Author's Notes: Good morning my dear readers! I'm glad to announce this semester of college is ending and so I'll have more time to focus on this story. If anything I would like to thank everyone for supporting this small fanfic. Be it with the always liked reviews or a silent follow and favorite.
I sincerely can't thank you guys enough for supporting this fic.
Now to replying to every review!
RenaisNoct: Thank you very much! I sincerely adore Galahad as he was presented in Part 1 of FGO and so I always wanted to put him on a story.
Giuseppe: Thank you very much! He will most certainly change things once the plot truly starts going, just a little bit of patience until then. Saludos desde Chile!
Guest: Thank you! I'll expect try my best to maintain the story that way!
Ashyiiy: Thanks! As said I really love Galahad so I'm trying to do him justice in an original way. Most of the FGO fandom doesn't seem to like him though... (I blame r/grandorder's sprite comics and Lostroom)
PureSalty101: Thanks! Here is the awaited chapter 2!
With this out of the way, I must thank everyone for the reviews and such.
It wasn't everyday that a familiar summoning resulted in an explosion, indeed, scholars would even say it had never happened.
And yet, in this unprecedented situation, nobody batted an eye.
"Obviously it had to be Louise the Zero! Who else could botch the familiar summoning?!" Came the exasperated voice of a young and fat boy named Malicorne.
It was, in his defense, a reasonable exasperation, for nobody else had botched it in all of Halkegenia's recorded history. Even the weakest and dumbest of Halkegenian mages had been able to perform the ritual safely.
But his exasperation was contagious, and even the nobles who would have normally just sighed, started to join in his discourse.
"Come on Louise! Can't you do something right for once?!" Commented a certain twin tailed blonde girl by the name of Montmorency.
But while most of the class was simply exasperated, Louise had a different well of emotions overflowing, one could call them anger, or perhaps sorrow.
"Wait! Someone is within the dust!" Another blond boy with slightly better manners called Guiche de Gramont spoke.
For indeed, it didn't take a master marksman to notice the clearly human silhouette amidst the debris gathered by the explosion.
A silhouette that Louise, even though she was still dazed by the insults, turned her eyes towards.
But once the smoke cleared itself, it became obvious he was no ordinary man.
An intricate armor made to fit his body perfectly, brilliant silver hair that was neither combed nor wild, even clothpieces that were expertly dyed with a purple hue.
Nobody knew what to say to him, for one the class expected an animal or some magical beast, not a noble knight.
But unlike them, Sir Galahad knew what he had to say.
Kneeling down he spoke, nay, declared to Louise what she needed to hear.
"I heard your call milady and I arrived, in accordance with the laws of the land I submit to your will" On saying such words, charged with such an authority most won't even believe it came from someone that looked their age, they couldn't formulate a response.
For indeed, it was a surprise to everyone, who would lower himself to a familiar? Was he tricked? Was he damaged by some unholy magic?
At first, those were the thoughts that everyone had, but they soon turned darker.
Was he an impersonator? A commoner that Louise brought and armed to lower her shame? The Vallieres were wealthy beyond relief after all so it wasn't impossible.
But would Louise lower herself to such depths?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, nobody questioned if Louise would do it, in their eyes she was already guilty.
And so a second passed
Two seconds passed
Finally, three seconds passed, and Louise had yet to move.
She was completely frozen in place, so frozen indeed that when the teacher in charge, a man by the name of Colbert, coughed to take her attention she didn't even register it.
Was this her salvation? Was this the miracle she prayed so hard to attain?
She didn't know, and that frightened her, for what if she was just being tricked? What if this was just a particularly cruel dream?
Colbert coughed a second time, and this time Louise reacted.
"I'm sorry mister Colbert, could you repeat what you said?" It was clear that she was panicking, the normally attentive Louise couldn't even focus her sight, let alone form a coherent response.
Instead, her mind was looking expectantly at Galahad, for although she hadn't heard his name, there was something primal which made her trust him.
It could be as simple as his apparent status, it may have been his willingness to help her, or maybe it was something else, for not even Louise knew the truth of her feelings.
On the other hand, Colbert was completely distrustful of the new arrival. For starters, it was completely unheard of for a Noble to summon another Noble as a familiar, and even more ludicrous for a Noble to pledge Loyalty without anything in exchange.
In the mind of the tanned teacher, this was too good to be true, in the best case this "knight" was just a fire-fox playing an illusion for his laughs. For although those foxes weren't particularly brave in the face of multitudes they did have a sense of "comedy" as they called it.
But as much as he distrusted the summoned creature, he couldn't risk angering a possible noble, after all, he hadn't outlived so many of his comrades by taking dumb risks.
He quickly tried using a simple fire spell, not conjuring a fireball at the noble, that would be dumb, but a spell to sense the properties of a fire. If the "noble" was just a fire-fox the spell would detect the illusory flames that the species use to twist the sight.
Negative, the spell didn't detect even a trace of flames.
This confused Colbert, maybe it wasn't a fire-fox afterall, as puzzling as that may be. And although Colbert didn't remember any other beast that took the guise of a noble he didn't discard the possibility.
Which is why, just in case, he casted other spells to detect the properties of water, air and earth. It wasn't unheard of for strong earth mages to be able to twist the light by coating themselves on an intricate glass, as much as it was far easier to twist the sight with fire.
But lo and behold, the result was negative, not even a trace of an elemental effect.
To say Colbert was puzzled was one thing, but with proof this wasn't an illusion he had to accept, as puzzling as it may be, the fact that the boy was indeed, a human.
But Louise's question didn't go unanswered, for even casting four spells was a quick endeavor for Colbert and he answered in his characteristic calm and harmless demeanor.
"It seems you have successfully summoned a Familiar, Miss Valliere. You may proceed with binding him, if it's not too much to ask." But as harmless as Colbert's answer was, not everyone seemed to react well to it.
Notably, Louise's classmates were murmuring all sorts of things, from nasty accusations to thinly veiled insults. All of them spoke of her in the same condescending way…
With the exception of one blue-haired girl that calls herself Tabitha. But it wasn't out of empathy or decorum, but rather an even more common emotion, even if it rarely manifests in this way.
But regardless of the insults thrown her way, Louise advanced towards her newly summoned knight.
She slowly yet surely placed herself in front of Galahad, her soft pink hair waving with the gentle breeze that filled the courtyard.
She had to do a simple task, recite an incantation she memorized months ago and give a gentle kiss to the knight. It was nothing out of the ordinary, for every one of her classmates had done the exact process with their familiars, even if they were mostly regular animals.
It may be because she was so close to succeeding for the first time in her life but she was frightened. So frightened that she almost mispronounced the incantation.
"In the name of the Blessed Pentagon of Virtue!" Her heart was pounding with such strength that she could feel her blood flowing from the soles of her feet all the way to her temple.
"As you have come to me side, let it be known that your will is true and your loyalty eternal! Become my familiar!" It was then that Louise, amidst her panic, gave a gentle kiss to Galahad's forehead.
The spell instantly started working as Galahad could feel how his body started to heat up. The spell was trying to invade his very essence so as to bind him to Louise.
And although Galahad was no decent mage, he could still understand the sheer magnitude that the spell worked with. Having your mother be a student of Morgan le Fay gives you some well needed knowledge of magical phenomena.
As far as Galahad knew, the spell was simply too powerful to have been casted by the lady in front of him. Maybe her chant was just an activation for a powerful spell woven in the land? He had heard that's how the summoning of Servants worked for most Magi in the modern era.
But even if the spell wasn't entirely casted by Louise, he allowed it to pass by lowering his natural Magic Resistance. It would be most inconvenient if the binding suddenly failed.
And so the spell started working, the very magic of Louise being tied to Galahad in a way he hadn't been linked to anyone since he helped miss Kyrielight.
It was one of the effects of such binding that a runic mark started to form on his left hand. A mark Galahad didn't bother with at all, for even if it was burning his skin, it was inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
Once the mark finished being imprinted, Galahad stood up and declared.
"The pact has been sealed, Master. From now on, I, Sir Galahad of the Perilous Seat, will be your familiar." It was a simple declaration, his name, title and mission.
A mage in the modern era would be delighted with the summoning. But not in Tristain, for Galahad omitted a crucial part of information in his declaration.
His house.
For the Nobles of Halkegenia who prided themselves on their ancestors, the complete omission of their lineage was tantamount to declaring their own status as a bastard.
But a Noble is still a Noble and they had to, at least, feign respect to the new addition.
"Ahem. Everyone has already summoned their Familiars so you all can return to your dormitories." It was with those words that Colbert dismissed everyone from the field.
Galahad and Louise were now both seated in her dormitory, with a cup of tea at each side of her small table and a brownie for each.
Both of them were reluctant to start the conversation that Louise so clearly wanted. For Louise, the reason was simple fear.
"Ahem, do you have… anything to say?" Louise hesitantly said, in a voice that was uncharacteristically sheepish.
"If you mean any demands on my part, then no, I only wish to help you." The tone with whom Galahad informed Louise was strange for her.
It wasn't angry, sad, happy or even uninterested. It was plain and absolute neutrality.
"Then does it bother you if I ask something? Nothing personal I just-" Louise's voice was becoming accelerated, going faster than she had talked with anyone in the academy.
"Ask away" But once again, Galahad's speech was neutrality personified.
"Then… which is your primary element? I'm… not exactly good at magic and need some start from where to go, you know?" And so Louise said her part. She looked downwards in expectation for Galahad's answer, in part wishing he would answer "Wind", but at this point in time she would take anything.
"Water and Earth. My family has always specialized in Water, even if my mother had an affinity with Earth."