The Lonely Princess
It's been a few days since her release from Planeptune General Hospital after completing her medical checkups, a member of the UK Royal Family; Lady Louise Windsor was currently walking on the sideways as she continues watching the futuristic buildings in awe.
Even though she was fully healed, the young princess hasn't been the same after being captured in Tokyo by the one who called themselves 'Saderan' during a joint-military visit from allied nations. Once they killed her guards, they captured her before pushing her and the rest of innocent people into the Gate, including her loyal bodyguard that survived. Ever since her appearance in the Special Region, they were transported to some port, which housed slaves from different races. Although she would be initially excited meeting some of them, at her current condition right now makes it impossible to greet with them nicely.
Months later, her loyal bodyguard protected her when one of the Saderan slavers tried to touch her by killing the slaver, only to be harshly beaten by the guards. Louise frantically screamed at her captors to stop before another one of them punched her hard in the face, knocking her unconscious. She doesn't know how much time was passed but when she wakes, she finds out she was in a room with the windows covered in curtains and wearing a hospital gown.
The first thought when waking up was to scream and tried to free herself before quickly being subdued by the nurses. She continues to resist until she was injected a sleeping dose and falls asleep. At least for a few hours until she screamed again and was forced the nurses to restrain her again until 3 people that she didn't recognize entered the room. Even then, she still cried.
It took some time but those two people calmed her down. Then after explaining their intentions and showing where she is currently, they introduced themselves as Guild Master Liam and the self-leader of 'Planeptune' Arfoire before leaving her room, likely to report to their superiors or something.
After being stuck in the hospital for days, Louise was finally left out by the doctors but not before they give her a wrist device like that woman but different design. Putting some 'credits' thought her device, which is their universal currency in Gamindustri and a civilian clothing. Since then, she was currently wandering around Planeptune while watching her surroundings in awe. She found it curious that many of these people equipped with different weapons, some of them are military-grade. Also, she hasn't saw a single non-human or even a black person on this world. Not that she was racist or anything like that.
Despite this beautiful world, she still hoping that one day she could go home back to her real world and reunite with her family back in the UK.
Just as Louise walks up on the floating disks (she still wondering how on earth they can make this possible) and walk towards one of the benches to rest, somebody bumped her from the front, causing her to fall down. As she recovers from the fall, she heard a girl's voice.
"Hey! Are you alright?!"
"Y… yeah. I'm fine." Louise weakly replied as she lifted her head up. She saw the woman is dressed in a deep-blue collar shirt with a pink tie, short denim shorts and a beige summer overcoat with blue patterns and linings. Also, she has green eyes of an emerald and a long blond hair that is tied into two bunches with red ribbons. Her clothing almost similar to those people that she saw wearing.
"I'm so sorry! I… didn't even see you!" Louise saw the woman's hand stretching out to her. "Here, let me help you up!" Although uneasy, she nonetheless accepted the stranger's help and grabs her hand, standing up from the ground before Louise dusted herself.
She then turns her head to the young woman. "Thanks. So… why did you bump into me all of the sudden?" Louise curiously asked.
"I… um. We…."
"Marie! There you are!"
The woman quickly turned her head around while Louise only looking straight through the woman's shoulders. She saw a hulking man wearing a business suit with a buzz-cut grey hair and a young man with a neon blue hair, wearing a blue hoodie and dark blue pants. He also wears some kind of a headphones. Maybe it just for music she guessed.
The two is passing through people as they run towards their direction. "Princess, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine and how many times I say that Halter! I'm not a princess anymore!"
"As you say… princess." Halter grinned at her, much to her annoyance.
While the woman Marie was arguing, Louise was confused for the both of them. The young man quickly saw the girl's confused face. "Hey, what with the weird face? Are you lost or something?"
Louise rubbed her shoulder. "Well… it's a long story."
Marie crossed her arms, smiling. "We have time. Why don't we go to the park? It isn't far from here and the military base that the Planeptune's CPU put there months ago is almost demolished… I think."
Louise just simply nodded as she followed them. Few minutes later, they arrived at the Planeptune National Park. For her, this park was beautiful and haven't seen any pieces of trash littering anywhere, unlike the parks in the UK. Aside of a demolished building that was near the entrance and a few ruined tents, this place was great for spending time alone or with everyone else. In fact, she saw a single family having a picnic in an empty field.
She kinda wished her own family was here though.
After a few minutes of strolling around the park, they finally found a bench that they could sit on with the exception of Halter, who remained to stand guard near the 3 as he looks around for any other people that could harm them.
"We never properly introduced ourselves to you by the way. My name is Marie Bell Breguet and my friend here is Naoto Miura." Marie gestured at Naoto, who smiled back at Louise. "And of course, this is my bodyguard Vainney Halter. We're residents from Lastation, east of here."
"My name is Louise Windsor; I'm pleased to meet you three." She introduced herself, though she kept her true identity a secret for the time being, not wanting to trust them just yet. "What brings you all here?"
"Meh. I wish I could spend my time with my wife and my daughter instead of joining Halter and this 'flesh-bag' here to a stupid Guild Quest."
Marie angrily responded by hitting his head with her fist. "Even after all these years, you still call me that?! You haven't changed at all Naoto Miura!"
"Ouch! I'm glad RyuZU isn't here to see this!" Naoto argued while holding his head in pain.
"Wait… didn't your bodyguard called you princess?" Louise curiously asked. "Are you part of a royal family in Lastation or something?"
"Huh?!" Marie feverously shook her hands. "No, no! It's not like that! You see, long story short. I was one of the richest family businesses in Lastation and one of those family are the Breguet Family. Meaning, they are my family and no, we're not royalty. I am one with the upper class like the rest… or at least was."
"Was? Did something happen to your family?"
Marie sadly looked down. "Yes. You see, The Breguet Family, like all upper class, have served Lastation for generations since its founding and us were loyal to the first CPU and the next. However, over the years, things slowly started to change within the upper class and started neglecting their workers, including mine. They even conclude that; since they contributed much more than their CPU, maybe they should control all of Lastation for themselves. The Avenir scandal and the ASIC-Citizen's Group Remnant conflict only encouraged them."
"What happened after that?"
"The Dark Purple Crisis happened. After the attack on Planeptune's capital, the upper class rebelled against CPU Black Heart by joining with the Rogue Ancient CPU and other rebellious groups from the 3 nations." Naoto explained to Louise.
"Hang on. What are these CPUs? You sound like they are a person than a hardware."
"They are, which it's weird to me by the way." Naoto replied. "Except there are not just an ordinary person, they are goddesses. Did you live under a rock or something?"
Louise widened her eyes in surprise. A goddess? Named after an electronic computer chip? Controlling each nation? She wouldn't believe it, even if that head doctor explained to her a few times during her stay in the hospital. Yet… this world is filled with a combination of magical and futuristic technologies that should belong into a fiction story.
"I'm sorry but… I don't actually live here. In fact, I never lived in this world." Louise weakly confessed.
"What?!" Naoto exclaimed. "Then… are you from..."
Louise nodded as she begun to recount her story to them. On how she attended to a military-joint exercise to observe before she got kidnapped by the people that called themselves 'Saderans' and pushed into the Gate where they originated in. Once arrived in the Special Region, they were moved to a medieval port and treated harshly by their captors. They felt a twitch of pain when her loyal bodyguard was beaten almost close to death while she watched helplessly.
Marie clasped her hand over her mouth, her expression sympathetic. "I'm so sorry that you have to go through that, especially your bodyguard. I would be in your situation if something happens to Halter."
"Aww. Feeling worried about me?" Her bodyguard gave a smirk.
"Can it Halter!"
"So…" Naoto coughed, not wanting to be interrupted. "… You said that one of the captors punched you in the face, what happened after that?"
Louise continued her tale by waking up in a hospital room before screaming her lungs out. She continued to do that until those nurses injected something into her arm, making her sleep. Although she stops screaming after a while, it didn't ease her crying until Arfoire and Liam calmed her down and began questioning her before briefly explaining some stuff to her, including this world. Before they left her room, she asked for their names before telling them her full name.
"… Since then, I wandered around this city, hoping to find any answers about my predicament. That's where you bumped to me and you know the rest." Louise finished.
"Darn. I only heard from the Nepstation news those Saderans butchering and kidnapping people during the invasion but I didn't imagine they could go that far. Not even those noble bastards would dare cross that line."
"That's terrible!" Marie gasped. "You and those other people deserve to be free like anyone else, even they are not humans! Not becoming slaves to those… those disgusting pigs that treated you as trash!"
Naoto agreed with his female friend. Even though he despises humans that always abandoned or bullied him and prefer caring for automatas instead, he would never rob someone else's freedom, no matter if they are humans, automatas or non-humans. Whoever does that is a scum in his eyes.
"If I remember right, my school taught me that there was once slavery in the 2nd Gamindutri Era." Naoto started. "But after that Dark Era, the True Goddess made slavery non-existent and the law is strictly enforced by the current CPUs. Nowadays, its illegal to do that."
"Well, in our world, slavery is gone after a few centuries but it never truly died. Some of them still exist in the modern society, just… in different practices." Louise said.
"Wait… don't you have a ruling deity in your world that could enforce those rules? To stop them from doing it again?" Marie asked.
Louse gave a disappointing shook. "I wish that was the case. We don't have an actual deity in our world like yours. In my world, any government is controlled by a group of people; the representative of their people's will so like me could have a large voice for anybody to hear rather than a deity. Though there are some governments who controlled by a few people or a single person but I doubt they are a representative of the people."
"Isn't that the same goal those rich bastards were achieving?"
"Excuse me?"
"I mean what Halter said is those upper class we mentioned before have this goal of ruling the Lastation's nation by themselves rather than their CPU. They wanted to enforce their own rules that benefit them the most rather than the people, which the CPU have the responsibility to protect them."
"That's sounds like a dictatorship." Louise muttered.
"Afterwards, I can't just stay in my home and watch the nation I know and love burn. We decided to rebel my family and those upper class by joining with CPU Black Heart and the other CPUs that afforded assistance to help us. Thanks to them, Lastation is safe and saved the world! But… after the Dark Purple Crisis, those upper class were sentenced to life imprisonment, including my family. I was the only family member left loyal to the CPU."
"I'm sorry…."
But Marie shrugged her shoulders. "Its fine Louise, they never loved me from the start anyway. Only seeing me as a tool for them. Because of my role in the Crisis, Lady CPU Black Heart rewarded me and Halter a hero's welcome. To show my sincere, I surrendered all of my family property to the people that my family been abused for years."
"What about your family's fortune?"
"She did offer to transfer my family's fortune to me but I refused, fearing I would become like my family. Instead, I gave it all away to her to rebuild Lastation. As for me, I used the last of my family's fortune to buy a large apartment in Clockwork City. Since then, we joined the Guild for some adventure in the outside world, as well to pay for our apartment of course."
"Why give it up though? Surely you missed being a rich girl and all that?"
"And staying in my rich home and write paperwork all day and night? I refuse!" Marie huffed, causing Naoto to silently snicker. "And besides, what's the point of having so much money if I have everything I want after I was born. No… I want something more than that. I want freedom of adventure without someone telling me what do to and what I want."
Louise couldn't help but smile. In fact, she felt a little envious of them. Ever since she was born, she never got the chance for a normal childhood. Her parents were very much strict during her young age and never got to interact with other children near her home. Sure, she was happy that got the chance to talk with her new classmates when her parents sent her to an independent preparatory school but most of them only talk to her because of her status as one of the members of the British Royal Family.
"Speaking of the Guild, are you interested to joining with us? We're doing a guild quest in Planeptune since in Lastation's guild is overwhelmed and we are not interested doing some tedious farming mobs for important items." Marie smiled at Louise.
"I would love to accompany you but I am neither a fighter or a magician." Louise stated.
"That's fine with me. You could always be an observer if you want. The sooner I finish the quest with this meat-bag, the sooner I can be with RyuZU and AnchoR back in the apartme… Ouch! That hurts!"
After leaving the Planeptune National Park, the 4 of them went to the Planeptune's Registration Center building first to register Louise as a citizen of Planeptune by law before she can be registered as a guild member. Although it took almost an hour to finish the interview, though Louise was careful not to tell about her true identity towards her interviewers, she finally got her National ID. Afterwards, the group are now headed towards the Guild HQ, which was rebuilt after the Battle of Planeptune.
While waiting for her application to be confirmed by her 3 companions, Louise saw two young Guild members fighting each other in the training room though the transparent glass, using different kind of magics. She was fascinated about it and wondered how they got those magics in the first place. She later made a mental note to herself to talk with Marie about it though.
After getting her face pictured and interviewed again (albeit a short one), she finally received her Guild license. She puts the card alongside with her National ID to her wallet, which Marie brought her during their walk towards the agency building while her papers were currently kept by Halter at Louise's request. Also, she received a free magical staff after she told to the interviewer that she wanted to be a wizard when she was a child before. However, the interviewer also warned her that should the staff either be damaged or permanently broken, Louise had to fix it or buy a new one like everyone else and the reason she gave the staff because she saw potential in her.
With all said and done, they decided to rest for a while by sitting on a nearby bench.
"Phew! Waiting in line sure sucks." Naoto tiredly complained.
"But at least we helped getting Louise both the ID and the guild license. This way, she could be allowed to come with us in a guild quest legally, except in higher dungeons obviously." Naoto turned her head at Louise. "So… are you sure you wanted to be a wizard?"
"Yes." Louise replied while testing her wand. "I always wanted to be wizard. At least, that's what I wanted to be after reading magic novels when I was younger. I just never expected to become one myself." She then looks at the trio. "By the way, thanks for the cards you guys. If it was me, I think it would take much longer. I'm glad this is over. It's just tiring to walk and waiting in line."
"Not yet though. You need some equipment to help you fight and support yourself at the same time. Otherwise, you're just a walking meat to the monsters." Maire stated. "Luckily for us, there's one near the cafeteria. Let's go!"
They made their way inside the General Store, where the 4 of them grabbed a couple of healing potions, ammunitions and accessories from the shelves before heading to the counter. To her confusion, the girl from the counter is strangely resemble from the one that they met earlier. She talked about it with Marie and, much to her complete shock, that this girl on the counter and that other girl were androids, created by the goddesses to serve Gamindustri and its people. As of today, the majority of workload in this world rests upon the androids, with the exception of specific jobs and private businesses unless they want to.
Louise then step towards the counter and paid the equipment by scanning an QR Code through her wrist device, with the help of Marie. Afterwards, they exited the store while their equipment was carried by Halter in a plastic bag, much to his annoyance.
"Now that we done with the shopping, we should practice your fighting abilities Louise." Marie then raised her eyebrow at her. "You do know how to fight right?"
"I don't know how to fight since my parents never allow me to, let alone using magic since I always thought it as a fairytale." Louise then remembered about the two guild members using magics against each other. "That reminds me, how do you people use magic in this world? I saw those two people clashing each other with different spells. Is this common?"
"Yep!" Marie cheerfully answered. "It's complicated to explain since I am not a historian but I'll give the basics, all of us Gamindustrians have magic since the end of 2nd Gamindustri Era. Back then, the True Goddess restricted magic only to the first CPUs and the exception to a small group of people who are loyal to the CPUs to protect her creations. After the Dark Purple War, the True Goddess freely allowed magic towards her creations so that the incident won't happened ever again. Despite that gift though, they don't get develop magic until they trained either by themselves or from somebody else."
"I see…."
"But thanks to our current CPUs deities, we have several schools on each nation that could basically teach on how to survive in this world, including the use of magic. Even then, they have to teach by themselves right after graduation. Thankfully, they also funded public libraries for them to learn. There's even a 'Guild Section' there where you put your journals you written during your adventures, so that new adventurers like you would read them."
"Wow. I wish I would be an adventurer just like you three, just to see the world. But my family would never approve of me going into a dangerous adventure if they found out."
"Huh?" Marie and Naoto rose their eyebrows at Louise.
Seeing their confusion, Louise waved her hand in dismissal. "Never mind about it. It's nothing." She then changed the subject. "Anyhow, where are we going next?"
"Next is we're going to the 2nd floor. I heard that some people from Lowee built some kind of a training dome for new guild members." Halter replied from behind. "Maybe it was a response after the Battle of Planeptune because if I remember it right, this dome is reserved for militaries only. Its better that we have to see it for ourselves though."
"Not yet though. We still need to help Louise summon her spells in battle. Luckily, I brought several spell books for Louise to use and these are basics for new magic users." Marie pulled a yellow book from the plastic bag. "Here, catch!"
Louise barely managed to grab the book on time before looking at it. Front of the book has a symbol of a phoenix, spreading its wings.
"That book is a restoration spell book." Marie grabs a chocolate bar from her pocket and biting it. "Meaning, it's basically a healing spell where you can heal yourself and others too. Restoration can also fortify your whole body and you can even create a ward that blocks any types of magic. Just be careful if you're fighting a stronger magic user."
"Got it." Louise nodded and begun reading the book's contents even as they are now in an escalator.
In the 2nd floor of the Guild Headquarters, Marie, Halter, and Louise entered the dome, which is called "Lowee Battle Simulator" by the Loweeians. Naoto meanwhile, volunteered to stay outside as a referee. As his friends entered the dome, Naoto quickly head towards a terminal connected to the dome and started to click some buttons. Inside, the interior begun to change into a crystal landscape around them. The floor that they were standing on were changed into a sheet of crystal as well, something that amazed Louise.
"Wow… this is a simulator and yet, it feels as if we are in a different world!"
"Lowee may not be an advanced as Planeptune and Leanbox, but their engineers sure have some talents I give them that." Halter replied as he moves his shoulders. "Just remember though, this world isn't real. This is just a simulation; you can change the environment as you wish.
"Like those weird creatures in front of us?"
Louise pointed her finger towards the 3 gelatin monsters, who had the appearance of a cute dog and they are advancing by jumping towards them.
"Yep! Halter!"
"Got it princess." Halter tilts his glasses before sprinting towards the dogoos. Before the creatures could attack, the man uppercuts them in one fell swoop and then punching them back into the ground. They soon dissolved into data particles, leaving no trace.
"That's… that's amazing!" Louise excited said.
"Heh. We're not done yet."
"Huh?" As she said those words, she looks around her, only to find many dogoos surrounding them at all sides. Louise grasps her wand tightly while Halter went back to Marie's side before they initiated their battle stance together.
"Alright, I'll take the right. Halter you're in the front. Louis…." Marie turned around, only to see her standing around looking at the dogoos. She then shouted her name, which got the young teen turned her head towards Marie in panic. "I need you to be focus okay? They may not real but they can still hurt you if you aren't careful."
Louise nodded before turning her head back and looking firmly at the gooey creatures, who are slowly advancing towards her. Remembering the interviewer's words before, she moves her staff, which it lets out a small fireball that hits a dogoo randomly and soon dissolved into data particles like the previous 3. Excited that she managed to kill a virtual creature for the first time, she moves her staff repeatably again and more fireballs coming from it before they hit all of the dogoos one by one until they disappeared from her left.
"Wow! Nice one Louise!" Marie congratulated her as she shoots the last of the dogoos from her right by shooting it with her clockwork gun while keeping her eyes towards her. "Keep at it!"
"You'll get to be a real wizard someday." Halter remarked as he hits a dogoo with his fists.
"How did you get so strong Mr. Halter?" She asked as she watched Halter punching another dogoo, sending the small creature so far that it quickly disintegrates upon hitting a crystal pillar.
"I totally forgot. Halter is a mechanized human made by my family after he died. In short, he's an android now!" Marie quickly explained as she shoots another one. After surviving 3 waves of dogoos with the giant dogoo act as the last boss, Marie finishes the last dogoo with her gun. Shortly afterwards, a monitor appeared on top of them and bold letters appeared, saying 'Simulation Complete!'. Then, the screen changes into a list of scores with their names appeared as one of the top 10. "Alright!"
"Damn… I thought we were in the 1st place." Halter said in a disappointing tone before he tilts his glasses. "Then again, we were only fighting in easy mode. Had we fighting in hard mode, we would be a different story."
"Yeah but that wasn't why are here. We're just helping training Louise here." Marie looked at her friend with a smile as she crossed her arms. "By the way Louise, good job! We make a great team back there." Maire gave her a thump's up.
"Thank you all for the compliment. I…." Before Louise could finish, she suddenly kneels in the crystal floor in exhaustion with her holding her staff tightly.
"LOUISE!" Both of them rushing towards the young teen, with Marie kneeling down and begun checking up on her. "Are you alright Louise?"
"I'm fine Marie. I'm just… tired, that's all." Louise puts her hand in her forehead. "Which is weird though, I'll have already spend my days resting on the hospital."
"Maybe because you aren't from this world?" The two girls looked at Halter, who continued. "Think about it, only Gamindustrians can have magic since they were born and since you're from another dimension…. Well… you get the idea."
"Hmm…. I think Halter is right. Since you come from another dimension where no magic exists and you obviously have none, the staff you hold only feeds the user's magic. Without magic to feed, it then drains your stamina until you feel yourself almost exhausted or, if you push your body to the limits, you would just simply pass out for an unknown time." Maire basically explained.
"I see…." Louise nodded in understanding. "That means I should be careful for now on, right?"
"Yep! At least, until you have magic within you."
"But! I… I don't have magic in my world, I thought I already told you that?"
"Just because you aren't from this world, doesn't mean you should learn to try magic." Marie crossed her arms. "You just need training, that's all. But learning magic yourself could take years without an education."
"Ehh?" Now Louise was confused. "What do you mean?"
Marie then grins at her. "Oh, don't worry about it. Once we leave the Guild HQ, we will go to a place where everybody wants to learn magic and I know just the place for you."
Following their simulation battle, the 4 of them exited the Guild HQ and now heading towards a new location through a taxi while Naoto, unfortunately, have to cancel their guild quest personally, much to his annoyance. True to her words, the rest of the group arrived at a building named 'Planeptune's Grand Magic-Science Academy'. Unlike a tradition academy back home, this building seems greatly resembles a magical school but with futuristic architecture. How they have done this is something Louise doesn't know.
As they entered the magical academy, Louise noticed the hallways are currently devoid of students and only saw a janitor and few other people wearing magician robes. Louise thought that these people are school administrators. In the middle of the hallway, they were stopped by a young woman who claims to be the assistant of 'Principal Houka' and offers to lead them to the principal's office, which Marie accepted.
In the principal's office, the 3 met Principal Houka who is currently seated on the desk and already expected her long-time friend Marie to come here as the latter called her about an 'important task'. After exchanging greetings with each other, they soon get to the point. When Houka asked about her friend's reasons for coming here, Marie responded by telling her that she wanted Louise to enroll here in the academy to learn magic.
Houka and even Louise were shocked at this proposal. Houka lightly slapped her own forehead and asked her friend that she should have just said that on her device, with Maire simply answered that she wanted it to be a surprise. Louise, on the other hand, was more surprised than the principal. She expected to train here until she got better at her magic, but she never expects she would get enrolled and stay here for how much years when she just finished school.
When she was offered an enrolled to Louise, she was initially hesitant. But with encouraging and support from both Marie and Halter, she finally accepted. Although, enrollments usually only happen in a month after graduation and before the starting of school year. But for her friend that saved her from the traitorous Lastation nobles during the 'Dark Purple Crisis', she could make an exception.
Houka stands up from her seat and opens a drawer filled with school papers and records before returned back to her desk with enrollment papers. After signing her the paper with the help of her new national identity recorded in her wrist device, she is now a new student of Planeptune's Grand Magic-Science Academy under the rank of 'Novice'.
Once they were done however, Marie told Louise to stay outside while she and Halter wanted to continue conversation with the principal about their 'old days'. With nothing better to do, she decided to walk around the academy. Hopefully that she could recall which rooms and facilities when she would be entering her school life the next day.
As she continues walking the hallways while watching around her, she failed to notice that another person is running in the opposite direction.
"Hey, watch out!"
"Huh?" By the time she notices her surroundings, it was too late as the person collided with her and both of them falls down to the floor.
"Ouch!" The person holds his head before looking at the girl in concern. "Hey, are you alright?"
"Hmm…." Louise groaned in pain, didn't hear the voice of the person who bumped her. She then slowly opens her eyes before they were instantly widened. In front of her was a young man with a blue spikey hair, has blue eyes of an ice and was currently wearing a magician robe.
It didn't take a while to know that this young man was on top of her and, soon enough, her cheeks begin to turn red. "Can… can you please get off me?" she quietly asked.
"Oh! That's right! Sorry about that." The young man gets up before offering his hand to her. "Let me help you up."
"Thanks…." Louise grabs his hand as she was lifted from the floor. As she removes some dust from her clothes, the young man picks up his magician hat before putting it in his head. "I'm sorry about bumping you. I was observing this part of the academy without looking."
But the young man shook his head. "There's no need to apologize. I was the one who should be apologizing to you. I didn't see you in my way until it was too late."
"But why are you running? Did you forget something in this building?"
"Yeah…." The young man replied embarrassingly. "I forgot my homework that I was supposed to deliver it to my teacher tomorrow. During my trip in LAN Castle with my fellow students, I didn't remember my homework until our instructor reminded us at the end of our trip."
"As soon as we come back to Planeptune, I rushed straight back to the academy and hoping they didn't close. I was on my way to my classroom until I bumped into you and you know the rest." Then, he widened his eyes. "I forgot to tell you my name, sorry. My name is Rick Crystal and you are?"
"Oh! My apologies then. My name Louise Windsor, pleased to meet you!" Louise introduced back. "I'm a new student here in this academy so I hope we get along."
"Wait?! That means you'll be studying here for the year, right?"
She nodded. "That's right."
"But… shouldn't enrollment would only start at the end of the school year though." Rick wondered.
"I had no idea myself so don't ask me." Louise nervously chuckled for a while before changing the subject. "As for your homework though, should we look together in your classroom? It would be easier to find it just the two of us." Louise offered.
"Ah, no thanks!" Rick politely declined. "My classroom is not that far, but thank you for the offer though. Anyway, I better get going. I hope we see each other tomorrow then!"
"Okay! I see you tomorrow Louise!" Rick waved his hand goodbye to Louise before continuing running towards his classroom. She turns around to see him go. As she keeps looking where Rick went, she failed to noticed a hand slowly heading towards her right shoulder until she felt it.
Louise turned her back again. This time, it was Marie and Halter were standing in front of her. "Hey Louise, are you done sightseeing? Because we should get going before this school closes."
Not long after exiting the academy, Naoto was waiting for them outside with a taxi, having arrived just recently. Then they move to another destination and, half an hour later, they arrived in a Planeptune Grand Hotel. Like one of the hotels throughout Planeptune, this one has a penthouse, which they would stay there for the time being. Before they could get inside, the bags that they brought from the General Store was still inside the taxi's trunk.
Louise volunteered to help but Naoto declined. Instead, he clicks a button from his wrist device and summoned 4 mechanical arms coming from his bag-pack before they grabbed the plastic bags, much to Louise shock and surprise. Then they proceed to enter the hotel's entrance to find the recipient who is an android and was currently standing in her desk. To Marie's relief, she saw her name and signature on the computer hologram prior to their arrival in Planeptune. Grabbing a keycard from the android, the 4 of them continue to head towards the elevator without problems. During the elevator ride, Louise was feeling excited that the 'elevator' was a hovering disk that she hasn't seen in any building in her world before and was awed at the sight of the city below.
The elevator then stopped as they hear a 'ding' sound before opening its doors. Once they exited, they saw only two white confront chairs near a coffee table, a sunflower on the long glass table in front of them, and a futuristic door on their right. On the left side of it, there was a speaker with a red 'call' sign button and a keycard slot.
They went towards the futuristic door and used the keycard on the slot, which the doors then horizontally opened. Walking inside the penthouse, Louise was amazed at the sight. The living room has a luxury sofa, a long coffee table and a TV stand with a disk attached on top of it. The dining room has a futuristic dining set, a small drinking bar and another TV stand. While the kitchen room is filled with the usual kitchen tools back on earth, the electricity oven, microwave, a sink, a coffee maker, and any other sets were all futuristic. The walls in the apartment were all glass, though some around the apartment were also covered with white and purple wallpaper.
Louise would have treated the interior as the same as any luxury penthouse on her world if not for the futuristic style and the sets.
As soon as they entered the apartment, Naoto putting the plastic bags in a nearby stool and also putting the mechanical arms back to his bag, which he puts them near the plastic bags as well before he and Marie quickly jumped into the luxury sofa and let out a relief sigh. Then Marie ordered Halter to cook them for dinner, which the man gave a chuckle before going to the kitchen to cook something.
Louise though, decided to wander the apartment for a bit before dinnertime. When she opened the door leading to the bedroom, she was quickly captivated. Inside the room were so full of bed furniture that she thought she thought she was inside of a millionaire's or in the royal bedroom. The walls were almost covered with purple and white wallpaper as well with few windows, giving her some privacy.
However, Louise was confused since this bedroom only fits one person and she doubted Marie could share this room with the two boys.
"Louise! Where are you?! Dinner's here!"
Marie's shouting caused Louise to snap out of her thoughts as she shook her head. She then decided to close the bedroom door and joining with the others in the dining room.
In the dinner table, Marie was currently eating a fried steak, despite Halter reminded her about her diet. Naoto was also eating his fried steak but was rather focused on his wrist device, watching a recording of RyuZU playing with her dolls back at their apartment in Lastation.
Louise was calmly eating her fried steak in silence, while watching the 3 of her new friends. She wondered why Halter was not eating, only to remind her a seconds later that the man was not a human being or at least, he was one. How he became an android in the past is unknown to her. Rather than keeping quiet, she decided to ask Mr. Halter about it.
"Excuse me Mr. Halter…."
"Just call me Halter, Louise. There's no need for formalities."
"Okay then, Halter umm…." Louise hesitated for a second before continuing. "How did you become an android anyway?"
"Well, it's a long story…." Halter scratched his head as he started his tale. "I was a squadron commander back during my time in the Lastation Army a few years prior. At the near end of the Console War, my 4-man squad were killed in an ambush by Loweeian forces and I was the only survivor. I would've died with my men if I wasn't selected to be a program for converting human into an android by Marie's family."
"Her father gave me two choices; either I serve their family until death or choose euthanasia and join my soldiers in death. I decided to serve the Breguet family until my death. My first order was to guard their only daughter Marie Breguet and keep watch of her at all times. However, years later, I finally realize why her father ordered me to follow her everywhere…."
"… was you to attend in every event wherever I go in their place." Marie finished as she took a piece from her steak. "Since they prioritize their work over mine. Hell, they didn't attend my graduation day! It was only Halter that coming from the stage, taking my diploma, and we both take pictures together."
Louise looked down in sadness. "I'm sorry about your parents."
"Its fine really." Marie waves it off. "Like I said before, they don't care about me or their loyal workers. As long their fortune and their family reputation grow large, that's fine by them. They don't have strong loyally towards the Lastation's CPU so I'm not surprised they rebelled, along with the other nobles."
"I see. Thank you for explaining it for me you both but um…."
"Yes Louise?" Marie asked.
"Are you and Naoto couple?"
Naoto, who had been focused at his hologram video and didn't listen to their conversation until he heard Louise's words about being a couple, coughed out while drinking his water mid-way. Marie also coughed out bits of her meat in her mouth as she still contemplating about Louise's words.
"WHAT?!" both Naoto and Marie shouted at Louise with their cheeks red, while Halter was chuckling in the background. "Why did you say that?!"
"Because you guys been arguing with each other since we met so…."
"That's because we're not! I only love automatas and I don't like human women since they always reject me in school. Besides…." Naoto then pointed his finger to Marie. "Why should I like this flesh-bag who gives me nothing but trouble all day and always flaunt about her work is superior than mine!"
"The hell you say!" Marie replied in anger. They soon dissolved into countless arguments and calling each other their worst names while both Louise and Halter were sweat-drop at the scene. She then turns away from their argument and picks up a TV remote near her, hoping finding a channel to distract herself. She clicks the power button and the disk in the TV stand turns on as a holographic screen appears. In the screen, a man wearing a gray suit was holding papers with a symbol of Nepstation appears on the top-left.
"Good evening viewers! My name is…."
"Hey you two! The news is about to start!"
Hearing Halter's voice broke Naoto and Marie's argument with each other and decided to watch the news with Louise and Halter, but not before sticking out their tongues to insult the other.
"…. welcome to NepStation! Tonight's news is about the Gamindustri Expedition Force stationed from beyond the Gate. Two months after the Sadera Empire attacked Planeptune and the GEF's continued campaign against them, the officers from the GEF gave us news that the CPUs saved a city named Italica from the invading imperial forces. The reports showed by the officers concluded that Sadera Empire tried to burned down a once imperial city to prevent our forces from capturing it, including burning down fields. Fortunately, the CPUs managed to defeat the Empire's forces and saved Italica in time."
"So… those bastards don't want to let our forces captured their city, so they decided to burn it all down without caring for the innocents." Halter scoffed in anger.
"I agree. It shows their true colors that they do not care for people's life but their own." Marie darkly frowned.
"However, right after the CPUs victory, an unknown force descended upon Italica by surprise and almost clashed with our own if for the CPUs and the unknown force's commanders negotiate into a ceasefire between them. From the testament from the CPUs said by the GEF officers, the unknown force called themselves as the 'Allied Expedition Force'. This force claimed that they been also attacked by Empire from beyond their Gate and seek justice for their people."
"Another Gate? That means we're not the only ones that were attacked then." Naoto replied.
"The GEF officers also said that the CPUs and Miss Histoire were heading to the AEF base on Alnus Hill to seek further negotiations with the AEF leaders from their world. As of today, no news about the CPUs coming from the Alnus Gate but the GEF officers assured the Gamindustrian people that nothing happened and have already established contact with the AEF commanders. In other news…."
The reporter continues talking about the current weather and the surges of new guildmembers recruits but the 4 four of them never seemed to pay attention to the new anymore as they focused about the GEF campaign.
"Looks like the CPUs would be making alliance with those forces. With their help, they would no doubt steamrolled into the enemy's capital in a week or few."
"I'm not so sure about it to be honest." Louise uneasily admitted. "I mean, just because we have a common enemy, doesn't mean we would be allies forever. Their leaders might be evil or have ulterior motives as far as I know!"
"You're right Marie." Naoto replied as he took a bite from his steak. "But you heard the news. They almost got into conflict each other if not for the CPUs interference. Besides, even if they were evil, the CPUs would beat them up, just like they beat up that evil goddess seven months ago!"
Maire gave a sigh of defeat. "I hope so."
"It's getting late. All 3 of you finish your dinners before sleeping, alright?"
With no words spoken, the 3 of them continue eating their dinner until they were finished. Marie then tasked Halter to clean the dishes before he recharges for the night. After leaving Halter to do to his task, Marie calls for a day and decided to sleep in the luxury sofa in the living room, separate from Naoto, while giving the bedroom to Louise.
Louise, who had been quiet during the dinner conversation, had initially refused and wanted to share with Marie. But after that recent news and the conversation, she accepted and wanted to be alone for once. Going to the small bathroom through the bedroom, she finished her toothbrush and later change her current clothing into a purple nightgown. She then jumped into the purple royal bed and gave out a sigh. She remembered from the news that this world's force came into contact with Allied Expedition Force and that reporter claimed their world was also under attack by the enemy that kidnapped her months earlier.
Although she and her friends who are the 'Allied Expedition Force', its was obvious to her that those are the forces from Earth and she knew, no doubt, that her family's force from the UK also joined the expedition force to rescue her… except she doesn't need to be rescued anymore.
"Hmm…."
Louise closes her eyes. While she indeed enjoys on this world that has technologies that haven't existed yet and becoming a wizard that she wanted since she was young, she still wanted to go home and meet her family again. But then again, she also remembered the news reporter that the deities from this world wanted to ally with her home dimension to defeat the enemy that was responsible for her suffering in their world for months.
Besides, Marie payed for her enrollment in the magic science academy with her own credits and she even give her bedroom to her, all the while without her doing anything. She had to repay her and the two boys somehow.
Louise gave a yawn. Realizing she became tired after all that walk, she decided to sleep for the rest of the night and ready for her new life tomorrow as a Novice in her new school.
It wouldn't be hurt if she keeps her true identity for a year or two, right?
A/N: My spin-off is finally done. I got to say, I didn't expect this one to be finished half a month. I must've had enough imagination to write this huh? Now then, lets talk about this spin-off. Although this one-shot is separated from the main story, this story only expanded the world of Gamindustri in my universe, including its history. The nature of the world is a mix of Skyrim/Final Fantasy series setting where the people gain magic through hard training rather than getting it at birth. While the people in the Earth Dimension can get magic either by training or birth, the latter sometimes don't transferred part of their power to the newborns. The example of this is Akiho Shinomoto; a character from the CardCaptor Saukra. Despite her family were the most powerful magicians in centuries, she is the only member that has no magic abilities after her birth.
If you all have reviews about this spin-off or my main story, I'll answer them when I release my next chapter of Gate - A Dimension Crossover. Also, if you spot an error or misspelled grammars, be sure to let me know in the reviews.
Anyway. If nothing else, thank you for reading my spin-off and see you all soon! :)
Trivia:
*Marie Bell Breguet, Naoto Miura, and Vainney Halter are one of the main characters of Clockwork Planet. Clockwork Planet is a Japanese light novel series, written by Yuu Kamiya and Tsubaki Himana, and illustrated by Shino before it was adapted by the Xebec studio. In this story, they became guild members after the 'Dark Purple Crisis' and became Louise's new friends. Souko Hoshinomiya is also a character from the series as a princess of clockwork. In this spin-off, she became a principal of 'Planeptune's Grand Magic-Science Academy' after the 'Dark Purple Crisis'.
*The yellow book that Louise was reading was a restoration skill book from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the Elder Scrolls series. In the game, using any Restoration-related books increase the Restoration skill by one level the first time they are read.
*The 'Lowee Battle Simulator' in the Guild HQ is the same as the 'Shinra Combat Simulator', which was used by Shinra in Final Fantasy VII Remake to train new recruits. Much like in the remake, its is a simulated battle arena in which skilled participants fight a number of battles in a virtual reality setting. However, the enemies that appeared during the simulator can wound participants like in real life, regardless of any difficulty, making it dangerous if the participants have no combat or magic abilities.
*The 4-mechanical arms used by Naoto is similar to the ones used by Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus as a villain) in Spider Man 2 or Spider Man 2018 video game (depending on each version).