Stigma of the Void

by Leo Septem

Louise Valliere wanted a strong familiar to prove that she wasn't a failure. What she got was the only living Contractor in existence, Kazuma Yagami. Crossover between Zero no Tsukaima and Kaze no Stigma.

14. Chapter 14 - Kazuma vs Karin

Author's Notes:

SPOILERS:

So I think that in a lot of ZnT fics, people tend to emphasize in one way or another Karin's whole "Rule of Steel" shtick. I decided to do something a bit different instead. From what I've heard about the ZnT side stories that focus on Karin when she was younger, it seems that Karin was very similar to Louise at her age. She wanted to prove herself and become the strongest, or something like that. Thus, in this chapter, I wanted to emphasize that part of her.

And so, here it is.

-STORY START-

"Do you think she's going to be alright?" Siesta asked as she peered out the window from beside me at the carriage driving ahead of us.

"She'll be fine," I chortled as I watched the same scene playing out with amusement. "Her cheeks will probably be sore for a while, but she won't die or anything."

In the closing days of summer vacation, Louise had received a message from Henrietta to cease her intelligence gathering operations at the Charming Fairies Inn and begin preparations for joining the war effort in a more involved role. There had been no such message for myself, but I knew that Henrietta was expecting that I would protect Louise, even if it would mean directly helping Henrietta in her war. Though I hated being manipulated like that almost as much as I hated providing my service gratis, it couldn't be helped. I had to protect Louise, after all.

However, when Louise sent a message home to her family informing them about her impending military service, she had received a message back saying that she was not allowed to join the war. A message that had taken the form of her sister, Eleanore – a blonde woman with sharp, angular features and a haughty, domineering attitude. She seemed to take pleasure in bullying Louise, because ever since we had left the Academy, Eleanore had been almost constantly attacking Louise in one way or another. Most often, she would pinch and twist at Louise's cheeks; that appeared to be her favorite method. Other times, she would vigorously rub her knuckles against Louise's head. And occasionally, she would switch things up by pulling at her ear painfully. At the moment, she was currently doing her best to stretch out Louise's cheeks to twice their normal length.

"I hope so," Siesta said earnestly as she watched her friend squealing in pain as she tried to get Eleanore off of her.

"More importantly," I said seriously as I turned my attention to my maid, "are you certain about following me to war? I would honestly prefer it if you just stayed with Jessica or with your family. I can provide you with enough money to last until I get back too."

"I'm certain," Siesta said steadfastly as she turned to look at me with a level gaze. "I'm going with you."

I sighed and scratched the back of my head. After I had made the decision to go to war in order to keep Louise safe, Siesta had immediately declared that she would also come with us, despite my wishes. It's not that I was concerned about her physical safety – I had complete confidence in my ability to keep both Louise and Siesta safe – but rather, I was worried about what the effects of the experience of war would have on her. After all, war was far more than just fighting against the enemy army. There were dozens of other factors that were every bit as dangerous, if not more so. Things like lack of food or clean water, illnesses and diseases, psychological distress, ennui, amongst many other things.

War was not a pleasant experience, and one that Siesta should not need to go through.

Of course, I myself had never been openly involved in wars, but I had, on occasions, been hired by certain governments or families to perform certain jobs – jobs which typically involved either protecting high value persons from mystical attacks or the assassination of an enemy leader who was attempting to use powerful supernatural forces to gain an advantage. The experience I gained from those jobs gave me valuable insight on what war was like.

To put it simply: it sucked.

"And what if I order you to stay behind?" I asked, though I had little doubt as to how Siesta would answer.

"Then I would refuse that order," Siesta said adamantly. "I did not learn Suijutsu just so I could run and abandon you, my master, when things become dangerous."

Yep. Just like I thought she would say.

"This isn't actually particularly dangerous to me," I said, trying to persuade Siesta despite knowing full well the futility of the effort. This was not the first time I've attempted to convince her to not follow me after all. "And war is a hard experience. You shouldn't force yourself to go through with it."

"You're worried about me," Siesta stated happily.

"Of course I am," I snorted. "That's why I'm telling you to stay behind. Besides, this isn't your war to fight."

"If that's the case," Siesta said, "why don't you stay out of the war as well? You have no obligation to fight in the war either."

"I need to go to keep Louise safe," I answered. "You have no such duty."

"I have a duty to keep you safe," Siesta retorted. "Therefore, I should also go."

I smiled at that. It was a touching sentiment. But... Well, to be honest, I don't need protection.

"I'll be fine," I said reassuringly. "Don't worry about me."

"No," Siesta said promptly and crossed her arms stubbornly. "I'm going."

I sighed resignedly. "You're stubborn. Maybe you would have been better off as a chijutsushi."

Siesta smirked slightly at that. "Maybe," she agreed. "Besides, if I don't go, we can't do things like this, right?"

Siesta wrapped her arms around my neck and forced me down on the carriage seat before pressing her lips against mine – a gentle, warm pressure. She opened her mouth and eased her tongue into my mouth, exploring it gently and thoroughly. The kiss was sweet and sensual, and her scent reminded me of the beautiful flower fields of her hometown Tarbes, prior to their destruction.

I broke off from the kiss just long enough to say, "Well, when you put it that way..."

And without need of any other encouragement, I returned the kiss.

-SCENE BREAK-

If I had to describe the Valliere family's territory in a single word, it would be "huge." We had already spent half a day sitting in a carriage since entering the perimeter of their territory and we still had not even reached sight of the Valliere family's mansion. Out of curiosity, I had at one point spread my sensory range in every direction for as far as I could. What I learned was that the Valliere family's territory easily surpassed the size of an average Earth city in terms of area. And in my opinion, it was far too much land for any one family to possess.

Then again, maybe I'm biased. Having spent a large portion of my life in crowded Japan, where land was extremely limited, the notion that a single family could own so much land was honestly mind boggling. I knew that there were people on Earth that also possessed an obscene amount of land, but most of them were kings or queens. And if the size of a territory was an accurate representation of a family's status and wealth, then the Vallieres made the Kannagi clan, one of the most powerful, wealthy, and influential families in Japan, look like absolute paupers.

Because of how long the trip was taking, we stopped at an inn that served as the halfway point between the outer perimeter of the Valliere territory and their mansion proper. An inn! As in, a building made to accommodate travelers! In their own garden! Mind. Boggling.

I climbed out of the carriage after Siesta, who quickly walked over to Louise and Eleanore's carriage and opened the door for them. When Eleanore had first arrived to whisk Louise away to her home, she had randomly, arrogantly, selected Siesta to serve as their attendant. It irked me that Eleanore had the presumption to think she could simply take my maid away from me like that, but I decided to let it slide and joined the group quietly. For now. Siesta had also seemed annoyed at first, but didn't let it bother her too much after I decided to go as well.

Upon stepping out, several of the villagers (Yes. Villagers. Living in a village. In a garden.) that had been nearby hurried over to greet us.

"Miss Louise! Miss Eleanore! Welcome back!" the villagers greeted cheerfully and bowed low in deference.

I glanced aside at Siesta, who had returned to my side. She was looking upon her fellow commoners with an expression of pity and annoyance on her face. It was fairly easy to understand why. Siesta was one of those commoners who had grown up secretly disliking the nobility at best, outright detesting them at worst. To see the villagers look so happy to be subservient must be an odd feeling for her, who had recently broken free from those binding chains of subservience to nobles.

In fact, even her friendship with Louise was one predicated firmly on the idea that they were equals, that their value as human beings were the same. And while Siesta might occasionally speak to Louise in a deferential manner, that was based more out of mere politeness or habit than on actual belief in the higher-lower caste status.

After a few formalities between the villagers and the two Vallieres, the villagers greeting us respectfully as the Valliere sisters' attendants, and Eleanore ordering word to be sent back to the family to be informed of our arrival, the four of us entered the inn. Louise and Eleanore sat themselves at the center-most table in the inn, while Siesta and I stood off in the background, near the wall.

For a moment, the pair were completely silent. Eleanore sat there, looking as silent and austere as her personality was harsh. Conversely, Louise looked distinctly uncomfortable being so close to her abusive elder sister, and she was fidgeting in her seat nervously, as if in anticipation of another attack. Curiously, Eleanore wasn't making a single move, a stark departure from her behavior during the ride here. She remained perfectly still, as if she was doing her best impersonation of an unmoving statue. Very strange. From what I had seen, Eleanore hadn't let a single moment go without berating or pinching or otherwise bullying Louise in some manner. Then again, it was also true that at a certain point Siesta and I had started to completely ignore Louise's plight in order to focus on each other instead. So perhaps it was possible that Eleanore had ceased bullying Louise while we weren't looking.

Unlikely, but possible.

A man came up to the two noblewomen bearing a tray with a teapot and two teacups. "Tea, my ladies?"

Eleanore nodded curtly, and the waiter quickly and smoothly poured the tea for the Valliere sisters and then departed with a bow. The elder Valliere took her tea and drank deeply for a moment, and let out a satisfied sigh upon finishing it. Then she turned to Louise and began berating her again.

"And what in the world are you thinking wanting to go to a war!?" Eleanore shouted, causing Louise to instantly flinch. "You're a girl! And you can hardly even use magic anyway! Have you gone insane? You'll die if you join the military, you little chit!" Once more, Eleanore reached over and pinched Louise's cheek and pulled painfully.

Ah. So that was it. Her throat must have been too hoarse after screaming for so long in the carriage, so she was simply taking a break and waiting for some drinks to refresh herself.

"Sister Eleanore! Please stop it!" Louise squealed as she desperately tried to free herself from her sister's torture.

"You idiot! You chit! You little brat!" Eleanore said angrily. "Do you have any idea how much you worried us? You even scared Cattleya! And you know how her health is!"

"I'm sowwy!" Louise wailed as Eleanore decided pinching just one cheek wasn't enough, electing instead to pinch and pull and twist at both cheeks.

Desperately, Louise made eye contact with me, a silent plead for help, for reprieve from this torment she was facing. I merely shrugged and smiled at her, giving her a friendly wave as I did so, and the betrayed look in Louise's eyes was absolutely delicious.

It was awful of me, I know, but I couldn't actually bring myself to disagree with Eleanore. Though I wouldn't go out of my way to stop Louise from going to war if she so chose to – that choice lies entirely with her – it didn't change the fact that I also would prefer having her not go to war. War was far too dangerous for a young, sheltered girl like Louise. And seeing as how this was a war of Henrietta's personal revenge, Louise had no real reason to fight, except out of some primitive sense of loyalty, honor, and duty.

In other words, Louise was simply too naïve for war.

I had little doubt she was only thinking of the romanticized version of war: a place where glory and honor could be won. And it was true that her power would be highly useful in the war. But for all the potential power she might have, which, judging by her performance at Tarbes, was a great deal, it would be almost useless against her other enemies: the manipulative, greedy higher-ups.

In fact, given the extremely high value of her Void magic here in Halkeginia, it was all but certain that those in charge would want to use Louise as their own tool to further their own goals. Worse, some might actually attempt to do what Wardes had sought to do back in Albion: to forcibly gain "possession" over Louise by pressing her into marriage. Such were the dangers that would be unique to her, in addition to the more normal dangers.

Not to mention the fact that if she went, I really would have to join the war, free of charge.

Yeesh. Free of charge. The three words I hate saying the most.

Fortunately for Louise, Eleanore's torment soon came to an end when someone who looked like Louise entered the inn. No, that wasn't quite right. I frowned as I studied the newcomer. While it was true that she shared the same hair color and had a somewhat similar appearance to Louise, she was also clearly different. Even excluding their very obvious physical differences, this woman being far more well developed in her femininity and in height, her expression was softer, kinder than Louise's, less marred with the harshness that followed the arrogant, domineering attitude that Louise had, and which seemed to only be shared and surpassed by Eleanore herself. But more than that, her skin was pale, and not like the fair skin of one who rarely saw the sun – it was the pallor of illness.

Siesta noticed me staring at the woman and jabbed me in the side with her elbow and with a peevish frown.

"Oh!" the woman cried out cheerfully. "Louise! You're back!"

"Sister Cattleya!" Louise exclaimed exuberantly, managing to tear herself away from Eleanore and run over to hug the other pink-haired woman.

"You've grown so much, Louise," Cattleya smiled beatifically as she embraced Louise. I forcibly stifled a laugh at that remark. This was Louise grown? Unless Louise had a very late growth spurt, I had a suspicion that Louise was doomed to appear no more mature than a 13 or 14 year old for life. "Welcome home."

"Cattleya," Eleanore said impatiently. "You haven't forgotten the reason why she's returning home, right?"

"Now, now, sister," Cattleya said cheerfully. "We'll be discussing that later with mother, are we not? Let's talk about other things for now. It's been so long since we've seen our youngest sister, after all."

Judging by Cattleya's kind personality and the way Louise refused to release Cattleya from her fierce embrace, it was clear that this sister was Louise's favorite.

Not that her competition for Louise's affections was very strong.

The two separated, grudgingly on Louise's part, and they sat down at the table with Eleanore. The same waiter as before quickly reappeared and poured Cattleya some tea, to which she thanked him kindly, causing him to blush and stammer out a mumbled word of gratitude. I had a feeling that Cattleya was rather popular among the male population. Understandable. He quickly refilled Eleanore's and Louise's teacups before once more departing.

"So, Louise," Cattleya said. "How has school been?"

It was such an innocuous topic, one clearly meant to help ease the atmosphere into something calmer, more casual – into something that more closely resembled a friendly familial conversation. It was an obvious attempt, blatantly so, but Louise made a relieved expression all the same.

"It's been going well," Louise said, latching onto the topic gratefully. "And very eventful. We recently captured Foquet. Have you heard?"

"Yes, I have," Cattleya beamed at her sister proudly. "Princess" - Cattleya shook her head – "No, I suppose it's queen now. Queen Henrietta informed us of your contribution to Foquet's capture. We were all so proud of you when we heard the news, especially mother."

"After she got angry at Louise for risking her life like that," Eleanore muttered, though it seemed neither of her two sisters paid her much attention.

"Really?" Louise said excitedly. "That's great!"

"Indeed," Cattleya smiled and reached over and patted Louise on the head, causing her grin to spread even more widely. "But you said we. Who else was with you? I'm afraid the queen did not go into that overmuch."

"There was also my familiar, Kirche von Zerbst, and a Gallian named Tabitha and her dragon familiar, Sylphid," Louise said.

"Tch," Eleanore snorted in disgust. "A Zerbst?"

"She was mostly just a distraction," Louise assured her eldest sister. "It was I who did the majority of the work."

I coughed in order to stifle the laughter that threatened to escape from my throat. Louise? Contributing? She had been even more useless than Kirche and Tabitha. At least they had been useful as distractions. Louise gave me a quick glare whose message was clear: Don't. Say. A. Word.

As well as: a familiar's accomplishments are his master's accomplishments. Or something like that. It was shocking how much meaning Louise could put into simple glares. Must be a woman thing.

"Oh, by the way, Sister Eleanore," Louise said, as she seemed to recall something. "I heard you were recently engaged. Congratulations!"

From the look on Eleanore's face, one that instantly twisted in unbridled anger, it appeared that Louise had just stepped on a landmine. And from the look on Louise's face, she realized it too.

"Uh oh," Cattleya squeaked timidly.

Eleanore's hands lashed out so fast in order to pinch Louise's cheeks that they were a blur, causing Louise to squeal unintelligibly in pain. "It was canceled, you chit! Canceled! You want to know why? Who knows? I don't know! Why don't you ask that Earl Burgandi? What the hell does he mean that he can't take it anymore?"

Louise managed to cry out something that sounded like "Stop pwease!" as she desperately struggled to free herself from her sister's vice-like pinch.

Judging by Eleanore's behavior thus far, it seemed very obvious to me just why this Earl Burgandi decided to call off the engagement. If I was married to Eleanore, I probably would have gone insane, possibly even commit suicide or murder, unless I could get a divorce immediately. Being married to her seemed like it would be like torture in every sense of the word.

"Calm down, Sister," Cattleya said hastily. "It's not Louise's fault. She wasn't here when the news arrived, after all."

"Tsk," Eleanore said as she released Louise's now very red cheeks. "Fine. But don't ever bring that up again. Got it, Louise?"

"I understand," Louise mumbled plaintively as she rubbed her thoroughly abused cheeks.

"Now then," Cattleya said, clapping her hands together. "How about we all take my carriage back home?"

"Won't it be too crowded?" Eleanore asked, the heat in her voice beginning to dissipate now that the conversation returned to a more peaceful topic.

"It will be fine," Cattleya said cheerfully as she stood up. "I made sure to leave Mr. Fluffy, Ms. Cuddles, and Mr. Waggletails behind, so there should be plenty of space."

"Right..." Eleanore sighed. "Let's go."

When we all entered Cattleya's carriage, I understood why Eleanore had been so apprehensive in using it.

Cattleya's carriage was, for lack of a better word, a zoo. All manners of creatures, big and small, were nestled snugly inside. The largest of them was a big tiger that slept lazily as Cattleya and Louise leaned against it comfortably and a giant python that coiled itself all around the vehicle. The smallest of them were a set of songbirds, no bigger than a child's fist, that chirped happily and perched themselves on Cattleya's head and shoulders. I also noted a badger, a wolf, a weird four-eyed chicken, a silver fox, and several other creatures which I could not recognize.

It appeared that Cattleya was someone who loved animals.

Though the Valliere sisters sat casually in the carriage, Siesta did so with much more trepidation, as if unsure whether even moving in the slightest would set off the animals into a bestial rage. As such, she seemed to be doing her best to take as little space as possible in the carriage, a feat done by pushing herself as close to me as possible, it seemed, making me wonder just how much she was actually worried about setting off the animals and how much she was simply using it as an excuse to be closer to me. For the rest of the trip, Louise chatted excitedly with Cattleya, who listened with eagerness and joy. By the time we finally arrived at the massive Valliere mansion it was already well into the evening.

The mansion itself was so large and indescribably grand that even on Earth the only pieces of architecture that I could think of off the top of my head as more magnificent were constructions on the level of the Taj Mahal or the Sistine Chapel. Of buildings on the same scale as this mansion, I could not think of one that genuinely surpassed this one. It, along with the scope of their territory, was truly a testament of the Valliere family's power, status, and wealth.

As the carriage came to a stop in front of the mansion, the door was opened by a man who appeared to be perhaps in his 50's or 60's, if his gray hair and wrinkled skin was any indicator. And, judging by his clothes, it appeared he was a servant.

"My ladies," the man said with a bow. "Welcome home."

"Thank you, Jerome," Cattleya said as she took Jerome's offered hand as a support to step out of the carriage. "Is mother here?"

"Mistress Karin is awaiting your presence in the dining hall, my lady," Jerome said respectfully as he helped Louise and Eleanore out of the carriage as well. Siesta and I followed them out afterward on our own. "She wishes to see all of you as soon as possible."

"Thank you," Cattleya nodded at Jerome in a mild gesture of appreciation.

"Of course, my lady." Jerome bowed, and then opened the door for us into the mansion proper.

The entrance hall of the mansion was even more extravagant than its exterior. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling while a large, rich red carpet covered the marble floor. On the walls, beautiful paintings of landscapes and scenery were hung. The hall itself opened up into two adjacent hallways to the east and west, and an oaken staircase that led up to the upper floors further up ahead.

Jerome led us down the eastern hallway and into the dining hall. There, sitting at the head of a long table, easily capable of seating at least ten people comfortably, was a pink-haired woman like Louise and Cattleya, but older and with much sharper and more austere features and presence, a trait shared by Eleanore, to a lesser extent.

"Sit," Karin commanded.

The three daughters of Valliere hastened to obey and quickly sat themselves near their mother. Like at the inn, Siesta and I stood off to the side, near the wall, playing our role as Louise's attendants.

For a while, nobody spoke. Even after a few maids brought out dinner for the family, the only noises that could be heard were the soft clinking sounds of the metallic eating utensils being used and the quiet chewing of food. It was only once they were completely finished and dessert was being brought out that the silence was finally broken.

"Mother, I-" Louise began.

"Mother, please tell Louise that she's being insane for wanting to go to war!" Eleanore interrupted. "It is foolish and she needs to abandon such thoughts!"

"I am not insane and it is not foolish!" Louise protested immediately, her cheeks puffing out angrily.

"War is for men, not foolish little girls," Eleanore snapped. "You'll only get yourself killed if you go!"

"I'm not a foolish little girl!" Louise cried out indignantly. "And besides, the queen needs me!"

Eleanore snorted. "What could the queen possibly need you for?"

Louise opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it. Most likely, she wanted to explain how she was a Void mage, and that she was therefore meant to be the ace in the hole, the secret weapon, Henrietta's trump card in the upcoming war. However, given that she also adhered to Henrietta's commands as if they were the word of god, Louise was unwilling to reveal that secret. Eleanore seemed to take this silence as Louise being unable to make a counter statement, and she made a condescending, victorious smirk.

"That's right," Eleanore said triumphantly. "Nothing. You can't even cast the most basic spells."

Louise clenched her teeth, doing her utmost not to blurt out her secret. So instead, she took out her wand, pointed it at a cake set on a plate in front of Eleanore, and nearly snarled, "Levitate."

This time, it was Louise who smirked victoriously as she made the cake float serenely over to her own plate and land gracefully. Eleanore watched the entire scene with her eyes wide, mouth open. Cattleya had an ecstatic look on her face. Karin watched intently, but with an otherwise unreadable expression.

"I can too," Louise said as she took her fork and stabbed it into Eleanore's cake and took a large bite out of it.

Eleanore gawked at Louise for a moment, and then seemed to finally realize that Louise was eating her cake. Then she got angry. "Louise! Give me back my cake!"

With more audacity than I had ever seen Louise show to her eldest sister, Louise devoured the cake before Eleanore could take it back, leaving flecks of cream around her mouth.

"Why you!" Eleanore began angrily and began to rise to her feet.

"Eleanore," Karin said sternly, almost icily. "Sit down."

Eleanore immediately sat back down with a fearful expression on her face.

"Louise," Karin said, causing Louise to go "Eep!" "While I am glad you have made progress in your magic, stealing food from your sisters is prohibited. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Louise squeaked timidly.

"Nevertheless, it seems you have finally found your element," Karin said. "What is it?"

"Yes, Mother," Louise answered. "It's, um..." Louise hesitated for the barest fraction of a second. "It's fire."

Karin narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I see."

"Okay, so what if you can use magic now?" Eleanore said. "You're still just a little girl. War isn't a place for you."

"I'm not a little girl!" Louise protested.

Unsurprisingly, I found myself agreeing with Eleanore again. Louise is a little girl. Very much so.

"Oh, but it is true that Louise isn't a little girl anymore," Cattleya said teasingly. "She even brought home a lover!"

"I did?" Louise blinked in surprise.

She did?

Cattleya chuckled softly and glanced over in my direction. I, as well as Louise and Siesta, caught the suggestive glance, though mine and their reactions greatly differed.

Louise blushed indignantly and immediately began protesting. "He's not my lover!"

At the same time, Siesta also cried out, "He's not her lover!"

I snorted and coughed as I struggled to cover up my rapidly escaping laughter. But it was a futile effort, alost cause from the start, and soon I was breaking out in open laughter. At the very least, though, I wasn't rolling on the ground. Somehow I managed to stay standing. A superhuman feat, for sure.

Cattleya looked around at the three of us with a confused expression. "Was I wrong?" she asked innocently.

"Yes!" Louise and Siesta cried in unison.

"Hmph," Eleanore snorted. "Cattleya, he's a commoner, so obviously he's just Louise's servant."

"Is that so?" Cattleya said with disappointment.

"I do not recall sending you hired help, Louise," Karin stated. "Did you hire one out of your own allowance?"

"Ah, no, Mother," Louise said timidly. "He's not a servant."

"Who is he then?" Karin said.

"He's... Well..." Louise hesitated. "He's my familiar," she finally said.

"... He's your familiar," Karin echoed, sounding only mildly surprised.

"Oh my," Cattleya said, clapping her hands together happily. "What a unique familiar."

"Louise, you... you..." Eleanore palmed her forehead, and then shook her head. She took a deep breath. "So let me get this straight, Louise. You summoned a commoner."

"Well, yes," Louise said defensively. "But he's very strong."

"Louise, you idiot!" Eleanore shouted. "Bad enough that you're always the worst in your year, but you have to screw up so badly that you summoned a worthless, stinking commoner? Look at him! How in the wo-"

Whatever Eleanore was about to say was lost, because just then a band of water appeared over her mouth, turning her words into a stifled, gurgling sound.

"Please do not insult my master," Siesta said, her hand outstretched towards Eleanore. The anger emanating from Siesta was practically tangible, and it was as cold as ice. "I do not take that well."

Eleanore and Cattleya both stared at Siesta, eyes wide in shock at witnessing someone they had perceived as a mere commoner use magic. Karin, on the other hand, turned to stare at Siesta with eyes narrowed as she carefully studied her.

"Mrrgle brrgh urrnh?" Eleanore blubbered through the gag of water. Though her words were unintelligible, her tone was obviously one of pure shock.

"Magic?" Cattleya said in awe. "Louise. Your handmaiden can use magic?"

"Not just any magic," Karin said clinically. "That's Ancient Magic. Elven magic."

"Yes she can and yes it is," Louise agreed. "Allow me to introduce them. That's Kazuma," Louise pointed at me, "my familiar. And she's Siesta, Kazuma's maid."

"Your familiar has a maid?" Karin arched an eyebrow.

"He's paying her with his own money," Louise shrugged.

"I see," Karin mused for a moment, before glancing at her eldest daughter's water-gagged mouth and then turning back to look at Siesta. "Maid, enough. Release my daughter. Now."

Siesta gave Eleanore one last warning glare, before dropping her hand back to her side, the water dissipating into vapor as she did so. Despite the gag being gone, Eleanore was silent, though her mouth remained open, her face dumbfounded.

"You do not look like an elf," Karin said plainly to Siesta. "Tell me, how is it that you are using elven magic?"

Siesta glanced at me questioningly, and I nodded very slightly towards her.

"It was my master who taught me how," Siesta answered.

"You mean Louise's familiar," Karin said.

"My master," Siesta repeated. "And it is because one of my ancestors is from his homeland that I possess the ability to use this magic."

"Hmm... And where is it that you hail from, Familiar, where humans possess the ability to use Ancient Magic?" Karin said, turning her gaze to me. "That should be in the domain of only elves and select few other creatures, not humans."

I scratched the back of my head. "Strictly speaking, it's called Seirei Jutsu – Spirit Techniques – which may or may not be different from what you guys keep calling 'Ancient Magic.' I wouldn't know for sure since I've never actually seen Ancient Magic before," I admitted. "And even if there are similarities in outward appearance, it's entirely possible that its actual mechanics are far different. As for where I'm from, it's a country so far away that even if I told you the name of my homeland, you wouldn't recognize it, neither would you find it on any of the maps in Halkeginia."

"Seirei Jutsu?" Karin said as if she was simply allowing the strange term to roll off her tongue in order to check how it felt to say it. "Tell me more about it."

"Hm... Well, knowledge doesn't come for free, you know," I grinned, my words causing Karin's eyes to narrow, whereas Louise and Eleanore had a look of absolute outrage on their faces. Clearly, the fact that I, a mere familiar, dared to try and charge their mother did not sit well with them. Cattleya looked nervous, her skin becoming a little paler. She coughed.

"Kazuma!" Louise said, aghast. "You can't demand money from my mother like that!"

"Demand?" I said, feigning a surprised look on the face. "Nothing of the sort. I'm merely offering a deal. If she wants to know more, then she can pay me to tell her. If she doesn't, then she doesn't need to."

"Kazuma," Louise said tersely. "If you don't explain, then I will."

"That's up to you," I shrugged. Here, I had the wind spirits carry my voice so that only Louise and Siesta could hear my words. "But if you do, I'll just tell them about you and the Void as well."

Louise glowered at me. "Kazuma, you..."

Cattleya coughed weakly.

"Enough!" Eleanore said. "Mother asked you a question, so you must answer, commoner!"

"And I will," I replied. "For a price."

"And I am ordering you to answer, commoner," Eleanore glared at me. "Therefore, you will do so. Now."

"Nope," I said cheerfully, causing both Louise and Eleanore to grind their teeth as they glared at me.

That was enough to set Eleanore off. She shot up to her feet even as her hand flew down to her side to whip out her wand. At the same time, Siesta reacted, and balls of water quickly formed in front of us, ready to launch forward and strike Eleanore like bullets the instant she attempted to make a move.

"Enough," Karin said so commandingly, so severely, that both Siesta and Eleanore flinched and instantly complied. She stared hard at me, but spoke to Louise. "Louise, it seems your familiar lacks discipline."

"Y-yes, Mother," Louise whimpered. "I apologize for his behavior."

"He is your familiar, Louise. Disciplining him is your responsibility. But do not forget," Karin turned to look at Louise, "Rule of Steel."

"Y-yes, Mother," Louise stammered. "I-I u-understand."

Karin nodded. "Then we are done here for tonight. Louise, we will discuss the matter of you joining the war effort tomorrow, when your father returns. Dismissed."

-SCENE BREAK-

"I cannot believe you did that," Louise growled at me. "I cannot believe that you said that to my mother."

I snorted as Louise, Siesta, and I lounged about on a few couches in front of a burning fireplace, its bright light serving as a stark contrast to the silver glow of moonlight that poured in from the large windows.

"If I had done anything else, that would have been entirely out of character for me, don't you think?" I said.

Louise sighed and rubbed her temples. She turned to look at Siesta. "And Siesta. How could you attack my sister like that? I mean, it was pretty satisfying to watch, but still."

Siesta smiled demurely and shrugged. "She shouldn't have insulted Kazuma. And I only gave her a warning is all."

"And you couldn't do that during any other point in time, like when she was attacking and insulting me?" Louise groused.

"I'm Kazuma's maid," Siesta replied simply. "I only have an obligation to protect Kazuma."

Louise gave Siesta a betrayed look.

I yawned and stretched and stood up. "Well, it's late. I'm going to bed now."

The door to the room we were in opened just then and Cattleya walked in, dressed in a pale pink dress that gave her a mature and demure appearance.

"Big sis?" Louise tilted her head to the side upon seeing Cattleya. "Shouldn't you be asleep? It's not healthy for you to be up so late."

"Oh my, but I could say the same thing to you, Louise," Cattleya responded, the amusement twinkling in her eyes plain for all to see. "You should be asleep too, not staying up so late."

"I'm okay," Louise said. Then she yawned, causing her to blush and Cattleya to smile.

"And actually, I was hoping to get a chance to talk with Kazuma privately," Cattleya said, turning her head to look at me.

"Me?" I said in surprise. I wonder what she would want to talk with me about?

"What do you need to talk with Kazuma about?" Louise asked curiously.

"Secret," Cattleya winked at Louise. The youngest of the Vallieres cocked her head quizzically, but nodded in acquiescence and stood up to leave. But before she left, she gave me a glare that said: don't you dare do anything suspicious to my sister.

Yeah, definitely a woman thing. There was no way I could manage to put that kind of a specific message in a single glare.

Siesta narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Louise's sister.

"All right," I said. "Siesta, go ahead and go to bed too."

Siesta looked at me and I gave her a reassuring nod. She frowned, but said, "As you say, Master."

After Siesta and Louise both left the room, Cattleya looked at me and smiled beatifically.

"Shall we sit?" Cattleya asked, gesturing to the couches.

I nodded and sat back down in my seat, with Cattleya taking her own seat at the couch closest to mine.

"So? What did you want to talk about?" I said, jumping straight to the point.

"A few things," Cattleya said. "But first, I wanted to check, are you really not Louise's lover?"

I snorted. "Of course not. She's too young for me."

"That's a shame," Cattleya sighed. "I was hoping I'd get to see Louise have a lover before I..." Cattleya paused, and then shook her head.

"Before you...?" I prompted curiously.

"No, it's nothing," Cattleya said. She coughed weakly, covering her mouth with her sleeve and turning her head away from me politely as she did so.

"Are you all right?" I asked. "You've been coughing a lot, even during dinner."

"I'm fine," Cattleya smiled. "Thank you for your concern, though."

"Well, okay then. So? What did you want to talk with me about?" I asked.

"Hmm... Where to start?" Cattleya said thoughtfully. "I guess the first thing I wanted to talk to you about was your home."

"What about it?"

"It just seems so sad that you are so far from it, from your friends and family," Cattleya said sympathetically. "It must be hard on you."

"Yeah, right," I snorted derisively at the thought.

"It isn't?" Cattleya frowned curiously.

"Not in the least," I replied. "My family banished me from the clan a long time ago, and staying in the country reminded me of them too much. I have no love for either."

"They banished you?" Cattleya said with a look of consternation on her face. "How terrible!"

I shrugged. "I suppose it was at first. I got better though."

"If you don't mind me asking," Cattleya said tentatively, as if unsure whether she should step on this potential landmine, "why did they banish you?"

"Lack of talent," I said simply. When Cattleya looked at me quizzically, I elaborated. "Where I'm from, that clan is known as the strongest family of fire mages. I, however, could not use fire magic at all. Therefore, I was considered useless and eventually abandoned and banished by my father." I tapped my chin thoughtfully for a moment. "I guess for comparison, it would be like if you and your family had abandoned Louise for not being able to use magic properly."

"We would never do that to our sister! Family should not abandon family!" Cattleya immediately declared. She looked angry, not at my words, but rather at my circumstances. The idea that a family would do that to one of its own members seemed to inspire a righteous anger within her. Immediately after, she coughed a few times from having spoken so strongly.

"Yeah, I guess so," I said once her coughs subsided. "Louise is lucky in that sense to be born into your family."

It was true too. Though I had not met the father yet, from what I had seen thus far, the Valliere family seemed to truly care for their youngest daughter. Even Eleanore, who had been bullying Louise so harshly, was concerned for Louise. Almost everything she had berated Louise for was predicated on the fact that she did not want Louise to die. And her mother, though seemingly cold and strict, did not strike me as one who did not care about her daughters.

Strange, though. I had never been one to be open about my past. Why was I revealing it so easily to this woman who was still a stranger to me?

Hm... Strange...

Ah. I see. This must be what having a big sister is like: having someone I can confide in. What a nice feeling.

It was a feeling whose like I hadn't felt since Tsui Ling died, after all.

"We all love her very much," Cattleya smiled. "And I-" Cattleya coughed again, covering her mouth with her sleeve again.

"Are you sure you're all right?" I asked with concern as I started to stand up. "Maybe Louise is right. You should get some rest."

"No, no," Cattleya coughed, waving me back down. "I'm fine."

I raised an eyebrow, but nodded and sat back down.

"I have to ask though," Cattleya said, "what do you know about my little sister?"

"That she's rash, headstrong, and prideful," I immediately answered.

Cattleya's lips quirked into an amused smile. "That's a pretty accurate description, if a bit lacking," Cattleya admitted. "And it's why I know that no matter what happens tomorrow, no matter what our parents say, Louise will be going to war." She sighed sadly. "Though, I sincerely wish she wouldn't."

"She's young," I said. "She doesn't understand the truth of war. Only stories."

"Indeed," Cattleya agreed sadly, and then coughed into her sleeves again. Once the coughing fit abated, she spoke again. "When she does go to war, will you be going with her, Kazuma?"

"Yes," I said. "I have to keep her safe, after all."

"I see," Cattleya smiled weakly. "Tha-"

Whatever Cattleya was about to say was lost as she suddenly began coughing harder, more fitfully. She clutched her stomach as she nearly fell forward from the sudden onslaught of coughs more severe than I had seen come from her all day. And when I saw her cough up blood, the sanguine liquid trickling down her jaw, I immediately stood up and went over to her side.

"Hey!" I said urgently. "Shit, I'll get a doctor. Just hang in there!"

Cattleya collapsed.

-SCENE BREAK-

"How is she, healer?" Karin said grimly.

The healer, a middle-aged water mage with glasses, stood up from his seat at Cattleya's bedside, lifting his wand away from the sleeping woman as he did so.

Slowly, he shook his head. Karin, Eleanore, and Louise all went deathly pale at that.

"I'm afraid that her disease has finally caught up with her," the healer said. "The potions and spells we've been using to help treat Lady Cattleya are simply not strong enough anymore. Her body has been weakened too much by her disease and is essentially shutting down. If we could somehow find the root cause of the disease, then a cure might be possible but..." The healer shook his head sadly.

"I understand," Karin said quietly.

"No..." Louise whispered hoarsely, too shocked at the present to even cry. Instead, she was looking at Cattleya with a completely shell shocked expression.

I looked over Cattleya as well. After she had collapsed in the midst of our conversation, I had the wind spirits carry my voice all throughout the mansion, telling its occupants our location and that Cattleya had collapsed and needed immediate medical attention. It had taken not a minute before Louise, Eleanore, Karin, and Siesta had arrived, still dressed in nightclothes, and with the healer in tow.

And now, Cattleya was looking even worse than she had at the time of her collapse. Her skin had taken an almost waxy countenance and she was breathing very shallowly and still had yet to awake from her coma-like slumber.

"No!" Louise blurted desperately. She seized the healer by his shirt and shook him roughly. "No! There must be something you can do! Big Sis Cattleya can't die! She can't!"

The healer looked at Louise sadly, making no effort to stave off her assault. "I'm sorry, Lady Louise," he said.

"A lie," Louise whispered hoarsely as she collapsed to her knees. "This must be a lie."

When the healer made no words to refute her, Louise began crying in earnest. Eleanore remained tight lipped, her face pale, and her eyes wide. Like Louise, she was trembling and tears were streaming out of her eyes freely, though they did so in a silence that spoke of shock and disbelief.

"Is there truly nothing that can be done for her?" Karin said quietly. "Anything at all? Cost is not an issue."

"If there is, I do not know of it," the healer said sadly.

"Then, how long? How long until she..." Karin trailed off, unable to finish that sentence, though we all knew what she meant to say.

How long until she dies?

"At this rate, probably by morning. The afternoon at latest," the healer said quietly. "I'm sorry, Mistress Karin. It is due to my ineptitude that I cannot cure her."

"No. No, it's not your fault," Karin said hoarsely. "Thank you for all that you've done for her thus far. Now, if you would please excuse yourself so that we might have some time alone with my daughter."

"Of course, Mistress," the healer said.

The healer bowed respectfully and then quietly left the room, leaving just the women of the Valliere family, Siesta, and I in the room with the comatose Cattleya. Louise half-walked, half-stumbled over to Cattleya's bedside in an almost zombie-like state. Eleanore had reacted similarly, though in the opposite direction. Instead of stumbling towards Cattleya, she had stumbled backwards until she was leaning against a wall, whereupon she weakly slid down to the ground.

"Cattleya..." Karin murmured softly, her voice rife with tightly restrained pain and sorrow that nevertheless leaked through.

I looked at Cattleya and felt myself becoming angry. Here in front of me was another woman who was about to die. The feeling of despair and powerlessness that hung in the air was something all too familiar to me. It was the same thing I had felt back then, when I had let Tsui Ling die because I did not possess enough power. But now... Now I had the power to make a difference. To save this person.

And I will.

I walked over to Cattleya and gently nudged Louise aside as I placed one hand a few inches above Cattleya's nose and mouth and closed my eyes to begin concentrating.

"Kazuma? What are you doing?" Louise said in a tone that didn't quite make it to angry, not when she was still so gripped with sadness.

"Shh," was all I said in answer.

The spirits reside in all things in the world. The earth possesses earth spirits. The air and the atmosphere possesses wind spirits. Fire and hot places possess fire spirits. The oceans, lakes, ponds, and all bodies of water possess water spirits. And in certain cases, there are things that hold a combination of the spirits, such as lava having an abundance of both fire and earth spirits. This is something known to all Seirei Jutsushis.

But amongst all things in the world, living creatures are absolutely unique, for they are the temple in which all four types of spirits come into union.

In the human body, the form and matter that composes it holds an abundance of earth spirits, particularly in the bones. The energy that causes us to move, that heat is where fire spirits thrive. The oxygen humans need to live ensures a constant flow of wind spirits in the body. And the blood and other fluids that compose the majority of the human body means that there is an extremely large amount of water spirits.

This all meant that, for a sufficiently skilled and powerful jutsushi, it was possible to influence or at least detect abnormalities in another person's body. Most people were incapable of doing this because, unlike the ambient spirits, the spirits within a person's body are, for lack of a better word, extremely loyal to that person. From the moment a person is born, no, from the moment they're conceived, the spirits within them, that form them, automatically form a contract of the highest possible degree. Indeed, it is impossible for the vast majority of people to influence another person's body through Seirei Jutsu.

But I am not like most people.

I am a Contractor. And now, unlike the "me" from many years ago, I can save this person!

"Kazuma?" Louise sniffed as she wiped away her tears.

In the depths of my consciousness, in a hidden area of my mind that is not easily intruded upon, lies an enormous door, so wide and vast that it completely dwarfs me. And in the in the pitch black void of that place, I found myself floating in front of the handles of that door.

The door responded to my will and opened itself. Inside was not a room, but an azure sky so wide and vast that it seemed to stretch on infinitely. There was no cloud in that place and no sun as well. Yet, despite that, there was light. The entire place was so bright and blue that even in the real world, I had never seen a sky as pure as this one.

It was here that it existed. This entire place was where it resided in my mind, in my consciousness, in my very soul. It spread throughout every corner of this infinite sky. It is this place. Everything beyond the door was it.

The Spirit King of Wind.

"In the name of the contract, entrust me with all the winds."

And as I said those words, I opened my eyes.

"Kazuma?" Louise's eyes widened in surprise as she noticed how my eyes had transformed, changing from their normal dark brown coloration into purest azure that faintly glowed. "What happened to your eyes?"

"It's nothing," I said dismissively. There was no time to explain the details of the Contract. Not right now. "I'm going to try and heal Cattleya."

The entire room froze.

"W-what do you mean, Kazuma?" Louise finally said.

"What I mean," I said, "is that my people's magic is fundamentally different than your people's. It's more than just a different perspective, it's a completely different way of doing things. So where Elemental Magic failed, Seirei Jutsu might succeed. Now be quiet. I need to concentrate."

Instead of answering, Louise immediately clamped her mouth shut. I nodded satisfactorily as the wind spirits gathered around my hand. This wind, however, was completely unlike the wind that I typically called forth. This one shone with an azure glow, signifying its status as the Divine Wind.

And then that azure colored wind flowed down my hand and into Cattleya's open mouth and nose. I sensed the wind quickly circulate throughout Cattleya's body and relay back to me with all the information they gathered.

"Tch," I frowned. This wasn't good. "So that's what's going on."

"What do you mean?" Louise blurted out. "What happened?"

"I mean that I've just found out the nature of your sister's disease," I said calmly.

"Really?" Louise cried out.

"Are you serious?" Eleanore said incredulously.

"Is that true, Fami-... Kazuma?" Karin half-asked, half-demanded.

"Yes," I said. "It's something similar to another type of affliction in my homeland. So much so that I'm hesitant to call it a disease."

"What do you mean?" Karin asked.

"What's wrong with Cattleya right now more closely resembles that of a curse spell rather than any actual disease that I'm aware of," I said.

"A curse spell?" Karin arched an eyebrow. "I have never heard of such a thing."

"I'm not surprised," I said. "Curses relate back to the fundamental difference in our magics. There are many different types of curses, but they all usually work in the same basic way: by tampering with the natural function of the spirits within a person's body. One example of a curse spell would be making the earth spirits in a body override that of all the other spirits in order to petrify the person."

"What do you mean by the spirits?" Karin said.

"I'll explain that later. Right now we have more pressing issues at hand," I said and nodded briefly toward Cattleya. Karin looked at Cattleya and then back to me and nodded in agreement. "Now, the biggest problem is actually curing Cattleya. And on that matter, I have good news, bad news, and potentially bad news."

"What's the bad news?" Louise asked tentatively.

"The bad news is that I said it resembles a curse, not that it is a curse," I said. "If it was, I could probably have just purified it and be done with it. But as it stands, this appears to be some kind of natural affliction. And unfortunately, my magic is not meant for healing, so the extent to which I can help Cattleya is extremely limited."

"Do you mean that..." Louise gulped.

"Yeah. It means that I can't cure her," I admitted.

"Then what's the good news?" Karin prompted quickly.

"The good news is that I know exactly what's wrong with her and how to cure it," I said. "As well as someone who has the capability to do just that."

"Explain," Karin said immediately.

I nodded. "The problem with Cattleya right now is that the water spirits within her body have essentially gone insane and are refusing to obey their natural functions. In other words, it's basically as if Cattleya's body hates itself and has been slowly committing suicide over the course of her life. It's why the healer said her body is shutting down."

That was a grossly simplified explanation, but to properly explain exactly what was going on would require a level of medical knowledge that the people of this cultural time frame simply did not have. So for now, this description would suffice.

"To cure it, the water spirits need an external guidance," I continued. "Some outside force needs to calm down the water spirits and return them to their proper, natural state. In that sense, we're lucky, because curses affecting the water spirits tend to be the easiest ones to cure, relatively speaking, since water magic has the greatest healing capabilities, so the compatibility is strong. And, most of all, we happen to have one such water mage on hand."

Karin stared at me for a moment, then turned to look directly at Siesta. Siesta blinked, and then seemed to realize what I was implying. Then her eyes went wide.

"Me?" Siesta said in surprise. "But I've never healed anyone with Suijutsu before."

"Yeah," I said. "And that's the potentially bad news."

"What do you mean?" Karin said.

"Strictly speaking, this kind of operation isn't exactly difficult for an experienced healer," I explained. "But Siesta is not experienced in the healing arts. Thus, the worst case scenario is that Cattleya dies. Horribly."

Horribly as in her body could end up ripping itself apart from the inside out, killing her in a very bloody, painful, and gruesome fashion.

"And yet, if we do nothing, she dies anyway," Karin said. "Do it, then."

I nodded and glanced at Siesta.

"Um... Are you sure this will be okay?" Siesta asked me.

"I'll guide you through the process," I said reassuringly.

"Siesta, please," Louise pleaded. "You have to do this."

Siesta looked at her teary eyed friend for but a moment before nodding resolutely.

I placed my index and middle fingers directly over Cattleya's bosom. Azure wind gathered around my fingers, forming an invisible scalpel sharper than any steel. Carefully, I ran it down the axis of her body, splitting apart her clothes without leaving a scratch on her. Once that was done, I carefully opened up the dress to reveal Cattleya in nude.

Had it not been for the absolute clinical expression on my face and the fact that I was working to have Cattleya cured, I doubted that Louise would have remained as silent as she was at the moment.

"Siesta." I beckoned for Siesta to take my place. "Place your hand directly below her navel and the other over her heart."

Siesta did so quickly.

"Do you remember your first time practicing Suijutsu?" I said. "With the bowl of water?"

"I do," Siesta said.

"The first thing you need to do is very similar to that time," I said. "Imagine her body as one big bowl of water, and then connect your thoughts and senses with the water spirits in her body. Be careful though, because this time they're going to be actively resisting you. So you need to have a stronger will than them. Exert your power over them and force them to calm down."

Siesta nodded and closed her eyes as she began concentrating on the task I set before her. And yet, despite her resolution, I could sense the nervousness that exuded from her. The pressure of literally having someone's life in your hands was no small thing.

"Calm down, Siesta," I whispered to her as I placed my hands on her shoulders from behind. "For as long as I'm able, I'll support you."

Azure wind gathered softly around us for a moment and then flowed into Siesta, infusing her with as much power as I was capable of giving her. She briefly looked up and over her shoulder at me with a startled expression on her face, no doubt surprised by the sudden and extreme increase in her power. I smiled at her and nodded, and she smiled back as she once more set to her task.

In Seirei Jutsu, fire and wind had a special connection to one another. Just as the air feeds and strengthens fire, so too was Fuujutsu capable of empowering Enjutsu. And when it was I, a Contractor, that fed the fire of an enjutsushi my azure wind, it would temporarily grant them the power to use the Divine Flame. And while it was unfortunate I couldn't grant the same level of a power boost to Siesta, a suijutsushi, I could still empower her to a far greater degree than what she would normally be capable of doing on her own. In essence, I could grant her the ability to use a "pseudo-Divine Water," so to speak.

And that was what was happening as the water spirits collected around Siesta's hands, forming gloves of water that glowed softly with an azure light. The azure water appeared as if they were constantly, endlessly, sinking down from Siesta's hands into Cattleya's body, infusing their essence into the sickly, pink-haired woman.

And thus, in silence, we began the operation to save Cattleya's life.

-SCENE BREAK-

"It's done," Siesta said wearily, letting out a breath of relief and leaned back against her chair as she did so.

"How is she?" I asked.

Karin tensed visibly as she prepared to hear the answer.

Siesta smiled. "She should be completely cured now. At least, as far as I can tell."

Karin let out an exhausted breath of relief. I nodded at Siesta in a mild gesture of praise.

"Very well done," I said, causing her to glow with accomplishment.

In the end, the entire operation had taken all night and well into the day. It had been touch and go many times, especially at the beginning where Siesta was still unaccustomed to the task and made several critical mistakes. At those times, it was exactly as I had warned Karin and her family – Cattleya's body was ripping itself apart. This was accompanied by the most bloodcurdling screams I had ever heard out of any human, despite her being unconscious all the while, and her flesh spontaneously developing deep cuts and gashes as blood forced itself out of her body, as if refusing to live in that vessel any longer. And because we could not allow Cattleya to be magically healed during the process in order to prevent any actions that could potentially hinder Siesta from communing with the water spirits, we had been forced to make do with simple, mundane bandages until the end.

The sight of a screaming, dying Cattleya, tied down to her bed in order to prevent her from thrashing about, had been a gruesome, bloody scene, one that I had little doubts caused the Valliere family an intense amount of emotional stress. Louise had begun openly weeping after the third time that happened. Eleanore had proven to be emotionally stronger than her youngest sister. She started crying after the fifth time.

Karin, however, had a will of steel. Though she had visibly blanched at seeing one of her daughters undergo such pain, she kept herself tightly composed. No tears fell from her eyes. Instead, she had remained at her suffering daughter's side, holding her hand tightly as silent encouragement. And whereas Louise and Eleanore had fallen asleep after several long, emotionally exhausting hours, Karin stayed awake the entire time, never daring to release her grip on Cattleya's hand, as if doing so would ensure her daughter's death.

"Louise," I gently shook the petite Valliere by the shoulder. "Wake up."

"Mmrngh?" Louise moaned as she blearily blinked her eyes open. "Kazu... ma?" Louise's eyes shot open, alert. "Kazuma! What happened? Where's Cattleya?"

In answer, I motioned over to her elder sister, sleeping peacefully on the bed.

"Is... Is she okay?" Louise asked more quietly, hesitantly.

"Yeah," I said. "She's still damaged from the operation itself, but she should heal from those naturally. Faster if you guys use magic."

"Really?" Louise said. "Do you really mean it, Kazuma? Is Cattleya really completely healed?"

"Yes," I said. "Though, just to be safe, it'd be best to make sure to keep a very close eye on her health from now on. That will be the job of your healers. And there's still the fact that her body will be weak from having been afflicted in the first place. She'll have to go through physical rehabilitation before she becomes completely healthy again."

"Thank Brimir," Louise sobbed, tears of joy flowing freely down her face.

"Thank Siesta," I corrected gently. "She's the one who did all the hard work."

Louise nodded. "You're right." She turned to Siesta and smiled. "Thank you, Siesta."

"You're welcome," Siesta replied with an exhausted smile. "But I really couldn't have done it without Kazuma."

"Thank you too, Kazuma," Louise said to me.

At that, I simply shrugged. The truth was that beyond empowering Siesta for the first hour and a half, I honestly did not do much. In fact, I was actually greatly restraining the amount of power I was outputting in order to support Siesta for as long as possible. And while it was true that me empowering Siesta had helped her get through the most difficult part of the operation – at the beginning, when the water spirits were at their most crazed and when Siesta was still a novice healer and completely unused to the healing process – everything else had been entirely Siesta. She had been the one to commune with the water spirits and restore them to their natural state and heal Cattleya.

"Well," I yawned, "I think it's time we go to sleep."

However, as Siesta and I stood up to leave, the door suddenly slammed open and a tall, well-dressed man with an appearance as sharp and as dangerous as a hawk suddenly stormed into the room.

"Cattleya!" the man's voice boomed throughout the room, his voice nearly hysterical with fear and worry. "Cattleya, are you all ri-"

That was as far as he got before Karin walked over to him and practically slapped him as she put her hand over the man's mouth to silence him. "Fool! She's sleeping!" Karin hissed.

Eleanore, stirred from her slumber at the sudden noise. "Father?" Eleanore murmured sleepily. Then, like Louise, her eyes snapped open fully, wide awake. "Father! Cattleya!"

"Shh!" Karin hissed again. The fact that her own family members were seemingly conspiring to interrupt her daughter's much needed rest after overcoming a most terrible ordeal must have been extremely annoying, if the expression on her face was any indicator. Funnily enough, this was probably the most emotive I've seen Karin act thus far.

"Mmnngh?" Cattleya stirred and slowly blinked her eyes open.

Karin shot daggers at Eleanore and her husband with her eyes, a silent promise of punishment, and they both wilted completely under the glare.

"How are you feeling, Cattleya?" Karin asked as she went over to her bedside.

"I feel..." Cattleya sat up in the bed, gently brushing aside Karin's attempt to keep her lying down and resting. "I feel great, Mother," Cattleya said in surprise. "My body feels somewhat sore, but I feel better than I ever have before." Cattleya looked down at her body, which she only just now realized was nude. "But why am I naked?"

"Cattleya," I said, politely keeping my gaze fixated away from Cattleya's direction. "You fainted last night and nearly died. But as of now, you are completely cured, though to be safe, it's best to keep you under careful watch by a healer. And also, you'll need to go through physical rehabilitation in order to get your body healthy again."

"Wait, what do you mean I'm cured?" Cattleya said perplexedly. The rustling of cloth told me that Cattleya had brought up her blanket in order to protect her modesty.

"You mean it worked?" Eleanore said ecstatically.

"She's cured?" the father said in disbelief. "How? Who are you? What's going on?"

"Yes, you're cured, yes, it worked, it was thanks to Siesta here, and my name is Kazuma Yagami," I rattled off answers to each of the three and gestured towards the suijutsushi, who was nearly falling over in exhaustion, and would have if I hadn't caught her. Her eyes were lidded heavily with drowsiness and she was not paying attention to the conversations around her in the slightest. I couldn't blame her. This had probably been the most mentally and physically demanding task she had ever been asked of as a suijutsushi – perhaps in her entire life – thus far. "If it's all right with you, I'm going to make sure she gets to bed first. After that, I'll answer your questions."

-SCENE BREAK-

At my insistence, I held off on my explanations until after the Valliere family had finished their breakfast. This was because, more than an explanation, what was needed now was for Cattleya to get a solid meal in her.

Though I had been willing to patiently stand off to the side, near the wall, as they ate, the Valliere family – save for Cattleya, who Karin forced to eat slowly and carefully – had in turn practically scarfed down their meals when I had remained adamant in my decision, despite Louise, Eleanore, and their father's insistence to the contrary. It was when they had finally finished their meal that we began speaking.

"So Kazuma, was it?" Duke Valliere said. "My wife told me that you are my youngest daughter's familiar."

"Yes," I said.

"And you're saying that Cattleya is cured?" he said curiously. "How? None of the top healers we've hired from across the continent have been unable to do anything about it. How is it that you succeeded where so many others have failed?"

"Hm..." I scratched the back of my head and glanced over at Karin. "It looks like you're going to get a free lesson after all."

Karin arched an eyebrow, while the Duke looked at me with a look that mixed disapproval and curiosity at the way I addressed his wife so flippantly. It appeared, though, that I was getting a lot of leeway in his reaction due to the happy news I brought of Cattleya being cured, as well as my evident role in it.

"What Siesta, my maid, used to cure Cattleya is something the people of my homeland call Suijutsu – Water Techniques," I explained. "It's one of the four subsets of Seirei Jutsu – Spirit Techniques – with the other three being fire, earth, and wind. This type of magic is different than your people's magic at a fundamental level. Unlike Elemental Magic, Seirei Jutsu works intimately with the spirits of the world in order to create magic. It makes us more in tune with them than the mages of Halkeginia. That's why I was able to detect the cause of Cattleya's disease and why Siesta was able to cure it."

"And what was the cause of her disease? How was it cured?" the Duke asked, as openly interested as the rest of his family.

"Before that, I need to explain what the spirits exactly are," I said. "To put it simply, they are what you could consider the 'guardians of the world' and are present everywhere and in all things. They are the beings that are meant to safeguard the world's natural order and preserve its will. Now, the problem with Cattleya was that the water spirits in her body had become crazed and were no longer obeying their purpose – to preserve Cattleya's life for as long as possible. Instead, they were killing her, slowly, and over the course of many years. Thus, in order to cure her, Siesta basically talked with those water spirits and calmed them down."

"That's all?" the Duke frowned.

I shrugged. "It might not sound like much, but it was a very risky and dangerous procedure, given our circumstances. What you have to remember is that the water spirits did not want to be restored. What they wanted was to end Cattleya's life. The slightest misstep and the water spirits would have done just that by tearing apart Cattleya's body from the inside out." I looked over to Cattleya. "I'm not certain if you remember, but because Siesta had never done this kind of operation before, you nearly did die several times. It's very fortunate that Siesta is as talented as she is at Suijutsu. She managed to pick up on how to do this very quickly. A lesser suijutsushi than her would have failed, and you would have died."

"And you are certain that Cattleya is completely healed now?" Duke Valliere asked almost hesitantly, as if believing that I was about to declare all of this as one big lie to his face. It was an understandable reaction. The news was probably too good to be true for him.

"Yes, she is," I said firmly.

"And she'll be able to use her magic without becoming ill?" Duke Valliere asked.

"After going through rehabilitation, yes," I said. "Even if she is cured, she has lived for far too long with this disease. It's weakened her tremendously. Once she gains strength and becomes healthier, magic or whatever else she wants to do should be no problem."

At that, Duke Valliere let out a deep sigh of relief and sagged in his seat, as if a heavy burden had suddenly been lifted from his shoulders. Cattleya, Louise, and Eleanore were all looking positively ecstatic, with the latter two crying tears of joy. Karin even had a genuine smile on her lips.

It occurred to me then the extent of suffering that the Valliere family, who seemed to cherish their familial ties very much, had gone through. The burden of the knowledge that one of their members was liable to die long before her time from a mysterious disease must have been absolutely soul crushing. Every day, Cattleya had been becoming weaker and weaker. Every day, the rest of the family could do nothing but watch helplessly as all their best healers failed to achieve tangible results.

And today, that dark cloud of gloom had been dispersed. From hereon, Cattleya would no longer grow weaker and weaker with each passing day. Instead, she would continue to become stronger, healthier, able to live out her life as she so chose.

"Just to be on the safe side, however," I continued, "make sure to keep a close watch on Cattleya's health. With her weakened body, she'll be highly susceptible to any new illnesses."

"Of course," the Duke said. He sighed with relief. "This is the best news I have ever received in my entire life. For yours and your maid's help, we, the Valliere family, are in your debt."

"Thank you," I said as I immediately began considering how much gold I could ask to receive in payment from the Vallieres. Considering how strong their familial ties were and their apparent wealth and status, I hazarded a few, very delightful estimates.

"Now then" - here Duke Valliere's face turned hard as he looked toward Louise - "There are also other matters that we must deal with. What is this I hear about you wanting to join the military?"

"Oh yeah," Eleanore said, recalling the primary reason Louise was here in the first place. "Father! Please tell Louise to forget this foolishness about joining the war!"

"It's not nonsense!" Louise protested heatedly.

And just like that, the previous good mood of Cattleya's recovery vanished into thin air.

"No, your sister is right," Duke Valliere declared. "It is foolishness. This entire war is pointless and you have no place in it." He snorted angrily. "And if that damned, birdbrained Cardinal Mazarin thinks he can order me to organize an army corps for this idiotic war, then he has another thing coming."

"Father," Louise said with a shocked expression. "Why would you say such things? Surely the fact that Reconquista has usurped the rightful royal family of Albion and has already invaded Tristain once before is reason enough to counterattack?"

Duke Valliere smiled at Louise in a patient, fatherly way – a smile used to address an ignorant child. "Let me clarify: it is not the war itself that is foolish, but rather the way it is being carried out. A simple blockade would grant us victory far more easily and surely than any invasion in this scenario, especially when considering the fact that the majority of Albion's air power had been destroyed at Tarbes and that we only outnumber Albion's forces by a mere ten thousand. And if that had been the plan, then I would have thrown my support behind the war effort. But instead, the plan is to actually invade Albion proper!" Duke Valliere slammed one fist on the table. "It's an action that is even worse than an amateur mistake! It is an act of insanity!"

"I don't understand, Father," Louise said, perplexed. "If we outnumber them by ten thousand, shouldn't we have the advantage in an invasion?"

"No," Duke Valliere said bluntly. "To successfully defeat a defending force, the number of attackers would need to be at least three times as large. The advantage of a mere ten thousand additional men is easily rendered null by the fact that the Albionian forces will have better positioning, superior knowledge of the land, easier supply lines, and just about every other advantage imaginable. Their fifty thousand soldiers with all those advantages against the Tristain-Germanian combined forces of a mere sixty thousand on foreign soil. The chances of Albion's victory is far too great to risk.

"This must be the fault of that idiotic Cardinal," Duke Valliere growled. "Taking advantage of a young queen by pushing for a fast war. What is that moron thinking?"

I suppressed a chuckle at how wrong the duke was. It was Henrietta, motivated by revenge, that was pushing for an invasion.

"But even so, the queen needs me," Louise argued feebly.

Duke Valliere smiled patiently at Louise. "Daughter, that's a mentality that many young men have. But no matter what you think, the truth is that there is no place for you in something as dangerous and as foolish as this war."

Louise glanced helplessly in my direction, a silent plead for help. I sighed, and ordered the wind spirits to guide my words to only Louise's ears, my own lips barely moving as I spoke. "If you want to convince them and gain their permission, the easiest way would be to reveal your Void magic, I think."

Louise's brows furrowed at me in silent objection.

"I know you don't want to reveal the Void to anyone, as per Henrietta's orders," I continued, "but she had ordered that of you in order to protect you from unscrupulous nobles. Not from your family."

Louise bit her lips, and then nodded once. She turned to look levelly at her father. "The truth is, Father, the queen truly does need me."

"And would that somehow be related to you lying about your element, Louise?" Karin suddenly interjected. When Louise looked at her in surprise, Karin simply gave her a hard look. "I am your mother. I know you. Did you really think you would be able to successfully lie to me?"

"Um... Yes?" Louise squeaked timidly, flinching hard when Karin gave her a glare. "I'm sorry, Mother, but I had been ordered to keep it a secret."

"So then what is the truth?" Karin said sternly.

Louise gulped. "The truth is... well... My element is the Void."

Silence.

Karin was staring at Louise with an unreadable expression.

Cattleya looked absolutely stunned with delight.

Duke Valliere had a blank expression on his face.

Eleanore snorted, an unbelieving look on her face. "Yeah, right. As if you could be a user of the Void element. In case you've forgotten your basic history, Louise, the Void element has been lost for thousands of years, ever since Brimir himself died."

"I know that, but it's the truth," Louise said. She glanced at me again for support. I sighed again.

"She really is telling the truth," I said, causing all attention to turn to me. "Though she only knows two Void spells at the moment – Explosion and Dispel – she's already used them both to great effect in service of the queen and the country."

"And what sort of service has my daughter provided?" Duke Valliere said skeptically.

"The first was at Tarbes, when she destroyed their entire air fleet with Explosion," I explained. That caused eyebrows to shoot up. "The second was when Reconquista attempted to infiltrate Tristain by using Prince Wales, whom they resurrected under their direct control using an artifact stolen from the Water Spirit of Ragdorian Lake. Louise used Dispel to, well, dispel the magic that bound him in that state." I shrugged. "And logically speaking, it's not like it's impossible. Just because the Void has been lost doesn't mean that it can never appear again. And given that Louise has shown no affinity for the four basic elements..."

"I see," Karin said. "If Louise has no affinity for fire, water, earth, or wind, then it's possible that she has an affinity to the fifth element. This would explain why she has always failed in using spells of the other elements." She gave me a level look. "However, this hinges on the assumption that Louise even has an affinity. It is also possible that she is simply incapable of proper magic in general."

Ouch. I winced at the look on Louise's face. Even I could see how sharply that hurt her.

"But assuming that she is indeed a Void mage," Karin continued, "then that is even more of a reason not to let you go to war, Louise."

"What?" Louise said almost indignantly. "Why?"

"It's because the Void is legendary, my daughter," Duke Valliere said. "If what you say is true, then there is little doubt that the higher ups will seek to use you as a tool, both for military and political gains." At that last part, the duke made a disgusted face, as if the mere thought of it was repulsive to him. "And no matter how strong the Void is, you yourself are still a little girl. You are not ready for war. Neither are the scores of Academy students being sent as officers. Truly, what is that idiotic Cardinal thinking? Sending children to war? What I would give to be able to-"

"Dear," Karin interrupted as the duke made strangling motions in front of him with his hands. "Focus. There will be time to be upset about the idiot later."

"Ah. Yes. Of course," Duke Valliere said, mollified. He cleared his throat. "In any case, the matter is closed. You will not be going to war."

Louise ground her teeth together, the frustration at being unable to convince her parents clear on her face. Finally, she turned to me fully and said, "Kazuma. What do you think?"

"Me?" I blinked at her. She nodded. "To be honest, I'm with your parents on this one. War is stupid. It's painful, tiresome, full of hardships, and, despite whatever stories you might have heard, inglorious. And you are not ready for war."

Duke Valliere gave me a look of approval at my words. But when Louise gave me an angry, betrayed look, I continued.

"Meh. But ultimately, it's your choice," I shrugged. "If you want to go, then I'll help you and keep you safe. It's not like this war concerns me personally beyond you joining or not."

"And you would do so despite her family's wishes?" Duke Valliere said, his voice as cold as ice and as hard as steel.

"If that's what Louise wants," I said.

"And why would you protect my daughter?" Duke Valliere said, glaring at me hard. "What reason do you have for doing so?"

"Why?" I frowned. "Well. I-"

I paused.

Huh? Wait. Why do I protect Louise? Why? She was the one who kidnapped me... right? It was unintentional, but that didn't change the fact that it had still been done. And it's not like she had been exactly kind to me. Still, I have to protect her. Wait, why do I have to protect her? A reason? I had a reason. I think. Right? Wait. Why? What was it again?

Why?

Why?

Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhyw-

"It's because that's my duty as her familiar," I said. I had to make a conscious effort not to add "obviously" to the statement and from rolling my eyes at having to answer such a stupid question. I winced slightly as I scratched the runes on my left hand. For some reason they hurt and felt prickly, as if I had been stung by several bees.

"Duty," Duke Valliere mused. "A commendable reason. But the answer is still no. Just because you saved one of my daughters does not mean I will allow you to take another to war. If you try, I will be forced to strike you down myself."

"Please, Father," Louise pleaded. "Is there anything we can do in order to change your mind?"

"Nothing," Duke Valliere said firmly.

"No, there is one thing," Karin spoke up.

All of us turned to look at her.

"Dear?" Duke Valliere said, confused at his wife's blatant contradiction to his decision.

"And what would that be, Mother?" Louise asked hopefully.

"If you can prove that you are capable of protecting Louise," Karin said, looking directly at me, "then I will allow her to go."

"And how should I prove that?" I asked almost rhetorically. I didn't like the direction this conversation was taking. I didn't like this one bit.

Karin's face never changed from a calm, yet stern, tightly composed expression. "Why, through combat of course."

The reaction to that statement was... strong.

Louise seemed to have choked on her saliva or something, and was now coughing fitfully and nearly fell out of her seat. Eleanore did fall out of her chair and due to her violent trembling, she was unable to stand back up. As for Cattleya... I think she fainted.

"Um... Dear," Duke Valliere said hesitantly, his face blanched stark white. "Are you sure that's, ah, necessary? We do owe him for saving Cattleya. It seems this would be, well, a poor way to repay him."

"Nonsense," Karin said. "You said it yourself, Dear. This and that are unrelated to each other. If Louise wants to go to war, then Kazuma must prove he has the ability to protect her. If he refuses or cannot," she turned to stare hard at Louise, "then you will not go to war. Am I understood?"

"Y-y-yes, ma'am," Louise squeaked.

I sighed quietly and nodded. "All right. Let's go."

-SCENE BREAK-

"H-h-h-hey, K-Kazuma," Louise stammered. "A-a-are you s-sure you want to d-do this?"

"Louise is right, boy," Duke Valliere said, his face still as white as a ghost. "It would certainly be a shame for Cattleya's savior to be killed."

Wordlessly, Cattleya and Eleanore nodded their agreements.

"Since I'm already here, I might as well do it," I said. I looked at Louise. "Oh, and this is kind of obvious, but I just wanted to make sure: your mom is the 'Karin the Heavy Wind' that I keep hearing about, right?"

"Y-y-yeah," Louise whimpered. "Y-y-you k-know, K-Kazuma. I-if you want to b-back out, it's o-okay."

"I'll be fine," I shrugged. "Besides. It's not like I need to exactly win. I just need to prove that I'm strong enough to protect you."

Somehow, that seemed to reassure none of them. I ignored them and began looking around to take in information about the place I would be fighting on.

The chosen grounds for Karin's test was an extremely large, flat plot of land. Save for the grass that grew on its ground, there was nothing else here, not even a tree or a flower. Ever since I was summoned to Halkeginia, I've been hearing now and then rumors of Karin's strength, about how she was the most legendary and strongest mage in the history of Tristain, aside from Brimir. I had little doubt that Karin deliberately chose this field for the test in order to take advantage of that renowned strength.

In a place like this, small, clever tactics were ultimately useless. All that mattered were two things: strength and skill. In this place, only the stronger and more skilled combatant would leave victoriously.

I sighed.

It seemed that Karin had no intention of letting Louise go to war, despite the condition she had set.

The sound of heavy beating wings alerted all of us to the presence of a manticore several times larger than the ones I had seen ridden by the Manticore Knights. Riding on top of it was a woman dressed in steel armor, a long, faded blue cloak, and a wide brim hat not unlike the one I had seen Wardes wear so long ago. But what caught my eye more than all of that was the steel mask Karin wore over her entire face.

Suddenly, Duke Valliere gripped me by the shoulder as the manticore began its descent.

"Listen to me," Duke Valliere whispered urgently. "Just remember this: there is no shame in surrendering to my wife if it looks like it's about to get dangerous."

"Thank you," I said. "I'll keep that in mind."

The manticore landed with grace that belied its enormous size. From this close up, I could see that the manticore was at least twice as large as Tabitha's Sylphid and looked several times more dangerous. It's rows of long sharp fangs and its dagger-like claws powered by its powerful, rippling muscles would likely have been enough to tear apart most foes. And with its thick fur and skin, it could probably shrug off any weapon of this world's era, short of artillery.

From her seat upon the manticore, she looked down at me. When she spoke, her voice had a slight metallic ring to it, likely from the way the sound of her voice bounced on her steel mask.

"I won't ask you a trite question such as if you are certain about going through with this," Karin said. "I'll ask only this: are you ready to begin?"

"Once everyone steps back, yes," I said, gesturing with a slight nod at the rest of the Vallieres standing near me.

Karin nodded, giving a quick glance over her family. The silent order was received, and they all quickly scurried away. Well, except for Duke Valliere. He seemed to be the type who was too dignified, too refined to scurry away. His was more of a... panicked retreat. Once they were all at a safe distance away, Karin gave me a curt nod, and the manticore beat its powerful wings and once more took off into the air.

"Now then," Karin called down to me. "Let's begin!"

I considered calmly what my first move should be. Keeping in line with the fact that this was essentially an exhibition match, I only needed to demonstrate a sufficient amount of my power and skill. Basically, I just needed to show off. That is actually going to be surprisingly difficult for me since in all of my fights I try to either win or escape as quickly and as easily as I can. Then, how should I go about doing this? Hm...

While I was thinking, Karin launched her attack. It was an attack the reminded me of a joust. Wind wrapped itself around Karin's wand, forming a long lance, and then her manticore dived down towards me, driving all of the kinetic power from the momentum of the dive straight into the tip of that wind spear.

I suppose showing my defense for a start wouldn't be a bad idea. Considering that it looked like this attack was meant to be lethal, that seemed like a very good idea, now that I thought about it.

A wall of wind suddenly appeared, interposing between me and Karin. Her wind spear struck it, and for a brief moment it made headway into the wall. But only for an instant. It took less than a second for the wall of wind to grind the momentum and power of the attack to a halt and stop the spear. Upon seeing her attack stopped, Karin's manticore flew up and back to its original position.

"So. It is as I thought," Karin observed aloud in her slightly metallic voice. "You use wind."

"Yeah," I said. "So do you."

"It's rare to find a mage that is capable of blocking my attacks," Karin mused. "But I have never met another wind mage capable of doing so."

"Would that be enough to satisfy your conditions?" I asked hopefully. If this much was enough to impress her, maybe we could stop this and save myself a whole lot of effort.

"Of course not," Karin snorted. "It is something I simply wished to note."

Karin raised her wand and pointed it at me. This time, there was no knightly joust. Instead, Karin attacked like a true mage would: casting deadly spells down at me from higher ground, safely out of the easy reach of her opponent.

Three spells came down at me one after the other. Each of them were cylindrical in shape, like tubes, and were rotating extremely quickly. Drills, huh? A good idea, but insufficient. Once more, I called forth a wall of wind to shield me from the spells. After these spell are blocked, I'll go ahead and make an atta-

Wait. What the hell?

My eyes widened as instead of stopping, each of Karin's spells continued to drill through my wind wall where it hit. Though they had slowed, it was only marginally so, and they were showing no signs of stopping. I jumped several meters back just in time to watch with genuine surprise as Karin's spells managed to completely and easily destroy my defense before continuing on towards the ground I had been standing on just a second before. When the spells finally dissipated, it was when holes about three meters long were drilled straight into the earth.

How the hell did she do that?

I know that those spells were drills. There was no other way she could have even conceivably penetrated my defenses. But even then, a mere air drill should not have the power to break through my defense, especially not that easily. I had used air drills myself before in the past after all, and I knew for certain that my wind wall should have been strong enough to block it.

Despite the fact that we were in the midst of a battle, my curiosity overwhelmed me and I quickly ordered the wind spirits that had been present in Karin's spell to inform me of its details. It took only a few seconds for the wind spirits to show me how the spell had worked. The knowledge they fed back to me left even me impressed.

As I had suspected, it was indeed an air drill, but not like how I used it. When I used air drills, I typically gave it only a single rotation, not unlike a regular battery powered drill that could be found in most people's garages. That had quite honestly been all I ever needed to break through the hardiest of defenses, the ones my regular air blades could not cut through. What Karin did made my technique look pitiful. If my air drill was like a drill for regular home usage, hers was more reminiscent to that of an industrial mining drill used to bore holes miles into the earth. The tube I had seen her cast had been its outer shell, a mere container of sorts. Within it were three air drills that did the actual work. By spinning at high speeds in rotations counter to the next, it managed to bore its way through my defensive wall with untold ease.

Seriously. That was very impressive.

Now then... It was something like this, right?

For the first time since the match started, I went on the offensive. I held one hand up above my head, palm upwards, and the wind spirits gathered there.

Step one: form the outer shell.

Step two: create the drills and give them their spin.

Step three: throw.

I brought my hand down beside my head, taking a position similar to a javelin thrower, and then reared it back and launched it forward. The air drill, every bit the same as the one Karin used on me, streaked through the air towards the giant manticore. In a move similar to mine, Karin raised a powerful wind shield in order to slow the drill down by a precious quarter of a second while simultaneously having her manticore veer sharply to the side in order to dodge the attack.

Once they recovered, though I couldn't see her facial expressions due to the steel mask, I could tell that Karin was genuinely surprised at how easily I stole her move.

And then the duel began in earnest.

I launched a flurry of air blades up towards Karin's manticore, aiming for its giant, leathery, draconian wings. If I could just strike even one of those wings, I could force it to land and seize the high ground advantage. But even if I didn't, it didn't matter. It was just a distraction after all.

While Karin was forced to block, dodge, or strike down the air blades, I shot upwards into the sky until I was flying higher than the manticore itself. With my higher vantage point, I sent down a powerful blast of wind in order to force the flying beast downward. With the wide range of my attack, the manticore had nowhere to escape to, and though it struggled strongly against the wind, it fell in altitude by a dozen or so meters.

Karin counterattacked. She cast a half-dozen number of air drills with hardly any time in between each spell. Since my previous defense had already proven to be ineffective against this spell, I changed the method of my defense. My own air drills formed in the air around me and sought out Karin's like laser guided missiles. Our spells struck each other and then canceled themselves out.

Faster than I could react, Karin cast her next spell at me. A tornado formed directly around me. It wasn't on a massive scale like the one Siesta and I had used against the zombie Prince Wales and Henrietta's tornado. Instead, it was small and tightly controlled, serving more as a cage than as an actual attack. And laced within this cage were an innumerable amount of razor sharp wind blades.

It was somewhat similar in principle to a blender. With the fast rotational speed of the tornado-cage coupled with the wind blades laced into it, this spell could shred the victim into fleshy paste. Had it not been for the layer of air I formed around me as an armor, it would have done just that. And given time, it would still do that, after it ground my armor away into nothingness.

I know that the entire point of this fight was for me to impress her, but right now, she was doing the complete opposite. Everything she was doing was leaving me impressed. On Earth, I had never imagined that there could be a wind mage whose combat prowess was on Karin's level, especially when wind was generally considered the weakest of the four elements in terms of combat strength. In fact, in terms of pure technical skill, she was my superior by far.

As a user of wind myself, I couldn't help but start to respect Karin's prowess.

Within the cage, my armor of wind expanded outward in all directions and forcibly disrupted Karin's spell from the inside out, bursting it open like a bubble.

But Karin was not so lax that she had not been prepared for my escape. Even as I broke through the cage, I felt more than saw a massive amount of wind being gathered by Karin and heard her chant her spell for the first time.

"Raging Storm!" Karin shouted as she let loose a spell on a scale unlike any of the others she had cast thus far.

A massive vortex of air was sent towards me. It's opening was like that of some kind of hellish monster's opened jaws. It was so large and wide that it could have easily swallowed four or five grown elephants whole, simultaneously. Within that maw, I could see innumerable blades of wind swirling about like sharks circling their prey. It was similar to the tornado-cage spell she tried on me moments earlier, only larger and clearly more deadly. And as if that wasn't enough, thick tendrils of lightning danced about randomly everywhere inside of it and crackled menacingly, forming a constantly shifting and changing web of electricity.

Damn. This wasn't a spell meant to be used on a single person. It was a spell meant to be used against armies.

Talk about overkill.

I raised my right arm, pointing my hand up into the air. Inches above my open palm, a ball of highly compressed wind formed. At just under two meters in diameter, my spell looked downright puny compared to the monster of a spell Karin had unleashed, which was currently fast approaching me. I hurled that ball of wind straight into the gullet of her spell. Though the wind blades and the lightning of Karin's vortex struck and sliced away at my spell, they could not pierce the shell of wind I had formed around it during its creation fast enough to destroy it.

And when it reached the internal center of that raging storm, the air bomb exploded with a deafening boom. The force of the explosion completely destroyed Karin's spell from the inside, scattering outward wind and lightning alike. The ensuing waves of kinetic pressure forced both Karin and I to raise a protective sphere of air around ourselves. So strong were those waves that when it hit our shells it sent both of us drifting quickly away from the center of the explosion.

This time I reacted first. Air blades screamed through the space between us. Moving according to my will, they dodged Karin's attempts at striking them down – most of them, at least – and weaved through the skies as they pursued her when her manticore attempted to fly away from them while Karin maintained her wind barrier. But as fast as that manticore was, it was simply not fast enough to escape my attacks. The wind blades caught the rider and her beast and slashed away at her barrier, shredding it into pieces.

With her barrier gone, I condensed the air around her manticore's head into spheres the size of beach balls. Karin, being a wind mage of exceptional skill and power, detected the unnatural flow of air and immediately veered her manticore away from the air bombs, just in time to avoid the explosion that would have certainly knocked the manticore unconscious.

Or at least, I think it would have knocked it unconscious. I honestly had no idea how durable a manticore was, seeing as how they don't exist on Earth outside of myth and that this was my first time fighting one in Halkeginia.

Still, dodging so abruptly had left the manticore in an unbalanced position. It had reared up and backwards so that it looked as if it were trying to stand, not unlike that of a horse that had been scared suddenly.

Taking advantage of that opening, I brought a compressed block of wind down on top of Karin and her manticore. Karin managed to set up a last minute shield of air to block the attack, but I was unrelenting. It was at this moment that I transformed our fight from a battle of skill into a contest of raw strength. And in terms of pure power, it was I who was her superior by far.

I brought the block of air down again. And again. And again. Though Karin managed to block it each and every time, she was being forced closer and closer to the ground with every strike, just like a hammer driving in a nail. Furthermore, her shield was simply not strong enough to deal with my repeated attacks. Each hammerblow would cause more of her wind shield to crumble away, and I could tell she was straining to defend herself.

Finally, when the rider and the beast were only a few meters above the ground, I created another set of oversized air bombs around the manticore's head and detonated them while simultaneously bringing down a final hammerblow on Karin. With her attention concentrated on defending the attack from above, Karin was unable to order the manticore to dodge or to defend it from my air bombs, and the ensuing explosion rattled the beast's brain around inside of its skull, causing it to fall and crash into the ground, unconscious.

Reacting swiftly, Karin jumped off the manticore before it crashed and landed with easy grace – right into a floating minefield of air bombs I made. She glanced around at the air bombs, shimmering in the light due to the way the orbs bent light, and then slowly lowered her wand to her side. At that, I dispersed the air bombs and descended to the ground as well. Karin watched me carefully until my feet made contact with the earth. For a moment, we stared at each other in perfect silence. There was only the sound of rustling grass and the gently blowing breeze. And then I spoke and broke that stillness first.

"I'm impressed," I said sincerely. "I had never even dreamed of meeting another wind mage as strong as you are. In fact, on the continent I'm from, I can think of only three other people besides me that are stronger than you."

Though I said continent, what I actually meant was the entire Earth. And the fact that it was only us four who were stronger than Karin spoke volumes of the level of her combat prowess. After all, all four of us had some kind of ability or power that could pretty much be considered cheating in any fair fight.

"Oh?" Karin said as she removed her mask. Despite my words, she did not look upset or disconcerted in the least. Far from it, she looked almost happy to hear it, if the way her lips were ever so slightly curled up at the corners was any indicator. "Who are they?"

"The first... Well, it's actually not fair to count him. He's a human who achieved immortality and has already lived for several centuries at least."

"Immortality?" Karin said with a faint note of surprise in her voice. "I was not aware humans could achieve such a thing."

"There are many ways of doing it," I shrugged. "Most of them are very unpleasant or downright evil though."

"I see," Karin mused. "And the others?"

"My uncle and my father," I continued. "And they both possess the power of the Godsfire."

"The Godsfire?" Karin arched an eyebrow.

"Also known as the Divine Flame," I explained, "it is the absolute pinnacle of Enjutsu – Fire Techniques. Capable of burning away any and all things in existence, there is literally nothing that can defend against its full might. In the entire continent of my homeland, there have been only eleven people known to have wielded it in the past thousand years."

"Fascinating. But, Kazuma," Karin said, "though I freely admit that you are exceptionally powerful, is it not a bit arrogant of you to say that you are stronger than I, based only on a single match?"

I shook my head. "It's not arrogance. Why don't I just show you? Try to use a wind spell. Any spell."

Karin stared at me intently for a moment, before raising her wand and waving it in a quick pattern. When nothing happened, however, Karin frowned and tried again. Still nothing.

"If you used any other element, earth preferably, with skill and power equal to your mastery over wind, then it might have been possible for you to defeat me," I said. "But with wind? No. That is my domain."

"You are somehow preventing me from casting magic," Karin observed. "And judging by your words, it's limited only to wind magic."

"Yes," I said. "It's due to the nature of our magics."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I've told you before that Seirei Jutsu and Elemental Magic are fundamentally different, right?" I said. Karin nodded. "In this case, the important thing to note is that Elemental Magic works by forcing the spirits of nature to abide by your will in order to cast magic, naturally creating friction between the mage and the spirits. Seirei Jutsu, on the other hand, works with the spirits. Thus, our brand of magic is the combined force of the mage's will and the spirits' will. What I did just now was simply empower the spirits' will with my own will, giving them the strength necessary to resist your commands."

"I see. How fascinating," Karin mused. "Though regretful."

I cocked my head. "Regretful? Why?"

"Did you know that I am commonly regarded as the strongest mage in Tristain, if not all of Halkeginia?" Karin said.

"I've heard rumors," I said, unsure of why she was suddenly switching topics.

"Once, when I was Louise's age, achieving such a status had been my dream," Karin confessed. "But after having reached that level, I realized something: being the strongest is boring." Karin sighed almost ruefully. "Any would be challengers flee upon learning who I am and there are too few challenges left that excites my blood anymore. At least, not until today. Our fight was the most exciting thing I've done in ages!" Karin let out a breathless, satisfied sigh. "To have met another mage who is stronger than I am and skilled enough to perfectly steal from me spells that I worked for years to develop was such a thrill. But knowing that all you need to do to defeat me is to prevent me from using magic, which you seem to be able to do easily, it takes away the pleasure in training and growing stronger and then overcoming you in a fight. Hence why it's regretful."

"I see," I said, though I didn't really understand.

For me, seeking out fights for my own personal pleasure had never been a part of my personality. To me, wanting to fight for fun seemed pointless. After all, why fight for fun when I could fight and earn a lot of money for doing it instead?

Still, whatever her reasons were, this was a woman who had earned my respect as a wind user. If what she wanted was a challenge, then the least I could do was indulge her.

"Then, out of respect to your skill and strength from one wind mage to another, would you like to have one last, fair showdown using your strongest spell against my full power?" I offered.

"Oh? Are you saying that what you've shown thus far wasn't your full strength?" Karin said with a smile.

"Of course not," I said. "Give me a minute to prepare, and I will show you my all."

"Very well then," Karin said as she slipped her steel mask back on.

I nodded and closed my eyes, and then delved into deepest parts of my consciousness. As I did so, the spirits of the air continuously gathered around me, infusing me with their strength.

There, within the very deepest parts of my consciousness, where nothing but a primordial darkness should have existed, lies a door. It was in front of that thing that I found myself floating once again. Compared to the sheer size of that door, I was tiny, as if symbolically representing the insignificance of my very existence.

Yet, despite that, I willed that door to open. And within that door lay an azure sky so pure that not even a cloud existed, so vast that it stretched on infinitely, and despite the fact that no sun existed in this sky, it was still bright, like a beacon to which all the winds gathered.

It was here that being existed. Here, in this, as this, infinite sky, the Spirit King of Wind existed.

And by opening that door, the Spirit King and I became one.

"In the name of the contract, entrust me with all the winds."

-SCENE BREAK-

Louise wasn't sure how long her jaw had been hanging open, but judging from how dry the inside of her mouth had become, she guessed that it was probably since Kazuma had first managed to successfully defend against her mother's spells and counterattack.

Whatever the case, there was one thing Louise knew for certain: she had severely underestimated the extent of Kazuma's power. To have defeated her mother, Karin the Heavy Wind, the most legendary mage in the history of Tristain – sans Brimir – was a feat beyond being merely amazing. It was terrifying.

And if what Kazuma was telling the truth, then not only were there three others that were stronger than her mother where he was from, but he himself had yet to demonstrate his full strength.

"Brimir's balls," Louise's father's finally choked out. Louise found that a small corner of her mind, more detached from the rest of her self, was mildly surprised at her father's choice of language.

"Father. Language," Eleanore scolded halfheartedly. She too, like the rest of her family, was absolutely stunned by Kazuma's power. Slowly she shook her head. "I cannot believe I called him worthless."

"I'm ready when you are," Louise heard Kazuma say through her father's farseeing spell, the one that had allowed them to watch and listen to the duel and its combatants even from as far away as they were.

"Your eyes..." Karin said. "What happened to them?"

At her mother's words, Louise instantly homed in on Kazuma's eyes. Normally, they were dark brown in color. However, now, just like before, when he had helped cure Cattleya, they had transformed. His eyes were now an azure so pure and deep that it was as if she was staring off into the boundless, cloudless sky itself when looking in those eyes.

But before Kazuma could answer, Karin shook her head and held up one hand. "No. Nevermind. I can ask questions later. Here I come!"

The spell her mother unleashed was something Louise knew very well. It was, after all, a spell so famous that it had been written about in her school textbooks. And it was the very namesake of her title.

"Heavy Wind!" Karin shouted.

In an instant, an enormous tornado composed of pure wind was unleashed. And whereas most tornadoes would "roar," this one "screeched." It was a harsh sound, like the grating noise of a chorus of a thousand banshees' wailing. To those who could only observe it from the outside, it was impossible to tell why it made such a sound. But Louise knew. She had once asked her father about it.

The tornado, so plain in appearance from the outside, was in truth composed entirely of an intricate weaving of thin and razor sharp blades of air stacked up on top of each other. And then, within that tornado, there was another tornado formed in a similar manner. And another tornado within that tornado. And still another tornado within that tornado. The result was that the spell would destroy absolutely anything it touched, no matter how slight or how brief. Enemy troops and beasts would be sucked in by the tornado and shredded until even the blood was scattered into infinitely tiny particles. Fortresses and castles, for all their strength and durability, were similarly incapable of withstanding the spell, for that tornado would simply grind away at any and all defenses until it was made into dust. Even the reinforcement spells of a dozen square class earth mages would only temporarily slow the spell.

And yet, as amazing as that spell was in its power and complexity, Kazuma's move was simply overwhelming. Even as the tornado screeched its way to him, carving up the ground into channels as it did so, Kazuma raised one arm into the air and then swung it down in front of him.

And then the sky fell.

No, not the sky, Louise corrected herself as she gawked at the scene that lay before her. Kazuma's spell is what fell. Kazuma had brought down an enormous mass of azure wind from high up in the sky to simply crush her mother's most famous spell from above. And the result was absolutely devastating.

Where once there had been a grassy field, there was now only a crater – a crater whose radius reached beyond even Louise, her father, and her two sisters. The entire field that Kazuma and her mother had been fighting on had been absolutely crushed. The only place where grass still existed was where the people standing on the field were (and the manticore, Louise noted blankly). Every one of them there had been spared the wrath of Kazuma's spell by a hemispherical barrier of azure wind.

"To answer your question," Kazuma said, "these eyes are the proof of the contract."

"Contract?" Karin murmured in – and this shocked Louise – awe. "You mean the familiar's contract?"

"No," Kazuma said. "I mean the contract I have with the Spirit King of Wind – the being that rules over all the winds in existence. And it is through this contract that we merge and become one."

As if to prove his point, Kazuma raised one hand into the air. High above the sky, an enormous disk of air – resembling the uppermost portion of a tornado, the part that connected it to the skies – formed, gathering the clouds as it did so, and they spun at such high speeds that lightning quickly began dancing in the sky like so many sparks. And then it began stretching outward. It extended its radius more and more until it had spread over all of Louise's family's territory.

And then, after a moment, the disk suddenly dispersed, spreading wind and clouds outward in every direction, and the sky became calm once more.

"At least, for a short while," Kazuma sighed tiredly as his eyes returned to normal. "Ultimately, the Spirit King is essentially a god and I am still just a human. There are limits to the amount and duration I can use its powers for."

Karin didn't speak, instead carefully considering Kazuma's words. And then, in an act that completely bewildered Louise, her mother began laughing. Slowly at first, but gaining strength as it happened. It was a breathless, excited laugh, one let loose freely, like the kind one would see and hear from a child who was having a lot of fun playing with a new toy. Louise gawked, even more stunned than anything else she had seen prior to this point. Her mother? Laughing? Impossible!

"The God of Wind!" Karin laughed joyously, much to the utter bemusement of Louise and her family. "I fought the God of Wind!" After a few minutes, Karin's laughter died down. She then looked straight at Kazuma and smiled honestly. "Truly regretful."

The look on Kazuma's face was equal parts bewildered and amused. Bewildered, Louise thought, because the sheer power he had just demonstrated should have been enough to intimidate even the most strongly willed person. Amused because her mother wasn't intimidated.

"So," Kazuma said, "I take it Louise has your permission to go to war then?"

"Yes," Karin said. "If it's you, I have no doubt you will be able to keep my daughter safe. Though, I have one more condition."

"What is it?"

"When the war is over, return and let us fight fairly once more," Karin said with a broad, easy grin, one that greatly unnerved Louise considering how dissimilar it was to her mother's normal comport.

"Well..." Kazuma hesitated for a moment, before nodding. "All right. It'll be my thanks for showing me so many new moves to use."

"Excellent," Karin grinned.

Louise shuddered involuntarily. This was a good thing, right? Kazuma had earned her mother's respect. He had gotten the permission needed for her to participate in the war with her parents' blessings. He had even shown her and her entire family just how incredibly powerful he was.

And yet, the excited look on her mother's face was truly, genuinely frightening. And judging by the way the rest of her family had also paled, Louise could only pray that they didn't get selected as her mother's new training partners for her rematch with Kazuma.

And if they were... Well, thank Brimir she would be away doing something far less violent. At least she wouldn't be around to hear the screams.