Nobody really notices Tabitha. Despite being the top mage in her year – and, perhaps, one of the best mages to attend Tristain's Academy of Magic – her short stature, her quiet nature, and the way she secluded herself under shadows of trees or corner of rooms, they all added up to a presence that very few would ever notice if she wasn't announced. Kirche was one of the exceptions, and today even she was distracted, ogling the blond-haired familiar that Louise had summoned.

Managing the prodigious feat of keeping an eye on her book, her meal, Kirche, and the object of the Germainian's attention all at the same time, Tabitha murmured, "Guiche."

"Hm, my darling really does get around, doesn't he?" Kirche observed, and then licked her lips. "No matter. One way or another he'll be mine, and mine only in the end." Then she paused. "And speak of the devil..."

Tabitha didn't quite freeze, but the croissant she was nibbling was put down in favour of watching the familiar as he suddenly went over to Guiche's own girl, Montmorency, and tried to steal her right in front of him.

"That," Kirche said approvingly, "takes guts."

"Worried?"

"I'm not sure," the other girl said after a moment. "Ordinarily a commoner would be no match for a noble, but he did handle himself well yesterday. I'd say they're about even."

Tabitha considered the answer she was about to put forth. Kirche probably thought in a fight, the familiar would run around with his speed and avoid attacks to tire Guiche out. She probably didn't even dream that the commoner could attack a noble, let alone whether he was going to. On the other hand, the blue-haired girl knew for a fact that his display yesterday should be nowhere near what he was capable of, and that assuming the noble-commoner status quo would be upheld intrinsically could potentially get one a bullet wound in the back.

And then she was saved the trouble of answering when Louise finally marched over to that table, screeching. Most people were watching them by this point, and there were a few giggles as they watched the confrontation, no doubt salivating for drama of some kind.

They got it in spades when Guiche sneered, "Oh, what's this? On top of being a short, flat-chested Zero, you can't even control your own familiar? What kind of noble are you supposed to be, Valliere?"

Appreciative snickers were her in the room. Louise looked as if she was struck. And the familiar –

From their angle, Kirche and Tabitha were one of the very few who got a good look at the familiar's face contort first into dark fury, and then something else. Tabitha was willing to bet that only the two of them could place what the second expression was.

"Oh," Kirche said, as she inevitably arrived at the same conclusion as Tabitha: the calm look of a battle-hardened combat veteran, perhaps an instant away from going all-out. "That's...not good. We should stop –"

"Hey, crappy mutt," they heard the familiar say in a low tone. "I heard what you said, and I can't ignore that. But you know what? I can be gracious. You have five seconds to prepare yourself before I move on to kicking your face in."

Guiche actually gaped at the familiar for a long moment. Then he burst into laughter. "Y-you!? Am I hearing this right? You, a commoner, is challenging me to a duel?" He chortled again, and then said, "Very well! Name the time and place!"

"Didn't you hear me?" the family softly replied. "Here. Now."

Tabitha grabbed her staff.

The resulting crash was louder than it had any right to be. The action that led up to it was probably a blur to anyone but Tabitha herself. Even she could barely catch everything, but she had succeeded in conjuring a wall of pure ice, thicker than a dictionary, in between the familiar and Guiche. That had taken two spell layers, one of water and one of wind; the last layer of water seeped the ice firmly into the floor and a part of the table proximate to the confrontation. It was a trick she knew she needed, lest the force simply tilt the ice wall over to crush Guiche underneath its weight.

So of course the man's kick simply punched a hole through it.

In the end, Tabitha felt almost insulted that the man actually halted himself just short of Guiche's face, not because the wall stopped him but simply because someone attempted to intervene. This was not to say, however, that Guiche wasn't hurt. Before Tabitha's sharp eyes, the boy raised a trembling hand to his cheek and then brought it away.

Blood. His cheek must've been sliced by a shard of ice blasted out by the man's foot.

Guiche moaned in fright and staggered back, falling onto his butt and nearly taking a stunned Montmorency with him. The familiar shot him a contemptuous look before neatly chambering his leg and turning to the blue-haired girl with a fond smile on his face. "Tabitha-chan, right? Did you want me to stop? That –" he indicated to the ice wall – "that was you, right?"

"Vestri Court," Tabitha found herself answering.

At the man's blink, Kirche smoothly covered for her. "Fights aren't allowed in the Dining Hall." This wasn't the whole truth. Duels between nobles technically weren't allowed at all, though there were no provisions for duels between a noble and a commoner. "Tabitha was only suggesting that you two move to the Court since it's the nearest open field." In addition, suggesting that a battlefield must be prepared also opened tangent of suggesting that the participants should be prepared as well, which allowed Guiche to bow out for the time being still alive and pride relatively intact. Kirche achieved this by saying, "But since Guiche's injured already, why don't you postpone the duel for a few days so that you can both fight at full strength?" What Guiche was going to do when the time was up, however, was his problem. Tabitha wasn't going to help further on a mess he got himself into. "Well? How about it, you two?" Kirche completed, beaming at them both with her usual, if lecherous, grin. Tabitha thought she detected a slight wariness to her, however, that wasn't there before – understandable after that display of raw strength the familiar had shown. On the other hand, she also thought Kirche's look at the familiar had gone up a notch in the genuine respect department.

"Anything you suggest, my lady," the familiar said with a bow.

But surprisingly, Guiche said, "No."

He's an idiot.

"Guiche!" Montmorency exclaimed, but the boy shook his head at her.

"I-I cannot back down now. I raised this issue, so on my title as a n-noble I am honour-bound to resolve this." Guiche looked at the familiar squarely, and added, "B-besides, there's no point in delaying the inevitable, is there?"

Stunned silence was all that could be heard in the room. Many students looked shaken, some on the verge of crying.

"Well," the familiar said, and Tabitha thought she could hear a faintly approving tone in his voice, "it looks like you've a little bit of a real man in you, after all. Lead the way, will you?"