Honourable Stupid - Chapter 3
Authors Note
Warning, Spoilers for Familia of Zero ahead.
I am going to put this on break so I can prepare to continue my other fanfiction, the former oneshot Spartan of The Shield. This will only take one week, so if everything goes to plan the next chapter should be on the 15th. Assuming it doesn't get delayed by alcohol like this one did. I've put to use a lot of feedback in making this chapter as good as possible, so I'd like to thank everyone that has commented on this story. Those comments, bad or good all give me inspiration to help make this story better, so discuss as much as you can, and we can hopefully make a story I'll enjoy writing as much as I enjoy reading. Please enjoy.
/-v-\
\-v-/
Yared Scott was not used to manual labour.
As someone who once spent nearly two weeks only leaving his bed to eat and use the toilet, reading fanfiction and watching YouTube the whole time, he was fully aware of how privileged he was despite being 21 years old.
This very year he had resolved to change that, and had managed, by his own hard work, the help and advice of friends, family and even the work coach at universal credit and by the grace and guidance of god to finally secure a job.
His most recent memory of serious exertion was helping his father put logs at his grandmas in the car, and helping the neighbours get a couch into their house.
It was no surprise that cleaning, the entire lecture hall for Earth magic, removing all the broken class, scrubbing every chair and desk of carbon, was absolutely back-breaking work for someone who struggled to bend with knees instead of his back on a regular basis.
You would have expected his mind to be filled with thoughts of annoyance at Louise only watching from the side, refusing to do menial labour when she had her own servant, or of how he should do more squats from now on.
Instead...
'Already! A hint! Those pebbles disappeared! This must mean Louise's Void magic somehow converted their matter to energy, or maybe teleported them somehow? Maybe it even used them as fuel for her willpower? No, willpower is fuelled only by emotion right?'
As many lovers of fanfiction were wont to do, Yared continued to nerd out over the fascinating display of magic.
However, he did eventually notice Louise sulking despite him being lost in thought, as he began scrubbing the 14th desk.
He remembered her position. While she was strong, as a child of THE Heavy Wind. With her wilful character and Rule of Steel mindset, she was only sixteen years old.
So, he thought on how to reassure her.
Then he remembered a recent fanfiction he'd been reading.
Familiar Evil, but some author called Trest who. He hadn't read the authors other works, even his other one on familiar of zero despite his love for the series. He had been tempted to read one of them, a Halo and RWBY cross, but well, his experience with RWBY wank had ruined his ability to enjoy crossovers of the two series. He had known Halo since he was seven and had gotten his own Xbox with Halo reach at the age of twelve, so he treated the Spartans with an almost religious respect.
Ah, he was getting into a tangent again, he noticed he wasn't scrubbing properly.
He stopped and took a calm breath, then centred himself.
Familiar Evil had many discussions about ZNT canon, including that a mage could create a focus out of anything if it held an emotional connection to them.
More importantly, the author also mentioned that in canon, Void mages can use Cantrips after the Familiar Summoning.
Which meant, he knew exactly what to do to cheer Louise up.
"Miss Valliere, stop sulking." He stood up and faced her with a stern glare, dropping the cloth and crossing his arms.
"I am not sulking, familiar." She seethed, so much was her frustration that she didn't bother to address him by name.
"You are and it's pitiful. A little piece of wisdom, the people of my homeland found that every time you remember a bad event, you remember the pain and suffering too. So then you remember, remembering the pain, and it gets worse and worse until you stop. So don't dwell on it, don't complain. You are just making it worse." He explained a very useful piece of wisdom that had helped him by heaps and bounds the past few weeks.
Louise surprisingly enough didn't dismiss his words, she was smart enough to see the truth him in them afterall.
"Then what do you suggest I do? I'm not allowed to leave until you finish, and your work is rather irritatingly slow." She jabbed at him instead. So, he responded in kind.
"Well since your spells are so, 'explosive', how about you practise cantrips. Surely you can do that much." He taunted her this time, careful to come off as dismissive and not insulting.
"Hmph, stupid familiar. My cantrips all just end in puffs of smoke. What would be the point?" She didn't seem fazed, used to the insults of her peers and rivals.
"Then shouldn't you get to practising, you have a long way to go afterall?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Fine familiar, since you volunteered so kindly." She smiled deviously. He smiled back and went back to work ignoring her.
She growled, then waved her wand, and cast a cantrip.
Nothing happened.
She looked at her wand, and then at her familiar.
Yared smirked and raised an eyebrow. Saying...
"..."
His mouth opened, but no sound emerged.
His eyes widened.
He had to test this. He dropped the cloth on the desk, and then clapped several times.
Then he jumped up and down.
Not a sound. Louise looked as excited as he did.
"My cantrip, it...worked." The smile on her pretty face radiant in way that went beyond physical beauty.
Torn of his voice, he simply crossed arms and smugly smiled at her.
"Well, famil.. No Yared. You were right, thank you." Louise nods her head, trying not to meet his eyes.
His grin grows wider, and he turns around and gets back to work.
/-v-\
\-v-/
It was late afternoon. Yared's green fleece, zipped up so as to protect his shirt was covered in soot, along with his blue jeans. He would have to clean them later, though he considered just asking Louise for new clothes, so as to fit.
He did like these clothes, and he vaguely remembered Saito's tracksuit being destroyed, or was it? His memory wasn't great.
He considered what would happen next, as he followed Louise.
He would tell Professor Colbert and Miss Valliere the truth.
He had to, it was his duty. Even before he was a Christian, honesty was his best trait, and he loved the truth.
Seeing all the lies in politics during his AS course in the subject had driven him to suicidal levels of depression that only his recovered belief in God, the hard work of his beloved family, and some varyingly competent therapists that had pronounced him recovered a little 'too' early had saved him from.
He distantly remembered one of his years at primary school, where he had performed a magic trick from TV. He had recruited his friend to aid him in making it appear as if a pound coin at teleported.
Afterwards he had immediately revealed how he had done. To this day, he remembered his teachers' words, of how it would have been better if he'd kept it a mystery. To this day he disagreed. He would tell the truth even at his own detriment, because every lie one told incurred a debt to the truth.
Even he lied sometimes, and he regretted it every time, so he resolved to try and always tell the truth while he lived in Halkeginia.
As he walked behind Louise, he decided to check his phone. Opening his bag, he barely noticed Louise turning at the sound of the zips.
As he picked his phone out, he noticed at the bottom of his bag, beneath the plastic containing his lunch for yesterday, was a second notebook. He had somehow missed it in the poor lighting last night.
He quickly opened it and found to his mixed dismay and satisfaction that it was also nearly filled up with notes and random doodles. Still, he would need to ask for extra paper.
As he waited for his phone to finish turning on, he decided to ask Louise a question.
"Does Colbert often see students outside class?" He was curious about the man he had known to be both a soldier and a genius in the story.
"Yes actually, he encourages self-study a lot and is one of the more helpful teachers. He's helped me quite a bit in my studies, though I usually don't need any help." Louise preened, likely proud of her own grades. She looked almost like a peacock, nose upturned like that.
"I see, so I'm guessing he answers questions outside of the study material for you?" Yared figured they were trying to get her magic to work.
"Oh absolutely, he'll be thrilled when he sees I can do cantrips now." Louise smiled excitedly at him, walking faster.
"That's great, I'm proud of you Miss Valliere." Yared doesn't want to call her master, he is no slave after all, but he does respect her. Her strong will in the face of failure makes him feel ashamed of his own lack of determination during his past.
"You can call me Louise." She turns her head away. Speaking almost quietly.
"I understand, thank you Louise." At this Yared is confused, but that's to be expected. He hardly understands women after all.
His phone's screen finally loads in. The lockscreen stares at him. The ONI logo from Halo, covered by the date 19th of November, time 17:00, as he thumbs in the four number pin, the background loads, with words 'ONI wants your location...'
He didn't remember why he put that as the background instead of pictures of his cat, but at least it looked neat.
He then checked his pictures. Having a picture of earth would be handy for the discussion to follow. He was certain he had at least one downloaded.
His phone's 'All photos folder' contained 2,990 pictures. However, he remembered with a start that 2/3rds of that was 'cultured' art. He had been trying to quite porn the last few months, and the first thousand pictures were all photographs or safe for work downloads. However, he would have to be careful, he certainly didn't want to have to explain the intricacies of Japanese art to Louise.
His pictures folder, which consisted of anything left on the phones download drive instead of the 256GB SD card had only 115 pictures. He selected it quickly when he noticed Louise had fallen back to watch him.
"What is that Yared? It's almost like your enchanted tool has little paintings inside it." She questioned curiously.
"Well, in a way that is correct, though these are much more accurate than most paintings would be. My phone has a way of storing images, remember when I recorded Malicorne? That's just a more advanced version of these, with sound included." He explained patiently.
"Did it really record what Malicorne said?" She asked eagerly, eyes almost sparkling.
Yared eyed the battery. 67% should be enough, he still had the ADDTOP Solar charger as well. It was 25000 mAh, so it should be able to charge his phone at least 5 times. Though he didn't want it's battery to go too low. If either battery died, he would be stuck.
"I'll show you." He simply said. As he clicked on the pictures folder, he wondered what the thumbnail for the portal video would be, he didn't want to spoil the meeting with Colbert.
As expected, the Portal shined brightly in the thumbnail. So he quickly tapped on Malicorne's confused face.
As the video played, Louise laughed in delight.
"Amazing, this artifact is truly delightful, can it 'record' me too?"
"Of course, Louise. It can record imagery and sound of anything you point it at."
"Go back to the paintings before, I'm curious what they are." She acts almost like a child at the marvel of technology and Yared can't help but smile.
He quickly explains each image.
"This is a logo from a game. Think of it as a story with both sound and pictures as well as words. There's more to it, I even have a few on this device, I can show you later."
"A logo?"
"It's basically like a flag or coat of arms for merchant companies in my homeland."
"Ah, I see."
"This is, ah a motion sensor."
"It senses motion?"
"Basically. It's not actually real, it's from another game. Actually wait, this image is from an article about some researchers that discovered a way to make it real."
"Oh, so they turned part of a story into real life? Big sister Éléonore told me about something similar at the Magic Academy. Apparently, they managed to invent a magic that only existed in a story called The Hero of Ivaldi."
"Interesting, perhaps some inventions imagined in stories back home could be created with the help of your mages." Yared can't help but feel this is fate. As much Elenore was a raging, inconsiderate spitfire in the anime, she was a researcher...
"So this one?"
"Ah, why is that there? Ignore that. It's a really bad game. I despise it with every fibre of my being."
Louise looked at him oddly. He ignored her and continued.
"So, this is the Kekistani flag. It's a fictional flag for a fictional country that millions of people online claimed to be part of as a joke."
"Online?"
"Through the internet. This phone is actually a device for communicating. I can send words, voice and images to almost everywhere in my homeland."
"How could that even be possible?" Louise's eyes boggle at the idea.
"A lot, and I mean a lot of hard work, geniuses and money. The internetwork or internet was made basically free by the guy who basically invented it, as a gift to the world. If I can find a way back, I guarantee Tristain would be able to join it."
"How wonderful." At that Louise is silent for a while.
They finally arrive at Colbert's door. Louise suddenly speaks up.
"Show me more later, these 'picterres' I mean." She looks away.
"It's pronounced 'pictures' Louise, and yes of course, I'd love to show you the things I have of my home, but first I have to show you and Colbert something big." Yared grows serious for a moment.
"Big?" She asks.
"Very, very, big." He responds, his features so stern they appear carved from stone.
/-v-\
\-v-/
Even outside his office, they can smell the smoke and oil from the myriad of projects Colbert is working on.
Yared isn't actually sure a workshop was ever mentioned in the light novel, but many fanfics he had read showed Colbert's workshop as that of a genius inventor, scribe, blacksmith, and carpenter all rolled into one.
Funnily enough, despite being square class, they never described it as particularly magical, he supposed he was about to find out if their interpretations were wrong, as Louise knocked on the door.
However, wasn't this supposed to be Colbert's office, not his workshop?
"Come in."
As they entered, Yareds eyes roamed, devouring the sight before them.
Blackboards inscribed with chalk diagrams, equations, designs and even what looked like runes of some sort.
French littered each one. He felt regret at choosing Spanish in Secondary school instead of continuing to learn French at that. If he remembered Tabitha taught Saito to read in the light novels. That said, he wasn't a harem protagonist, he somewhat doubted she would teach him.
Odd contraptions were jumbled about, including to his surprise, the snake in a box from the anime.
The one that was steam powered.
It laid on Colbert's Desk, which was separated from the rest of the oddities and possessed a number of important looking documents.
From the looks of it, it wasn't finished, many pieces laid scattered on the desk, and the snake wasn't even painted yet.
But...
It was still there, long before it was finished in 'canon'.
He felt a little lightheaded at this for some reason. It was both wonderful, and terrifying. To see how accurate Noboru Yamaguchi's world was...
Hold the phone.
He had always failed to remember the name of the author of Zero No Tsukaima in the past. Why could he remember it now?
Was his memory improving? Maybe it was the air? There were no pollutants here, or at least far less he supposed. Without things like Nitrous oxide being produced by cars, maybe his brain was under less stress. Then again, he did suffer allergies, and even had suffered asthma as a child. Maybe that was being caused by pollution, his home was right next to a motorway after all.
The Professor's appearance was little dirtier than yesterday, but he noticed belatedly, that's Colbert's blue eyes, glasses, pale skin and dark hair around the sides of his balding head reminded him of his own father. Well, from the bulging muscles visible on the man, perhaps a little more fit... He himself had inherited his father's good looks and brains, and his mother's good eyesight and tanned skin, he noticed that the thought brought him little distress. After all, the runes suppressed homesickness...
He contemplated what to say, reluctant to interrupt the Professor, but Louise beat him too it.
"Ah Professor Colbert, good evening."
"Good evening, Louise, and good evening to you too Yared." He smiled.
"I apologise, I have been working on this device for a while now, and I had a bout of inspiration while waiting, I'm nearly finished so please take a seat." He smiled at them before pointing to several chairs.
As they sat down, Yared went even deeper into thought. Colbert was the equivalent of a special force's operator. A bonafide badass. This wasn't a romcom happy go lucky harem anime, this was real life, and he should treat it as such, or face the consequences of his hubris.
However, he was quickly distracted by the very Professor he was wary of.
"I heard you too were rather busy today?" He smiled in amusement at their embarrassed expressions.
"Don't worry Louise, you succeeded the Familiar Summoning Ritual. Just one setback shouldn't be enough to put you down." He re-assured the girl.
"Ah, actually Professor while Yared cleaned, he did mention something that lead me to a discovery!" Louise jumped up with a smile on her face.
"Oh, really? Let's hear it." Colbert was all ears, he even paused his work for the moment to focus his attention on one of his students.
"He told me to practise my Cantrips instead of wasting time, and well, let me show you." Louise's face morphed into one of resolve.
As she drew her wand however, Colbert panicked.
"No, wait, not in here! There's delicate material and expl-!
He was interrupted as Louise quickly cast the 'Light' Cantrip.
Colbert marvelled at the sphere of violet light.
"Amazing. You finally did it." He breathed out speechless.
Louise preened at the praise, before turning her head in embarrassment. "I suppose it's thanks to Yared's advice though."
Yared laughed at that. "No Louise, I merely provided the motivation, it is still your achievement, be proud of it." He smiled at her.
Colbert's eyebrows raised in thought.
"It is standard for mages strength to increase after the Familiar summoning. Even for mages who have already achieved Line, or Triangle. One of my own students who is Triangle Class actually reported that her spells increased after summoning familiar." Colbert explained.
"Eh, Triangle Class? You mean Zerbst?" Louise's gaze darkened at the mention of her rival.
"Eh? No, I meant Tabitha. Though I suppose Miss Von Zerbst is also a Triangle Class mage, and of the fire element like myself."
"Huh? Tabitha is Triangle Class? That quiet girl? I never imagined." Louise appeared to have had an epiphany.
Yared didn't notice Colbert noticing him smiling at that line. Colbert however didn't think much of it, guessing that the young man had met Tabitha, his instincts while once sharp, had rusted over the years.
"Ah, speaking of Tabitha, that reminds me. She came in earlier with some questions about you, Yared."
"Me?" Yared pointed at himself in confusion.
"Well, more about something you said in class actually." Colbert admitted.
"Oh, that makes sense, I did notice people taking notes. I can explain if you want?"
"Oh, that would be delightful. I'm absolutely fascinated by the things she mentioned. Just let me finish with this before I break something." Colbert asked.
"Sure Professor." Yared nodded, before taking out his notebooks. Louise scooted over, eager to practice her Albic.
While it seemed like Albion spoke a dated form of English and used the same written language, there were a handful of differences, particularly in vocabulary. Louise would constantly ask Yared what words meant, which did make sense to him. A lot of new words had been invented to deal with new technology, and new words were created all the time. The internet only sped that process up.
"Ah, I'm done." Colbert wiped his brows with a towel and sighed in relief.
"Good, good. So where would you like to begin Professor?"
/-v-\
\-v-/
"Well, first things first. I have a question. In Tabitha's notes, you said rock is only turned into metal in the largest of stars, but you then said tiny amounts of Gold can be created in 'particle colliders'." Colbert asked enthusiastically.
"I can answer that one. I meant that smaller stars didn't possess the energy to do so. Wait a minute, actually that might be wrong?"
"Oh really?" Colbert seems disappointed.
"Yeah, sorry I got muddled up when I explained that. I have a lot of knowledge, a breadth of knowledge, but I'm not that skilled at specific disciplines I'm afraid. That said I can explain it correctly if you'd like." Yared sheepishly rubs the back of his head.
"Oh, that sounds splendid. I was a little worried you would give me all the answers without me having to work for them at first, but if you're a hobbyist with such splendid enthusiasm instead of an expert, there'll be plenty of fun to be had." Colbert laughs excitedly.
"Oh, I hadn't considered that! You're absolutely right, with your magic, and my science, we have so much to discover. Perhaps our limited perspective might even lead to discoveries that might not even be possible otherwise." Yared rubs his chin thoughtfully.
"Indeed. So the 'particle colliders'?"
"Yes. You see fusion is a very expansive process. Ah, come to think of it, I might have a periodic table in my phone, that would make this soooo much easier." Yared exclaims.
"A periodic table?" Colbert questions him.
"It contains a list of all the elements, sorted by their, shall we say density? Nah, you'll understand the technical stuff fine." As Yared unlocked his phone, he explained.
"So, every element is made of a particle called an atom. These atoms, as you probably already know from your magic, form molecules that based on their heat, create solids, liquids or gases. In Solids they are cold enough to bind electromagnetically together. In liquids their bindings are weak enough that they move against each other. In gases, they split apart from the massive amounts of heat making them fly over the place, though at high enough pressures they form liquids again."
"Yes, we do already know that. Though I'm not sure what you mean by atom? I thought the smallest object was a molecule?" Colbert replied.
"An atom is what was once theorised to be the smallest possible object. This is actually wrong though. It's made of a nucleus which is composed of nucleons. Actually wait, I know their called nucleons, but their also called neutrons and protons?" Yared questioned a discrepancy in his memories of GCSE chemistry.
"Maybe they are only called nucleons in relation to being part of an atom?" Colbert speculated.
To the side, Louise was starting to look confused, struggling to keep up with the conversation.
"Ah, that sounds right. So, neutrons have a neutral charge, and protons a positive. Then electrons balance that out with their negative charge, which is supposedly necessary to keep the atoms stable. If I remember right, atoms with extra neutrons are called isotopes, or is that extra neutrons? Something to find out later. Anyway, atoms can undergo two processes. Fission, where they split into more atoms, or Fusion, where two or more atoms combine to form a larger atom. Fusion is what happens in stars. Fission happens primarily, in the core of planets, and sometimes in asteroids. We have harness Fission for both weapons and power for devices like my phone here." Yared started rambling on. At this Louise sighed at the two, deciding she ask them to explain later, and opened Yareds bag, deciding to practice her Albic by reading Yared's atrocious handwriting.
"So, all stars are mostly composed of Hydrogen and Helium. The two lightest elements. Hydrogen has one proton, and helium two. I think Hydrogen doesn't always have neutron too. Now, not all fission and fusion reactions produce energy." Yared pointed at the periodic table on phone.
"Fusing Iron and any elements heavier than iron, produces endothermic reactions, which absorb energy as opposed to exothermic. I remember this because back in Astronomy class we learned about how stars die." Yared's face grew a blazing passion at this line, and Louise raised her eyes at this. Colbert's attention was still fully on Yared. The man enjoying the lecture and attempting to understand and analyse it.
"Now, there are many types of stars. Most stars are called red dwarfs. These ones are darker than our own, and even smaller than them are brown dwarfs, which are barely stars at all. These last trillions of years. Then there are yellow dwarfs, if I remember correctly, my homeworld, uh..."
"Your homeworld?" Colbert questions, raising his eyebrows.
"It's best if I show you." Yared states, suddenly serious.
On his phone, the thumbnail shows a green portal.
Louise and Colbert both peer at the screen as Yared presses play.
/-v-\
\-v-/
"This is Yared Scott, and today I'm going to show you something, truly bizarre. Something, out of this world."
The camera shifts from a tanned unshaven man in sunglasses to a illustrious green wonder shimmering in mid-air.
"This here is an unknown aerial phenomenon of about 2 metres in height that appeared roughly 1 minute ago, and uh, ahem. There were unknown voices from this location beforehand, implying a correlation with this phenomena, and potentially an intelligent mind rather than the cold uncaring hands of mother nature."
The portal shimmered in the rain, and thunder cracked.
"So, lets trying throwing things at it, shall we?"
In one hand the man held a smooth rock, in front of the camera he swung and threw it at the portal, immediately afterwards there was a scream as the portal drew closer, no the portal hadn't drawn closer to the camera, the camera had drawn closer.
Suddenly everything went black. There was only dark space all around and the sounds of deep breaths as the man held onto his phone and bag with wet and white knuckles.
"Ah, you probably can't see this, but I can see stars, my word, is this, is this outer space? Of course! The portal to Earth! Shaitans Gate! This must be it! Ah, my bad, so viewers I'm going to end this here, lets cross our fingers and hope this footage survives the crash shall we?"
The video abruptly cuts.
/-v-\
\-v-/
Both Louise and Colbert are speechless.
Many questions run through their minds, leaving them overwhelmed.
Colbert, however, recovers quicker, his training and wisdom leaving him more prepared.
"You mean to say you're from another world?"
At this, Yared goes back to his pictures folder, and instead selecting the periodic table, taps on a picture of Earth.
"This is Earth, my home planet."
Both Colbert and Louise stare at it.
"It's beautiful..." Colbert breathes out.
Yared nods. "This world probably looks vaguely similar from above. Ah let me show you another one."
He slides his thumb left.
"This is Mars, the red planet."
"There's no water." Colbert mutters. Yared nods back.
"It's a dead world, it once had water like Earth, maybe even life. Part of the reason I was willing to come to this world was out of the hopes that magic would help my people reach it. I want to see Earth from afar you see, it's my dream." Yared spoke as if possessed.
"Willing to come to this world? You knew?"
"So, you don't know what Shaitans gate is? How disappointing, I guess the Elves made sure to keep it under wraps."
"I don't understand, what do you mean Yared."
"Professor, what I mean is, have you discovered the meaning of my runes yet."
At the knowing look in Yareds eye, Colbert hesitated for just a second, did he somehow know about being Gandalfr?
"I'm sorry, but I haven't had the time." Colbert's lie was almost perfect, he used his feelings of pity about not knowing how to send the youth home to make himself look actually sorry, his body posture and expression all perfectly crafted to appear honest.
Yared didn't see through it, he didn't need to, it was precisely what he expected after all.
"I see is that so? I guess I'll have to tell you then. First though, I must correct a misunderstanding."
At this line, Colbert felt a little frustrated, he now actually felt like he'd let the youth down by lying. The youth didn't seem to have noticed, but the lie was pointless from the start. After all... If he knew that...
"My phone is not magic."
"What!" "Ehhh!"
Both Louise and Colbert doubletake in shock at this line.
"It's merely a piece of engineering, akin to a well-crafted sword or ship. Just far more advanced and made with more complete knowledge of the universe."
A spark lit up in Colbert's head at this.
"You are referring to that 'science' thing, correct?" At this Yared's eyes lit up.
"As expected of the genius professor. Yes. Science is a methodology of understanding the universe, through observation, theorisation, and experimentation. By combining the knowledge Earth has gained through the efforts of many scientists with the knowledge countless mages have gained on this world, ah actually what is this planets name?" Yared asks sheepishly.
Colbert smiles.
"This world is known as Alfheimr, Yared."
"I see. Alfheimr, that would the world of, ah that would problematic. That explains a lot huh."
"Yared?" Colbert draws Yared attention back from his thoughts of how Halkeginia would react to knowing that Alfheimr in Earth mythology was the world of the elves. Probably not well.
"By combining science and magic, I believe we can achieve things that would take either countless centuries to achieve on their own. We could skip millennia of technological development. Your world can do things my own can't, and my world can do things yours can't."
"I don't understand though, if not magic, how does that artifact work?" Colbert knew technology was amazing, but his snake in a box looked positively pathetic compared to what sat in Yared's hand.
"Just clockwork, electricity and chemical reactions." Yared replied dismissively.
"What?"
At this Yared launched into an explanation.
"It has thousands of tiny lights, called LEDs that form the screen each powered by the battery. It creates these images by showing a mix of red, green, and blue lights on each LED. This is all processed by a chip that runs numbers by sending electrons through billions of microscopic gates. It stores this information on something called random access memory through chemical reactions. This information is stored in something called code. At its core, it's just incredibly advanced clockwork using a battery instead of springs."
"A battery?" Colbert's head tilts slightly.
"A device that stores electricity, you know the substance that creates lightning. Ah, I have one in my torch."
"Wait, why would a torch need electricity?"
Yared laughs.
"It doesn't burn, it just uses an LED like the ones on my phone."
He switches it on, and the black torch shines a red light across the room.
"Why is the light red?" Colbert asks curiously.
"Well, red light doesn't affect night vision as much as blue light, so I bought this for using my telescope with. I never got around to using though. Eh, I can always buy another torch when I get home, it's pretty cheap."
As much as Colbert found that fascinating, he couldn't help but notice Yared's particular choice of words.
"When you get home?"
"Well of course. I already know that the gate you saw in the video, Shaitans Gate, is the name the elves use for the portal Brimir left in the Holy land. As the Gandalfr, it's only natural I fated to reach it eventually."
/-v-\
\-v-/
Colbert's shocked silence speaks for itself.
"So it was true? That story was really right?" Yared didn't want to dare believing it was all true, but at this point, its the most likely answer. So much of canon matched what he has seen, and now this.
"A story?" Colbert appears relieved at first.
"Yes, a story. As a child, I watched an anime. A video made by drawing lots of pictures and then flicking through them one by one. It was an adaptation of a novel from a country on the other side of the Earth from Britain."
"In this story, just like I was. A Japanese youth called Hiraga Saito, ahem the Japanese put their last names first, so his family name is Hiraga."
Yared continued.
"Saito is summoned through a green portal, by Louise Francoise le Blanc De la Valliere. After forming the contract, he passes out, and you confirm the runes as those of Gandalfr, and Headmaster Osmond swears you to secrecy."
"Saito and Louise don't get along at first, but after Saito ends up in a duel with Guiche de Gramont, showcasing his abilities when Guiche throws him a sword out of pity after beating him to a pulp and he wins in spite of his heavy injuries, their relationship improves."
"Then they catch Fouquet with the aid of several friends. Then They go to Albion and witness the assassination of Prince Wales."
At that Louise let's out a gasp.
"Then the fight Reconquista, with a fighter plane, the Dragons Raiment of Tarbes, from Earth."
Colbert's face shifts in recognition.
"I could go on, but some of this is pretty sensitive information, and who knows who might be listening."
Yared shrugs.
"Yared, this was all in a story? Are you sure?" Colbert all but demands.
"Impossible! You must be insane. Familiar, I demand you see Miss Agatha at once, clearly your head must be damaged." Louise cries out, furious, confused, and shocked.
"Calm down Valliere. I'm sure Yared has an explanation." Colbert re-assures her.
"But! But! It's illogical! It's insane, nobody can predict the future!" Louise insists.
"Who says any of this predicted the future? After all, I'm not Saito, am I?"
At this both turn in shock.
"Am I!?" Yared repeats sternly.
"No, you are not." Colbert acquiesces, seeing a spark of rage in the youth.
"I don't care what it is. Maybe Noboru Yamaguchi was actually a mage, maybe the guy travelled in time somehow. Maybe it's a coincidence? Maybe he found something that came from Halkeginia, and after realising he couldn't convince people the truth, decided to tell it the only way he could?"
"It doesn't matter! The story has matched everything I've seen so far, so it's useful. When it proves itself to not be useful to me, I will stop using it. Until then, it is a valuable source of information, and one, that I must share, or risk the deaths of many innocents. Surely you of all people can understand that, Jean?" Finally remembering Colbert's first name, Yared stares in his eye. Determined, and angry.
"So the story mentioned that too." At this, Colbert grows calm, almost accepting.
"It does. The one you nearly died to save tries to kill, and only stops when she sees your burnt back."
"Hah, how ironic. Someone I tried to kill and instead saved, attempting to take my own life, instead spares me in turn." At this Colbert laughs. It was a cold, hollow, ugly thing. A sound of despair and pure distilled regret.
"No, it..." At this Yared falters, looking upon the man burdened by his own conscience in pity.
The sound of Colbert's laugh echoes in the room.
Louise and Yared both cringe slightly.
Eventually it ends.
Finally, he says.
"We have to take this to Headmaster Osmond. Immediately, he must know of this."
Yared nods.
"I agree, he absolutely must."
"But first..."
"First?"
"Do you have any evidence that this story is something from your world, Earth? That you didn't imagine the whole thing, or perhaps gain it from the runes..."
Yared's mind turns in realisation.
"I understand. Yes, I do actually. It should be on my phone."
"So do you actually have that book?" Colbert questions him, face serious.
"No, uh I read it online. So I never downloaded it onto my phone, my pdf reader sucks so I only do that if I have too. Rather, I wrote fanfiction about the Familiar of Zero."
"Really! The book calls me Zero too!" Louise fumes in frustration at the unexpected blow to her pride.
"If you would prefer, I can call it Zero No Tsukaima, or ZNT, the Japanese translation instead."
"Acceptable, fami-Yared." Louise nods.
"So, uh, I wrote some fanfiction."
"Fanfiction?" Colbert questions.
"Fiction written by fans, it's where you take an author's setting and characters, use them to create your own stories. Think of it as people saying hold my beer and making a better story than the author did. Or the saying, imitation is the best form of flattery." Yared explained.
"Ah, that makes sense. Not that I've heard of that saying before though. I've heard a similar saying 'Those who learn from a teacher like they learn from a father, truly respect their teacher." Colbert confesses.
"I guess that's kinda vaguely similar. Anyway, so I don't remember the first fanfics name. It was mostly a joke I wrote at 2am, about Frost or something? The second one is in here, it's called the Brutal Spartan. It was written in May, you can see the date here."
"You could have changed that." Colbert points out.
"I could, but if I had wanted to hide it from you, with my better knowledge of computers, how would you even know?"
"Ah, that's a good point. Read it then." Colbert admits.
"I'll read it out for you then."
The story described a knight of some sort, who had been battling alien monsters akin to Orcs or as Yared explained, more like an Elf combined with an Orc, combined with a Dragon. He encountered...
"AN ELF!" At this Louise shouted.
"Yeah, apparently, she's Henrietta's cousin or something, and since you're related to the Royal Family, you're technically related?"
"I'm related to the Royal Family? Please tell me you're joking?" Louise was about to cry. Colbert patted her back.
"Nope, your father or grandfather I think was a member of the Royal Family?"
"You think?" Louise retorts sharply?
"I don't really remember that part, I just remember Henrietta making you her sister by law as reward for defeating the Mad King Joseph."
"I do that?" Louise's gaze sharpens.
"Yes. Saito helps, but in the story it's your story that defeats an Elf, allowing you to later defeat Joseph."
"Another Elf? Wait, how can I be related to an Elf?"
"Oh, I forgot to mention Tiffania is a half elf."
Yared continued the story.
"So Spirit magic can bring people from the brink of death..." Colbert mutters, fascinated as ever.
"Potentially. We still have to confirm it though."
"That we will. Is there anything else?"
"Ah, let me check the rest of Microsoft one note, I did write another fanfiction on a site called questionable questing. However, it was a multicross."
"What exactly is a multicross Yared." Louise, no longer dazed, asked.
"It's where you mash multiple settings together. If it's just two it's only a crossover. Emile is from another setting, so The Brutal Spartan is a crossover. Ah he we go, I wrote some notes about magic relics in Halkeginia and Derflinger as well as a Spirit knife, back in July."
"Derflinger?" Colbert's taste's the name in his mouth. It sounds exotic.
"A talking sword, also the main weapon of Gandalfr."
"Ah."
There wasn't really much to say to that.
"...and the Spirit knife?"
"A talking knife that possesses people, can cast magic on its own, and serves King Joseph of Gallia's daughter for some reason. Its personality is also worse than Derflinger, and like Derflinger it was made by elves."
At this point the revelations while shocking, could only affect them so much. They were feeling almost numb now.
"Ah, I remember, I wrote the first one in a different app. Let's see if it has the dates."
"There we go, it was... Three years ago? Huh, it's been a long time. Anyway, look here it's basically the summoning ritual but with some puppet thing."
Colbert had to admit, it was similar to what happened yesterday. If these dates were correct, and considering Yared had few reasons to lie, they probably were, then he was telling the truth.
"I think it's time we took this to Headmaster Osmond he announced." He spoke with a sigh, feeling very tired.
Yared and Louise nodded at him in agreement.
/-v-\
\-v-/