Familiar Of Zero: Saving Grace
I do not own Familiar Of Zero
Hello again to everyone reading my story, and thank you to the people that have left me reviews.
*Action*
"Dialogue"
'Inner thoughts'
{Saito's other Inner Voice}
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Chapter Thirty-Seven
Fitting In
Saito, Guiche, Gimli, Reynold, and Malicorne are all sitting at a table in the dining hall at the academy.
The room was actually surprisingly empty.
They were discussing battle tactics.
Tiffania was on the floor above at a table overlooking the area where Saito and the Ondine knights were at. She was watching Saito and admiring him from afar.
Aimee and Guinevere were at a table on the first floor where they could conveniently watch both Saito and Tiffania.
Siesta was also standing nearby Saito and listening to him speaking to the others.
"So. What I am trying to say is that I want to change the typical tactics that mages use in fighting."
Reynold shifts his glasses slightly.
"What exactly do you mean Saito?" Reynold asks in earnest.
"Well, think about usual mage battle occur. Most of the time mages will be at a distance from each other and throw spells at each other. Then in some instances you have mages that do have some fighting capability, but still rely on that tactic. For example, we had the fight between Colbert and Menneville."
A swarm of feelings of sadness and anger from that event rise up within all of the students.
"Menneville was very strong, and even had some fighting ability, but even he relied on the usual tactic of standing at a distance and throwing spells."
"But isn't that just how it is done?" says Gimli as he runs his hand through his green hair.
"Typically, yes." Saito says in response.
"But we have people like you, Saito, who are there for the close combat." Adds Guiche.
"That's right, and the support mages aren't there for fighting either. They stay at a safer distance and cast spells to help the group." Malicorne cheerfully adds.
"You forget Guiche. I can also cast magic. I can not only use my spells in close combat, but also at a distance. I can switch positions. What would happen if you got separated from the group and ended up fighting someone like me or Wardes? He was also a mage that was good at close combat. You need a plan B."
"B as in Barricade?" Asks Malicorne.
Saito puts his hand to his face and chuckles to himself.
'William Shatner would be laughing his ass off right now if he heard that.' Saito thinks.
"No Malicorne, not a barricade. A backup plan. You need tactics to switch to if your usual ones don't work. It's great to have a specialty, but you need to be able to work in any situation."
"So that is why you want us to learn to fight with a sword as well." Reynold says to Saito.
"That's right. You need to think outside of the box that you know of."
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to learn. Besides, the chicks really seem to dig your fighting prowess with a sword."
Saito puts his face in his hand and shakes his head.
'I guess I should have seen that coming.' Saito inwardly scoffs.
Tiffania watches everyone interacting with Saito.
'He truly is such an amazing person. I fall in love with him even more every time I see him. I really hope I can convince the others to accept my love for him. I also need to know if he cares about me like he does the others as well.'
She watches him make some hand gestures while talking to Guiche and the others.
'He is working so hard with Ondine knights. I can't imagine that it would be easy to get people understand his way of thinking, but he makes it look so easy.'
She sighs.
'He hides his problems well from everyone it seems. He really needs to talk to the others before it really becomes a bigger issue. I bet he would feel a lot better if he talked to them. He can't keep bottling this up inside and only coming to me for comfort. I can tell that it is wearing him down.'
Another student appears in front of her, blocking her view from Saito. He is holding a gift box in his hand.
"Hello Tiffania. Please accept this gift from me." The student says as he holds out the gift to her.
Another student comes over and does the same thing.
"Please accept mine as well."
And the a couple more students appear around her as well.
This gets noticed by not only Saito, but the two musketeers as well.
'She has really gotten popular quick around here.' He muses for a moment.
One of the men pulls out a hat and offers it to her.
"Please accept this new hat. I think this one would look even more beautiful on you than the hat you are wearing."
She starts looking around frantically.
'I can't let them see my ears. I need a way out of this.'
Aimee and Guinevere notice this and casually get up from their position and head for the steps. Aimee puts a hand on the hilt of her sword.
A blond haired student with twin pigtails walks down the hallway towards Tiffania, and she followed by three other girls. One of the three girls has green hair, another has reddish colored hair, and another one has dirty blond hair.
'Crap this isn't a good situation at all. I might have to do something before this gets out of hand.
After noticing everything unfolding, Saito looks over to Guiche.
"Pardon me. I just remembered something that I needed to do. We shall have to continue this another time."
Guiche twirls his rose around.
"Ah. Very well. I guess we can let you go this time." Guiche says to him with a slightly exaggerated tone.
"It's not like we could really tell you no." Adds Reynold.
"Thanks guys."
Saito turns around to catch a glimpse of the situation just to see Tiffania holding onto her hat as she runs away from the table.
"I'm fine. Please excuse me. I'm sorry."
All of the students around the table get a look of rejection after she leaves the table.
Tiffania rushes by the girls that were walking down the hallway toward her while holding onto her hat and looking down.
The blond haired girl looks over her shoulder at Tiffania.
The other three girls turn around to watch Tiffania go down the hallway.
"How rude."
"Does she realize who she just passed by?"
"She didn't even look up to acknowledge her."
After noticing one crisis slightly diverted for now, Saito goes over to the musketeers with Siesta not too far behind. They were about to take off after Tiffania.
"Wait you two." He says softly to them.
"Yes Saito?" Guinevere asks.
"You can't get worked up that easily."
Aimee gets a puzzled look on her face and responds back.
"But the situation could have gotten bad."
"I understand Aimee, but you can't let your cover get blown either. I am also here. You can rely on me to help out."
"Thanks Saito. Shouldn't we go find her?" Guinevere asks.
"Yeah. Let's go do that."
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Back at the Palace.
Henrietta sits at a table in the courtyard with Agnes standing nearby.
There's a cup of tea in front her that she hasn't even touched.
Henrietta lets out a sigh as she puts her elbow on the table and leans her head on her hand.
"What's wrong your highness?"
"I miss him."
"Oh."
She gets back off of her hand and turns to Agnes.
"Don't you miss him too?"
Agnes slumps her shoulders.
"Yes. Yes I do, but he has been on the go a lot."
"And now he is at the academy. It is such a big to do whenever I decide to go there."
"It would be easier if he just had a place of his own, and then there wouldn't be such a hoopla."
Henrietta perks up after hearing that.
"That's a great idea Agnes!"
"What?"
"He needs a place of his own."
"But how?"
"I'm sure there has to be some kind of land available. I just have to find out."
"But how would you justify him getting it?"
Henrietta puts a hand to her chin.
"Well."
She shrugs.
"I'll come up with something."
Agnes puts her hand to her face.
Henrietta smiles and giggles at her.
"My queen?"
"You know that you don't have to call me that when we are alone."
"I know, but I am too used to doing it this way."
"Anyway. What's on your mind?"
"I am worried about your cousin and her involvement with Saito."
"Why is that?"
"She seems a little too attached to him."
"A lot of people seem pretty attached to him." The queen states.
"I think that she has feelings for him like the way that we do."
"She asked me how I would feel if somebody else wanted to become a part of our group. I have also seen them get together in the middle of the night when I was at her cabin."
This takes the queen a little by surprise, but not entirely.
"Well I can honestly say that it wouldn't surprise me if she did have feelings for him."
"You would be okay if she wanted to be part of our group?" Agnes asks in shock.
"It would spread him a little thinner, but I did say that he could have mistresses. If I didn't allow that, then you and Siesta would have been left behind."
Agnes stands down a little bit.
'She's right. I would still be only painfully admiring him from a distance.'
"But what about the fact that she is your cousin? Wouldn't that bother you?"
Henrietta looks at Agnes.
"Have you forgotten? I was in love with prince whales."
"And he was also a cousin of yours." Agnes admits.
Henrietta nods.
Agnes crosses her arms.
"I am still bothered by the whole idea of adding another. I am not a fan of sharing him."
"I see your point Agnes, but give it some thought. She was the one that helped him heal after the big battle."
"I will because you asked, . . . Hen . . . . Henrietta."
The queen smiles at her.
"The main thing that is bothering me about this is that he is meeting her secretly. I told him that all he had to do was tell us about it. I should ask the other two what they think."
Agnes nods in agreement.
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Later on.
Saito and Siesta are walking across the commons.
"I really hope she is going to be all right here. This is a lot for her to take on." He says to the maid sincerely.
"You really care about her don't you?"
He nods his head.
"I owe her a lot, especially for everything that she did for me after that battle. She is also a good person as well."
"She certainly is. She was really nice to us back at her cabin considering that we pretty much just barged in on her. She also helped you out without even knowing you. She seems really attached to you." The maid points out.
"You think so?"
Siesta nods.
"Women notice these things."
"Well. It's probably just because I am her first friend in god knows long long."
'I wonder if that is all.' The maid thinks.
Just then he sees Tiffania backing up from a doorway.
"You are being rude." The girl from before with green says to Tiffa.
"I don't understand." Tiffania says in response with confusion.
"This is Beatrice Evonne Von Guldenhorf, princess from the Grand Duchy of Guldenhorf." Says the girl with dirty blond hair.
"A princess?"
"You get to be in the same class as her and you haven't even properly introduced yourself."
"I'm sorry your highness." Tiffania says to the blond haired princess apologetically.
Beatrice has her hands on her hips and giving Tiffania a stern look.
"You call that an apology. At least take that dirty hat of yours off first." The princess says to her.
Tiffania grabs onto her hat wearily.
"But. . "
"I said Take of that hat." The princess reiterates.
Saito briskly walks over to them.
'Great. Beatrice is involved. I barely met her myself, but I was told about her from Henrietta.'
He walks over and stands in front of Tiffania.
"Saito De Chevalier De Hiraga. What do you think you are doing?" Beatrice asks.
"Princess Guldenhorf, this is an institution for education. This is not a place for bullying, and that is exactly what the four of you are doing."
She stands there with a smug look on her face and is about to say something to Saito.
"Princess Guldenhorf. It is so good to see you." Guiche says to her as he nervously walks up to her.
"Hello Mr. Gramont. It's been a while."
"That frown on your face is ruining your beautiful eminence."
She blushes from the compliment.
"But. . "
He leans over and whispers into her ear.
"A mature lady such as yourself would just ignore something as trivial as this."
She blushes a little more.
"Perhaps you have a point." She says back to him.
She turns away from everyone.
"It's fine. Let's go."
The three girls look at her in shock.
"But. . . " The green haired girl starts to say.
"I said it's fine."
Before they walk away, Beatrice turns and points at Tiffania.
"I'm letting you go today, but I expect you to take off that hat next time."
She turns to walk away and starts laughing. The tree other girls follow her and mimic the laugh.
'I swear. That laugh reminds me of Naga from Slayers. She certainly doesn't have Naga's chest size though.' Saito thinks to himself.
Guiche lets out a sigh of relief after they walk away, and Saito turns to him.
"What was that all about Guiche.?"
"Don't get mad at me. I just helped diffuse that whole situation."
Saito holds up his hands defense.
"Alright Guiche."
"Anyway. She may be an underclassman of mine, but she is not someone that you want to have angry at you. She is not only rich and a princess, but she has her personal guards with her. Her guards are the Luft Panzer Ritter. They are the strongest knights in all of Halkeginia."
"They deployed a whole knight regiment for their daughter?"
Guiche nods.
"They are known for their ostentation." Guiche adds.
Saito's eyes get narrow and looks at Guiche.
"Like you."
"Don't look at me like that, I'm not that bad Saito. I just like to look cool."
"Hmph."
He looks over and gives Tiffania soft smile.
"You let me know if they keep giving you any trouble."
'Worst case scenario, I will have to go to Henrietta about this. Maybe I could have one of the musketeers get a letter to her. I am not going to let Tiffania get bullied around by some snobby noble.'
"But I can't keep troubling you Saito."
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The next day.
The queen is getting into her carriage.
"I can see that Princess Guldenhorf is going to be a problem. I guess I will have to go tell her to cease what she is doing."
Then she gets a goofy grin and then looks at Agnes.
"Plus we to go see Saito." She adds while looking at Agnes.
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Tiffania stands outside of the door to the classroom wearing her normal clothes and a brown elven robe that belonged to her mother. The hood of the robe is up so that it covers her ears.
"I have to be strong like Saito. I can't be a bother to him any longer. No matter what it takes."
She takes a deep breath and lets it out.
She opens the door.
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Inside of the classroom.
The teacher, miss Chevreuse, was going through attendance.
"Miss Westwood?" She calls out.
"Is she absent?" One of the male students in her class says to another.
Beatrice sits smugly in her seat.
"Miss Westwood?" The teacher calls out again.
The door to the classroom opens up and Tiffania walks in. She stands in the front by the desk.
"Miss Westwood what are you wearing?" Miss Chevreuse asks in shock.
"This is a momento left by my mother."
"But wait. Only nomads wear clothes like that. Are you an . . . an . . "
Tiffania pulls down the hood and her long ears become revealed to everyone.
"An elf!" a student screams out.
Everyone, including the teacher, either run, or duck and hide under a desk in fear.
Tiffania holds out her hands to try to quell everyone.
"Wait! Everyone please calm down!" Tiffania calls out.
Beatrice sits behind her desk for a moment as she fumes.
'I can't forgive her. She's an elf and she became more popular than ME.' Beatrice thinks to herself.
"I just want to be friends with everyone!" Tiffania says while still trying to quell everyone's fear.
"You lie. No elf would do such a thing." The girl with the reddish hair declares.
Sadness strikes Tiffa's facial features.
"It's true. Elves and humans have been enemies for many years, but I am born from an elf and a human. So . . "
"So you're a half-elf. Then you need to prove which god you believe in." Beatrice tells her with a stern face.
"Huh." Is all that Tiffania could say before Beatrice called out again.
"Knights!"
The Luft Panzer Ritter knights burst in through the windows of the academy classroom and scare everyone in there.
"Arrest her. She is to undergo an inquisition."
The dragon knights grab onto her and take her away on their dragons.
They go outside, into the courtyard and drop her to the ground with a yelp.
"What is this?" Tiffa asks out of fear.
"I am a bishop, and I am giving you an inquisition."
Students start rushing in and forming a circle around the group.
Beatrice's three followers stand proudly nearby.
"You are going to need to prove your faith to me by going into a vat of boiling water. If you are a follower of Brimir, then he will keep you alive at the temperature that we put it at. If you can't do that, then you can just go back home and I will forget all of this."
"I refuse to go back home. I refuse to waste the opportunity that so many people helped me get. I also pity you that you feel that you have to do this." Tiffa says while shaking her head.
"This is crazy! Stop this at once!" Saito says from the side.
Lots of gasps are heard while students watch him walk inside of the circle and by Tiffania. His eyes are glowing dark blue.
Fear starts coming over Beatrice and she starts to sweat. She tries to steady herself though.
Guiche is off to the side with the rest of the Ondine knights.
"Everyone, be prepared. I don't wish to act upon Beatrice like this, but I will not let Saito do this alone. Although, I bet he probably could by the looks of it. He looks rather scary right now." Guiche admits.
Reynold nods his head with understanding.
Tabitha flies down next to Saito along with Siesta and Kirche.
Siesta reaches into the bow that is from her outfit in the back, but doesn't pull anything out.
"How dare you interrupt an inquiry?" Beatrice shouts out.
Louise steps away from Julio and into the circle as well.
Her arms are crossed as she stands in front of Beatrice.
"How can I help you Miss Valliere?" Beatrice asks with annoyance in her voice.
"Do you even have the authority to do this?"
"Of course I can. I have my license back home."
Louise narrows her eyes.
"You are a liar then."
"What! How?" Beatrice retorts.
"You can only perform an inquiry if you have the written permission from the Romalian head secretary, and you obviously don't have that."
Julio steps up as well.
"This is quite true. You have no authority to do this." He adds.
Beatrice's three followers start backing away in fear.
"That's not good." The green haired girl says to the others.
Beatrice takes a big gulp.
"What is the meaning of this?" Henrietta says while walking up with Osmond and the other musketeers next to her.
Everyone bows in her presence.
Saito lowers his guard and his eyes turn back to normal.
"This student was trying to perform an inquisition without the proper permission. This is quite a treasonous act." Julio says to the queen.
Henrietta glares at Beatrice.
"You dare try to perform an inquisition without having the proper permission." Henrietta says angrily.
Beatrice takes another gulp.
"I came here to inform you that she is now under my protection and that further actions toward her will not be tolerated. She is a student of this school."
Henrietta turns to Julio.
"I apologize for her behavior. Please do not reflect her actions upon Tristan itself. I wish to keep the peace between our countries so I ask how we should handle this situation."
Beatrice drops to her knees and awaits her possible fate.
"Perhaps we should ask Tiffania." Julio says to Tiffania.
Julio and Henrietta turn to face tiffania.
The blond haired elf slowly walks up to Beatrice and kneels down in front of her.
"I just want to be friends with everyone. She acted out of fear. Please don't be rash with her."
Beatrice starts balling hers eyes out and hugs Tiffania.
Julio and Henrietta both smile.
"I am satisfied with that for now, but her Bishop's license will have to be further discussed."
"Thank you for your leniency Mr. Chesare."
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A/N: Thank you for reading another chapter of my story.
My Kenichi: Not Just Her Disciple story is still at chapter 6
My Monster Musume: Drago's Quest story is still at chapter 2