Over the course of just one week my familiar became tall and beautiful. This obviously wasn't a problem. After all, it's not like there was anything inherently wrong with her doing so. It wasn't a crime per say. I myself am due a large growth spurt any day now, so it would be ridiculous of me to get upset at her for something I would soon do myself.

Utterly ridiculous.

I'm not upset.

At all.

But, it was hardly some kind of achievement, either. After all there was only a full head's difference between us. That was nothing at all. It would be incredibly petty of me to be upset just because she happened to tower over me. I was a good master, after all. My family pedigree was impeccable, and my education second to none. There were many things I had that Raphtalia didn't, so why should I be upset about a mere handspan or two?

"I don't need you looming over me." I told her very reasonably and patiently. "Stand back a little, you don't need to be at my shoulder."

For some reason Raphtalia looked faintly annoyed as she stepped away and pouted, quite childishly. That wasn't such a strange thing to ask, was it? It was a warm day after all. I didn't need to be crowded.

Speaking of crowds, a certain large breasted and shameless woman was standing on my other side, and she was smirking in quite an ugly manner. "Do you need me to stand back too, Louise? I imagine a little creature like you must have felt quite intimidated standing in between us." I gritted my teeth at the grating sound of her chuckle."Why, compared to the two of us you really do look like a very young child." She raised an arm, causing her fat bosom to wobble, and held her hand over my head as if measuring my height.

"The thought never even occurred to me." I told her with perfect honesty. "Only a small minded barbarian would pay so much attention to something so trivial. Now go away. You're making me far too warm." I went to dig my elbow into her abdomen, but she ducked away with a laugh.

Ever since our familiars began hunting together, Kirche had seen fit to inflict her presence upon me, like an unwelcome tick. She even waited to greet us at our door on a few mornings, like this one. I had no clue why. Just because Raphtalia seemed to get along with Flame, that didn't mean either of us should have to associate with that slovenly degenerate.

"Oh, look." Kirche pointed as we emerged into the hall for breakfast. "Tabitha saved seat for us."

I don't believe that she did. I doubt the small circle of available chairs around the tiny bluehead were there because she reserved them for us. Rather, it seemed to me that the hall was mostly empty, and people didn't usually want to sit next to someone so unsociable when there were other choices available.

"Well, why don't you go and enjoy breakfast with her, then while Raphtalia and I-"

I was interrupted by a pair of hands being placed on my shoulders, and I was steered quite forcefully towards Tabitha. With Raphtalia at one shoulder and Kirche at the other, I was quite helpless to resist, so for the sake of my dignity I didn't. It wouldn't do to be dragged kicking and screaming across the hall, after all.

"Really, there's no need to man handle me." I tugged my way free of them before sitting. "Especially you Raphtalia. That's no way to treat someone."

She just smiled at me, no doubt very pleased with herself. Now that she had finished growing, she was eating normal meal portions and would have managed to look quite refined while doing so, if it wasn't for her outlandish outfit. At some point we were going to have to visit the capital again to get better clothes tailored for her, but for the meantime she'd been borrowing small clothes from Kirche to get by and walking about dressed like she expected to enter a fight at any moment.

Across from us a pair of boys were whispering to each other and ogling Raphtalia. It was obvious why. Even if her chest wasn't quite as large as Kirche, Raphtalia was still quite a beauty. Also, unlike Kirche, she didn't have the reputation of being a squealing sow. She looked and behaved quite maidenly, which combined with her exotic origins to make all the boys start drooling over her. Especially the first years, like those two.

One of them got up approached us, doing his best to swagger handsomely, despite the fact he was a good few fingers shorter than her.

"Good morning, ladies." He smiled at us, but it was obvious his attention was on Raphtalia. "I was just wondering if you had anyone to accompany you to the Familiar Exhibition?"

Raphtalia opened her mouth to answer, but I prevented her by reaching over to hold her forearm.

"Yes, she does." I glared at him. "Now go away."

He wandered away, shooting dark looks at me while he did.

"That was mean." Raphtalia began to scold me, but I would have none of it.

"Men are all wolves, Raphtalia."

Kirche snorted at that for some reason.

"What's so funny?" I demanded.

"As if you would know anything about men." Kirche smirked at me.

"Yes, well not all of us should be quite as experienced as you, Zerbst, and I should say that's a good thing." I turned back to Raphtalia. "Besides, you're not even thirteen. It's far too soon for you to be thinking of boys."

Raphtalia looked pouty. "I would be considered an adult in my own world, you know."

"Well, that's there and this is here." I pointed out quite reasonably. "And no one will ever want to marry you if you're reputation is bad." I tilted my head towards Kirche.

"You think so poorly of me, don't you?" Kirche shook her head sadly.

"That's because you behave poorly. Remember, Raphtalia, ill deeds speak of an ill character."

She frowned at me. "Ill deeds like speaking so cruelly about your only friend?"

"Hm? Who?" I saw her eyes move to Kirche, then back to me. "What made you think that we're friends?"

"She seems to be the only person here who chooses to spend time with you, despite your sharp tongue." What kind of strange argument was that? "Maybe if you were nicer to others you might have more friends among your classmates."

"That has nothing to do with why we're not friends." I glowered.

"It has at least something to do with it." Kirche contradicted me, and I glared at her.

"Why else would they choose to ignore you?" Raphtalia pressed. "You know you have a very soft side. If more people got to see how caring you can be then they would-"

"The reason I treat them harshly is because they started it!" I realised I'd been raising my voice to her and lowered it. "You've heard them call me Zero, haven't you? Did you think that was a compliment? It was because I-" I stopped, closing my mouth and looking away. There was no way I could tell Raphtalia about my failure, not when she looked up to me so often. "Just… I think I want to eat by myself."

I gathered my dishes and moved to an empty seat a table away. Though it wasn't ladylike, I ate in a hurry and left almost right away.

Sulking? I would never do that. We just happened to not have classes that day, and I enjoyed the view from the top of the Void Tower. It wasn't like I needed to be there for the familiar exhibition. Raphtalia was perfectly capable of casting some kind of illusion without my direction.

I enjoyed the peace for a moment as the wind tousled my hair. The lush green fields of Tristain rolled around me in every direction, bordered by mountains in the far distance to the north and forests in the east. The charming scenery and refreshing breeze helped me to calm, and I soon realised I'd grown unfairly emotional when addressing Raphtalia.

Whatever Kirche claimed, I'd done nothing to deserve the treatment I'd received from her. For years since I first arrived here she'd taunted me at every opportunity, even taking time out of her schedule to single me out and bully me, both alone and as part of a crowd. Maybe if she was willing to apologise and do my best to treat her politely, but there was no way I'd make such considerations for such a repulsive brute. Whatever my lack of talent in magic might be, that was no excuse for her to treat me so cruelly in our first year.

The Familiar Exhibition played out below me, and I remained atop the tower, uninterested. There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs behind me, and I looked over my shoulder to see my familiar approaching.

"Ah, there you are." She smiled with relief when she saw me. "Siesta said she saw you climb the Void Tower, but I had no idea which ones that was, so I've had to climb three of them." I noticed that she didn't seem to be breathing much harder, despite all that. She joined me in looking over the edge and grumbled. "Why does an academy need so many towers?"

"There's one for each magic attribute." I explained after a moment. "And then there's the academy itself."

Raphtalia blinked at me in confusion. "...But there's only five towers."

"Yes. One for each attribute."

"There's a lot more than just five attributes when it comes to magic." Raphtalia shook her head.

Oh, this was another one of her foreign world things. "You said mana was different in your world, didn't you? There may be many in your world, but here there is only fire, air, earth, water, and void."

LANGUAGE SAMPLE COLLECTING COMPLETE.

…

TRANSLATION COMPLETE.

A little notification popped up into view, informing me that my Heroic Weapon was satisfied it understood Tristanian now. Maybe now it could at last tell me what an 'error' mage was? With a wave of my fingers the menu appeared in my view.

LOUISE FRANÇOISE LE BLANC DE LA VALLIÈRE

LVL 21

HERO OF THE VOID

"…Brimr's balls."

AN: Updates will hopefully be picking up in speed in the near future.