuckled, remembering how this was the same situation with Cynthia before.

"Wh-what's so funny?!" she asked, face red in the moonlight. Heh, it's almost exactly the same.

"Just remembering that this same scene played out like this with someone before," I said amidst my laughter, "Sure, sure. If you're fine inviting an older guy to bed. I'm sure Warde-" I found a pillow thrown into my face., but it didn't stop me from laughing.

"J-just get over here already!"

Still laughing, I walked over to her bed and climbed in, putting the caught pillow under my head. Ah, it was a lot more comfortable than the floor.

Louise lay on one part of the bed while I sat up against the headboard and looked at the door. I guess it was just muscle memory, this sort of thing happened with Cynthia and I a lot.

I raised an eyebrow as Louise shifted and lay her head in my chest. With her short stature it was as if little Shizuna had climbed into the bed again and was looking for someone to comfort her.

"What's up, Louise?"

"…Thanks."

"For what?"

"For teaching me about my magic, for helping me… despite everything I did to you before I changed."

"Hey, I know a thing or two about forgiving and forgetting." I ruffled her hair as if she was my little sister, "You changed, Louise. That's what matters. Though that was a rather good job today in class. Colbert was rather glad, as he made evident when we were working some things today."

"I have that to thank you for as well," she said with a smile, "I'm not a zero anymore."

I gave her a bit of a hug, "You were never one in the first place, Louise. You just had to find what you were good at. Anyways, you best get to sleep. I hear you've got a test tomorrow and sleeping is always good."

"Wouldn't it be better to keep studying, then?"

I stopped her as she tried to get out of bed, "Nope. You either know the material or you don't by now. Studying now won't do you any good. So just get to sleep, and see how far you get tomorrow."

With that, I closed my eyes, my de facto little sister in my arms.

It was two days later and for some reason the headmaster called Louise to his office and she wanted me to be there with her.

I raised an eyebrow as Osmand handed Louise an old and rather worn-out-looking book with browning pages. She flipped through it, finding only blank pages.

"It is the 'Founder's Payer Book', handed through the Tristain Royal Family. Many others have tried to make fakes, but if this is a fake, it's a horrible one. There's nothing in it."

That makes it the right one then. I mean, it's like Derf. Tons of people thought he was useless, but then surprise! He's not so useless and now he's amazing. I mean damn, if only he glowed green. Then I could be Gig Skywalker.

"But why…?" Louise asked.

"In the traditions of Tristain, when a member of the royal family is wed, a noble is chosen to be the bridesmaid. With that, that bridesmaid is given the 'Founder's Prayer Book'. And obviously, you have been chosen." Louise looked absolutely stunned, "And you must come up with an edict when you have received the book."

"I see," Louise nodded, "I will do the best that I can!"

"The princess will be very pleased," Osmand said with a smile, "Well, I best not be delaying you!"

Louise and I left, though I split off to head down to the Contact Light. Tabitha and Colbert were already down there, waiting.

"I hope I didn't make you all wait too long," I said, grabbing a piece of chalk, "But yeah. Anyways, I suppose we can cover chemical reactions today, seeing that you had that engine yesterday, Professor Colbert. And Tabitha, this holds true for water as well, since water when combined with the right ingredients, is quite volatile…"

I climbed out of the Contact Light, finding the area outside to be lit only by moonlight. Tabitha and Colbert had left long before me, I was only down there tuning the guitar and then writing the equations that they'd practice before I go there on whether a reaction was chemical or physical. I think we'll cover conservation of mass and doing all those mole equations later.

Uggggh, setting up those solar panels had been a pain, but at least now I have a way to recharge myself.

Also, I had gotten a copy of the laws of Tristain and of the Church. I was not going to be caught unprepared to deal with them legally. Ooooh yes, I was going to be ready to interpret their laws to my advantage.

You know what the best thing is? There's not a lot of laws for familiars. And the general code of things tends to be 'A familiar's success is a mage's success, and a familiar's failure is a familiar's failure.'

So that means that Louise isn't in danger should I do some crazy shit.

But yeah, it's great. Familiars don't have a lot of laws because most of them are animals. There's laws for things like property damage and crop uprooting… but heresy? Oh no, there's no law for any familiars committing heresy. And I'm not a citizen of Tristain, just a 'mere familiar'. But their familiar laws still apply.

Which pretty much means not a lot applies to me. Unless I happen to take a crap on someone else's property and all that.

This gives me so much room to work with. Now just to structure my plans so that no one else can be found at fault unless they deliberately go out of their way.

"Kyaaaah!" someone screamed. I looked around the immediate area and found that it was Siesta, who had dropped a few cups from a platter.

"Siesta?" I called out, getting up from the ground, "Did I scare you?"

"You came out of the ground and startled me," she admitted, picking up the cups in the moonlight, "I was going to bring you a treat."

"A treat?" I raised an eyebrow, dusting myself off, "What would that be? Oh hey, come on. Let's go back into the Contact Light, it's nice and homey in there."

I helped her bring in her tray and got her inside the underground lair, "So, what treat was it?"

"It was a small cake," she said, opening the small box that was on the tray. It was indeed a small cake, but it looked very decorated with chocolate swirls and some caramel on the top, "We had exactly one leftover one and Marteau thought it would be good if you had it as repayment. You gave out so much money the other day to everyone…"

"Well, Colbert and I sold some things, and we had enough to the point I could just hand you guys some money. It's fine. Besides, since you guys leave food for me aside, I thought I should at least give you guys some compensation." I shrugged, "I guess it's just a thing where I come from, that we pay back debts that aren't explicitly made."

"That's right… Kurt comes from the east," she said, nodding with her eyes closed. Only a few actually knew I was from another world. I wanted to keep that information as controlled as possible, "Does everything in this room come from there?"

"For the most part. I'm not sure how it found its way here, but at least it did. So, how'd you know I was over here? The trapdoor is hidden for the most part."

"I just saw you coming this way earlier and you didn't appear for a while…" she admitted shyly, turning away, "Please don't be mad!"

I chuckled, "I'm not mad. Just curious."

"So… is this how you live in your country?"

"Oh no," I laughed, "Not many of us live underground. Some people live in these massive buildings that go all the way up into the skies. My country is a place where there's all sort of people though. Some people do live underground or in caves, it's all very diverse…" I raised an eyebrow, "Are you okay?"

"It's… very hot in here."

"Oh. I've yet to actually get some better ventilation in here, that's one thing I've been meaning to fix."

Hell, even Tabitha takes off her robes and dresses in just her usual school uniform. Though unlike the girls here she dresses in slacks underneath her robes rather than a skirt.

And no, that is not a disappointed tone you're hearing.

Regardless, I told Siesta it was okay to at least unbutton a bit of her shirt if it was that bad as I opened up the trapdoor to let some air in.

"Sorry," I said, coming back down, "I'm used to heat from where I come from."

"What kind of place is where you come from?"

"My home…" I sighed with a smile as Siesta leaned in, pouring a bit of water and cutting the cake, "It's an amazing place. There's one, pure, silky white moon. We don't have mages, but we've got so much different types of technology. Plus, we don't use Wind Stones. We've got machines that fly the skies and can cover the entire world in hours. It's a beautiful place."

Siesta looked a bit annoyed, puffing her cheeks, "Stop fooling around. Don't lie just because I'm an ordinary village girl."

"I'm not lying," I said back, "My home is very different from here. You might not believe it since you can't see it, but it's true. What reason do I have to lie? I'm proud of where I come from. But that's the entirety of the country. I come from a city named New Marais… so let me tell you about the city, and what it was like…"

With that, I began to tell her the tales of my time in New Marais. Of the people and of the city itself, the street vendors and the parties of Mardi Gras, the culture of the city.

Time passed quickly, as soon I looked up through the trapdoor and saw that the clouds were beginning to part with a golden hue, "It's dawn. I've keep you far too long, Siesta. You probably should go back now."

"Thank you," she said with a smile, "Your story was great. I'd like to hear more of it some other time."

"Anytime," I shrugged as she began to play with her fingertips.

"Um… the story was great and so were the things you showed me… but you were the most amazing." Eh? "I-I'll be going now!"

I shrugged as she quickly scaled the ladder and closed the trap door shut behind her. I really ought to get some more ventilation in here though. I should probably talk to Colbert about that. Now to get some shut eye though…

I awoke sleeping on the seats inside the Contact Light and picked myself up off the table. I heard something trying to get the trapdoor open quickly and made my way over, opening the door. Outside was a rather panicked Professor Colbert, "What is it?"

He quickly thrust a paper into my hand. I read it over, blood beginning to boil, "Mass production of any sort of holy text will result in prosecution? Any person who is found to have obtained a copy that does not bear the mark of the Church will have their copies taken. Turn them in now or face later prosecution?! Have you talked to William about this?"

"Not yet, but I've sent a letter for him." Colbert said gravely, "What are we going to do?"

"What are we going to do? I don't know." I shook my head, "We can keep printing out our various texts, but we'll really have to be careful about printing holy texts… I have a plan, but we'll need to find one of their legitimate copies. Talk to William, see if you can get him to find one and buy one for the queen, then copy down the mark so we can try to replicate it."

"What about everyone who has one right now?"

"Get our contacts spreading the word that they'll take them back and give them with the mark of the Church in a bit. Have them record names, places, so we can maintain our credibility. Things just got a whole lot harder. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got plans to make."

And by that, of course, I mean start writing a paper as The Philosophe.

"Kurt, are you still in here?"

"Siesta… Is that you?" I asked, shoving away my drafts into a drawer then locking it. No one must know I am the Philosophe. Especially not Louise. If she found out who the Philosophe really was she'd flip. Some people have asked me if I was since he shared many ideals that I did, but I always denied it. Besides, the Philosophe was far too stiff and not casual like I was in writing, which was my main excuse.

Besides, I had actually prepared some fake data and charts to prove that the Philosophe wasn't me. I mean, there was maybe one or two pieces of data that might point to me, but that's a red herring since if all the data pointed otherwise it would look completely doctored. There are always outliers, after all.

"Yes, it is." She said, "I, ah, brought you lunch. You didn't stop by the kitchen again, since you're always working now."

"Sorry," I said, climbing out of the Contact Light, "But I'm a workaholic. I'm sorry you had to take time out of work to bring me food; that should be something I take care of myself."

"No, it's fine!" she said with a smile, "Please, have lunch."

I looked at the lunch that Siesta had brought. It certainly was a feast, that was for sure, "Did you cook all of it yourself?"

She pointed at a few of the foods on the tray that she set down, "I only made those. They were difficult to make in the kitchens, but if it was for you, it was worth it."

…God it hurts so much. I… I just can't be brutally honest with her, though. It just… it just hurts too much because Cynthia looks so much like Siesta and it would just be too damningly similar to do something like that.

I put on a thin smile and thanked her before eating. It was rather silent as we ate before I broke the silence, "Hey, do you mind telling me about your place?"

"Hm?"

"I told you about where I'm from, right? Do you think you could tell me about where you're from?"

"Oh!" Siesta then looked very happy, "Kurt wants to know where I'm from. Hm. My village is called Tarbes, from here it's about three days on horse, towards La Rochelle.

"It's very remote and there's not a lot there… but it's very open and during the spring and summer it's as if there was an infinite sea of flowers. Right now they should be in full bloom."

Her eyes were closed, as if in a nostalgic flashback, "I'd like to be able to see it from the skies like you said you could with an airplane."

"Yeah," I nodded, "That sounds great."

"Oh!" Eh? "Why didn't I think of it before?"

I raised an eyebrow as Siesta grabbed my hands, "What is it?"

"Would you like to visit my village, Kurt?"

"I guess," I shrugged as best I could, "It sounds like a great place. I've had enough of being in a cramped city to last a lifetime. Though I have to ask why you'd want me to come."

"You showed me that nobility and magic doesn't mean victory for them all the time. You showed a lot of people that. You've played a hero and never even wanted the title… I want to be able to show a person like that to my hometown."

"Huh…" I paused, "Though what'll they say if you just bring a random guy back? Hell, I don't look anything like anyone here."

"Maybe… If I say that we got married, it will be okay."

"Are you sure your family will be okay with you married to some guy all the way from the east, though?" I asked, trying to let her down easy, "It also took you guys a while to get used to the fact I could hurl around lightning. I mean, I could end up terrifying your entire family. Maybe we could play it off as just friends. It's less likely to blow up in our faces that way."

She looked disappointed, but accepted the fact that I was rather different. I mean, I'm not nobility, but still a guy who can throw electricity (or at least look like it) is going to freak people out.

"Anyways, I think I would like to visit. Don't get me wrong, Siesta, it's just that we've got to be rather careful with my… condition." I shrugged, "That, and I'm rather busy as well… there's a lot of trouble brewing, and things need to be taken care of." I patted her on the head a bit, "But trust me, I'd love to see your village."

"Kurt, Kurt!" I looked up and saw William running towards us.

"Like this," I mumbled, "I'm sorry to cut our great lunch short, Siesta, but this is grave business."

"Alright," she said, getting up, "I'll see you later, Kurt."

"Colbert told me where to go," William said, walking to where we were as Siesta left, Colbert right behind him, "Alright Kurt, I think I might have a plan, but it's going to be tricky."

"Plan?" Colbert looked a bit concerned as William gestured to get into the Contact Light. We quickly ducked inside before closing the trapdoor behind us.

"We're going to be mass producing some good books that the royalty has… unfortunately they're only in the Royal Library. Which means we're going to have to borrow them without permission." Colbert looked a little horrified, "We're not going to steal them, just have it long enough to make another copy that we can continue making more of."

"While I am all for spreading literature, is this not a bit too far?"

"It all depends on how far you're willing to go," I shrugged, "If you don't want part of this Colbert, we won't involve you in this. All we want to do though is spread a little more literature amongst the people without having to take so much of their money. If we want to print quality, then we have to go where the best is."

"I understand your aims, but I would advise you do not take anything but a book."

"I'm well aware of that. The line between hero and villain can often be blurred," I nodded, "Alright William, let's hear your plan… And also any news on that holy text?"

"It's good enough… We'll have to put it into execution soon. Due to the possible war and the tense peace negotiations, Tristain's leaders will be focused on that rather than the library. If we can, we need to do this in three days, preferably at night." I said as William left the Contact Light,

"Good," he replied, "I best get back to the castle then. I'll try to find what is the best to print out so I can direct you there when you get in. The holy texts should be arriving soon… though I'm willing to wager that the royalty will keep their own personal copies rather than put it in the library."

"Understood. I'll work on making a smaller press so the books aren't so big, and crap on that," I said, before closing the hatch. I scaled the ladder back down and stretched, "Gaaaah, this plan is going to be difficult to do, but if it goes well, all the better. I'll be rather surprised if it even manages to go through, as well."

"It's the only workable plan," Colbert added, "Anyway else would take far too long. Also, did either of you see the paper the Philsophe published?"

"The one on freedom of press?" I raised an eyebrow, "Yeah. I still wonder where he's operating."

Colbert gave me an incredulous look. He probably thought I was the Philosophe, considering that I mentioned sending letters en masse to Reconquista and they were by the Philosophe, but when I had showed him my letter which was different, I marked them as Kurt Bright to be safe.

The contents were also different. My letter had been blunt and harsh with the facts. The Philosophe version was lengthy, more poetic, and all that. I needed to create dissonance between us despite the fact we were the only ones with the capability that we knew.

He had gone to sleep early, which is when I swapped to using my pseudoname. Just have to keep this illusion up a little longer.

But yeah, I've shown how it's possible to make a very simple printing press that is still way faster than writing down over and over again, then also argued to Colbert that if the Philosophe was only making one paper in response to events, then all he had to do was to engrave it properly on one wooden part and then copy that over and over again.

Hopefully this illusion lasts…

Louise was a bit afraid when she came in that night. Kurt had looked legitimately annoyed for once. He had assured her that she wasn't involved in this, but she felt that as the one who had summoned him, even if she didn't consider him as a familiar but more of a partner, she had responsibility in what he did, even if she didn't know anything about it.

Any attempts to ask him what he was doing were met with a very final-no-argument-possible 'You don't need to know.'

As she faked her sleep, she felt him pat her head and whisper, "You're better off not knowing."

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!

Or not.

Anyways, I had fun with this chapter.

Next chapter is more focus on the Familiar of Zero world, sort of a continuation of this chapter. Theeeeen we get to the fun technology parts.

But yeah, Colbert is suspicious of Kurt. And technically, the printing of the letter was offscreen, which is why Kurt clarifies what happens now when it becomes important. And from here, it gets... a little more fun.

Also! Summer is soon arriving! I literally have like, a month of school left! Once summer comes in, updates shouldn't take a month to put out. If I'm feeling that the next chapter is really well done after an edit, I might post in like, three weeks.

Hint for the Next Chapter:

"Communication is key."