Honourable Stupid - Chapter 2
Authors Note
Warning, Spoilers for Familia of Zero ahead.
Technically this is the first time I haven't dropped a story after writing the first chapter on this site. Well, I say that, but I do plan to go back and finish all the others, haha. Guess finally getting a job gave me more motivation. I'm planning on posting at least once a week, but that may change in the future. Please enjoy this chapter.
/-v-\
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He was walking through water. Schools of fish swam by, shimmering in the water like emeralds. He kept moving. Then he saw it, a cave entrance beneath the sea.
It was odd, it was almost as if he was dreaming...
Suddenly he awoke with a start.
To his surprise, Yared had indeed been asleep. That dream was the most vivid he could remember ever having, it was almost as if he was actually there.
Something felt off too. The bed covers felt unfamiliar. He felt like his mind was clear and sharp, but he always woke up groggy and lethargic these days, so why?
He blinked his eyes clear, and to his surprise, failed to recognise where he was.
A throat was cleared, drawing his attention. At the sight of the gently smiling middle aged woman with navy blue robes and holding a wand, he remembered where he was.
"Young man, I suggest you have some water. You've been out for the whole day." She passed him a wooden cup.
"Ah, thank you, Miss?" Yared sat up before gulping down the liquid, cringing somewhat at a strong flavour he didn't recognise. He blithely eyed Louise asleep on a chair by his bed.
"Agatha. I'm the head healer of the infirmary. You are now in perfect health, I suggest you take Miss Valliere to her room. It's getting late." She explained in an 'indoor voice'.
"Got it, thanks for looking after me Miss Agatha." Yared nodded in thanks, and then slowly got up.
Looking out the window, it was clearly rather late. He faintly wondered if he could see the twin moons of Halkeginia tonight.
Louise was deep asleep, and somewhat amusingly, drooling. That said, putting her to rest had a slight problem.
"Uh... Could you tell me where her dorm room is? I'm rather new here." He smiled helplessly at the Healer.
"This is the second floor of the Tower of Water. Miss Valliere's dorm is on the sixth floor of the Tower of Wind. Go up the stairs to the fifth floor and go east across the walls. The doors are named so you should have little trouble." She explained patiently.
"Ah, thanks. Oh, I nearly forgot, my names Yared Scott Miss Agatha. I should be on my way." Spying his bag on the ground by the bed, and putting on his light green fleece, Yared looked down at Louise. Princess carry it was.
Thanks to his trepidation over exploring a new building while carrying a young woman, Yared didn't hear Miss Agatha's worried mutter of, "How in Alfheimr was that man alive?"
/-v-\
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As he walked across the parapets of the Academy walls, Yared gazed longingly at the moons.
He didn't know their names. In the story he had read, the planet everything occurred on and the names of those two moons were never given.
The sleeping waif of a girl in his arms might tell him, he considered.
One Moon was pale white, almost silver. The other was a similar colour with a pink tint.
Both were larger than Earths own Luna. Or perhaps simply closer. He didn't remember enough of his Trigonometry to know how to calculate their sizes.
Though if what that noble, Malicorne spoke of about using wind magic to see far distance was true, his Chinese made 10x monocular would perhaps be able to see their surface in detail one day.
To his surprise, he saw several stars that looked bright enough to be planets. He had never heard of planets in the story, so knowing this star system resembled his own was fascinating.
Briefly, he pondered on whether they could reach those worlds with World Door. After all, Louise was able to teleport short distances with a Void spell...
As he made his way to the Tower of Wind he contemplated how he would explain the details of his situation to Louise.
He wanted to tell her about canon. Regardless of whether she believed him or not, the knowledge could save both lives, and themselves from a lot of trouble. That said, convincing her he was from another world entirely, that he had read about her in a book, that said book predicted her fiancée would betray her, on top of her being a Void mage.
Well, lets just say he wasn't looking forward to that conversation.
Finally, he found her room, he sighed in relief, having checked every door beforehand. Fortunately for him, just as in the story, the written words were some form of French. He had understood the voice through the portal, so he didn't actually know if they spoke French.
However, he came upon his first problem. The door was locked, and he had no key.
He looked down at his new charge and wondered how dangerous frisking a Noble in Tristain was.
After an embarrassing several minutes, he was inside the room. With Louise asleep in bed, and himself looking out the window with his monocular. While he couldn't speak for fear of waking up Louise, his monocular did have a clip for his phone. He might as well use it while he could.
As he recorded the extra-terrestrial objects, he dimly wondered how he would deal with his situation. It still didn't feel real.
For all intents and purposes, he was stranded here, without a family or support structure. Without Louise he would seriously struggle, so he was motivated to attempt to keep cordial relations between the two of them.
However, he did have his limits. While Saito hadn't been a paragon of virtue in the story, he hadn't received fair treatment at the start either. For now, he would keep things as professional as he could, if their relationship changed beyond that later on, that would be fine, but for now, he was a strange 21 year old in the room of 16 year old girl. He could hardly consider that normal even if the people here didn't mind it.
He shook his head with mirth and attempted to focus on happier thoughts. He had fore-knowledge of the future, and while it wasn't perfect, it would certainly be enough.
Colbert, he remembered from the story was a certified genius. He had discovered that gasoline was a fossil fuel, made from ancient micro-organisms in canon. Wait a minute, the anime had mentioned gasoline, but didn't planes use Kerosene fuel.
He realised suddenly, that while he had a near encyclopaedic knowledge of all things science and technology relating to Earth, his memory was by no means perfect, and he no longer had a global internet at his fingertips to double check what he felt was off.
Not to mention, his knowledge base for most things was rather wide, he never really delved particularly deep into a particular subject.
It's entirely possible his misconceptions would hinder as much as help Professor Colbert in whatever endeavours that they attempted.
He took out a torch, a pen and notebook. He only had 2 pens, and his notebook was mostly used up, so he would have to be careful for now. While he could purchase paper in Halkeginia, he would need a feather pen and ink after his two pens ran out of ink.
Quickly, he jotted down everything he knew about the Familiar of Zero story. It was more than he expected to his pleasure, and he was even able to remember a few differences between the events in the anime and light novel. He hadn't read the manga beyond chapter 1 and seeing a scan of a page that showed Gallian villagers with superhuman prowess.
From the summoning of Saito to the discovery of the true purpose of the Holy Land, he recorded it all.
Tomorrow, he would show Colbert and Louise how he arrived. If the footage didn't convince them, things would get tricky.
That said, he had plenty of videos of science and entertainment on his laptop. He could at least convince them he was from a very different land. He even had a few pictures of Earth and Mars somewhere.
First though, he would need some more rest.
He switched his phone off, shutting it down fully for the first time in months.
His solar powerbank would give him leeway, but sadly his laptop couldn't be charged by that.
Tomorrow he would show both Colbert and Louise how he arrived, and some basic footage of Earth. He had plenty of videos, music, and pictures on his laptop. He had always wondered why Saito's laptop wasn't a bigger deal in the light novel, maybe he would find out. As he rested on a bag of hay, his rucksack clutched to his chest, all he could think of was that strange dream of an underwater cave.
/-v-\
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"Get up." He shifted uncomfortably. The floor was hard.
"Wake up, familiar." Why was he sleeping on the floor? Weird. He flicked an eye open.
"Ah." Louise sternly frowned at him.
"My bad Miss Valliere, I'm afraid I was up a bit late the previous night." He made an excuse, but really with his atrocious sleep cycle, he wasn't surprised. Though looking at the window, the sun was still rising, it was still rather early, no doubt she had fallen asleep before the sun fell.
Louise sighed impatiently. "I'll overlook it this once."
He nodded in affirmation.
"Miss Valliere, I have some things to show you and Professor Colbert. That said, it can be left for later. What are your plans for today?" He remembered that students had two days off after the Familiar Summoning Ceremony. This was to get to know their familiars. However, he was different from the other familiars...
"For now, we should get breakfast. I have no plans for today... Yared." The girl rubbed the sleep from her eyes, clearly, she had only just woken up.
He decided to be upfront.
"Since for the moment I am relying on your goodwill, I would prefer that we start this relationship as that of an employer and employee. For the moment I can't return home, but I have confidence I can find a way in the future. Is this fine Miss Valliere?" He was not at all happy about the idea of dressing a girl and cleaning her clothes, but he did have to earn a living somehow.
"Eh, I suppose it's fine but... Do you think you can return? Where even are you from? Is this Great Britain from beyond Rub' al Khali?" She raised her eyebrows in consternation.
"Its a place far, far away. It will be much easier to show you, let's wait for Professor Colbert for that. That said, what will be the terms of my employment? My duties specifically?" He deflected the question.
"Hmm. A familiar is responsible for protecting their master, finding reagents, and can share their senses with their master. I can't expect you to do the first, I'm not able to access your senses either, so the second? Do you know what reagents there are?" Surprisingly enough, she hadn't thought this through yet. In the story she threw laundry duties at Saito, but I supposed I had made more of a first impression.
"Unfortunately, I am from a land alien to this one. While I could probably learn what reagents there are, I would be no more capable than any commoner trained in doing so. That said, I have reason to believe I might be more capable of fighting than you presume." He showed her his runes, they covered his left hand, and interestingly enough, appeared more like a tattoo than a brand.
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow.
"If I am right, these should grant an ability to wield weapons. Although I have never been trained to use weapons, I do have some experience from learning martial arts, specifically Karate as a child. I have heard that such styles of unarmed combat do translate to wielding weapons. That said, I'm lived a sedentary lifestyle for the last few years, so I'm not certain these runes will be enough without preparation." He resigned himself to having to do the girls chores.
"I see. Then since you are a commoner, I'll have you act as my servant." The girl huffed as if reluctant.
"That said, in return I will request time to work towards finding a way back." Yared was willing to deal with indignity. He was willing to deal with pain. He wasn't willing to ignore a chance to share his knowledge of Earth with geniuses like Colbert.
"I'll consider it." The girl dismissed.
"Now dress me." She stuck her arms out.
Truly, he had his work cut out for him...
/-v-\
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Yared sat in a lotus position.
Normally he wasn't flexible enough for this.
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, after finishing his rather basic meal he set about to meditation.
With the Nobles eating such luxurious food scant feet away, he would need his willpower in the coming weeks.
Something was off. He felt a weird buzz in his hand.
Perhaps he was imagining it? He steeled himself and cleared his mind once more.
His eyes closed, he didn't notice a red haired mage was approaching them.
"Oh, if it isn't the Zero." He could hear Louise gnashing her teeth. That didn't sound healthy.
"Zerbst!" She spat out, as if it was a rude word instead of a name.
"Pleasure to see you too. Oh, but what a shame. Your familiar doesn't hold a candle to mine after all. Dear Flame here is one of the finest Fire Salamanders I've ever seen." He was tempted to snark, but well, what was the point? He had more important things to worry about than pride, even if it wasn't his own.
Of course, his efforts to hold his concentration went utterly to waste when a big floppy tongue met his face.
"Huh. Dear me, what a friendly fellow you are." He wiped the saliva off his eyes with a handkerchief and patted the salamander's head gently.
Kirche appeared amused at her familiar's antics, but Louise was less than pleased.
"Oh, you get along well with my Flame commoner." She remarked, somehow appearing smug.
"Well, I have always been fascinated with Lizards. Can't say my homeland has any, so fire attuned as this chap though." He eyed the burning tail with befuddlement. What was this, Pokémon?
"Oh, hear that Zero, even your own familiar can't help but admit defeat." She preened. He raised an eyebrow before responding.
"Then again, I suppose that species that shoots boiling blood out of its eyes could be argued to have a fire alignment." He took pleasure in the confusion on the two nobles faces.
Kirche eyed him curiously. "You're lying. That sounds ridiculous."
"I swear it to be the truth, if I ever find a way back home, you can come see for yourself." He met her gaze with his own.
"Deal. I'll hold you to that." Louise appeared mollified by the tangent, or so he thought. She got up suddenly.
"Come Yared, I've lost my appetite, we're going to class." She raised her pink head and walked off, leaving the Alviss Dining Hall. He got up, and realised his body felt oddly light?
Confused at the changes to body, he never noticed the discerning gaze of a blue haired mage watching curiously.
/-v-\
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"Hello class. I will be your teacher regarding Earth Magic for this year. I am Chevreuse, and my Runic name is 'Red Clay.' Chevreuse the Red Clay." The middle aged brunette wearing purple robes looked around the lecture hall with a pleased expression.
She appeared to be looking at the various familiars of students. There were all sorts of fascinating creatures.
From Kirche's sleeping Salamander, to the collection of birds, cats and even dogs. Most at least resembled Earth life. A giant snake peaked in through the open windows, and I noticed Malicorne had an owl perched on his shoulders.
Then there was the exotic.
A floating eye that resembled the Beholder from D&D. A lizard with six legs. An octopus that could breathe air. A three headed snake.
There was even, a Manticore. The beast was a thing to behold. Yet its head was furred... How odd.
It was little wonder the professor had an interest in the familiars, seeing as different ones were summoned each year.
However, her eyes stopped when she saw me.
Now, Louise had acquiesced to me sitting on chairs outside the Alviss Dining Hall. Which is fortunate, as I'm not quite willing to suffer the indignity of sitting on the floor more than several times a day.
That said, why is Chevreuse looking at me? I'm pretty sure I'm not that odd compared to these creatures out of fantasy, right? I don't even have sunglasses on.
"My, my. You've summoned quite a... peculiar familiar, Miss Vallière." Just as she spoke, giggles broke out amongst the class.
She silenced them with a stern glare, but I could still hear whispers in the background.
"Now then, let's begin."
With a flourish of her wand, several pebbles appeared atop her desk.
"Do you know the four great elements of magic, Mister Gramont?"
The blonde answered eagerly, "Of course Mrs. Chevreuse. The four elements are fire, water, wind and my own element earth."
Chevreuse nodded before continuing.
"Along with the lost element of Void, that's five elements, each a corner of the Pentagon, the symbol of Tristain's magic academy." She paused, and with a flick of her wand several whispering students suddenly sat up straight.
She continued as if nothing had happened. I was a little bit concerned, I didn't even see what she did. Wasn't Chevreuse supposed to be a coward that let children go after a dangerous thief in the story?
"Now, of those four elements, I believe Earth magic holds the most importance. Not because I myself am an Earth mage, but because of how it provides the foundations for society. Earth magic is used in a variety of industries. In farms it allows a massively higher yield than commoners could achieve alone. It allows the cheap production and processing of metals, whereas mines are dangerous and expensive endeavours. It can even be used in construction, allowing great achievements of architecture and quick raising of large buildings." She paused.
"So today, we will be looking at the Earth magic spell, Transmutation." Chevreuse then flicked her wand, and the pebbles on her desk began to glow. When the light dissipated, shining lumps of brass remained.
Amidst the confused sputtering of several students, I raised a hand.
"Ah, I don't believe I've been asked a question by a familiar before. Please go ahead Mr..."
"Scott. It's Yared Scott. I am a foreigner, so please do forgive my curiosity, but you just turned rock to metal there. From what my people have learned that process can only happen in the core of the largest of stars." I had considered this before, but shouldn't that take a vast amount of energy?
"Oh, really? I don't believe I've heard of such a theory before?" She appeared skeptical. I waved it off.
"Ah it's pretty solid information, they've tested the process in particle colliders. Though we can only make amounts of gold too tiny to see with the naked at the moment. That said, does your Transmutation spell work on organics? Say trees?" He had to know. Imagine the possibilities.
"It certainly could. Though such a thing would be quite difficult as living things are made from many different materials. You see, it's more difficult to cast Transmute on a material with lots of impurities. Or to create a material with impurities." She responded patiently.
"Ah, thank you for the answer." This was a rather interesting piece of information. Imagine changing the element of nanotubes for example, or a diamond? Or other exotic materials. If I could secure a way back to Earth, this would have so many ramifications.
I only then noticed several students had hands raised.
"Um, Mrs Chevreuse? Is that gold?" Kirche asked.
"No, it's brass. Only Square Class mages can transmute gold, perhaps Mr Scott would be able to enlighten us on why." Several people sighed at that for some reason.
"Ah, of course, I'll provide an abridged explanation." I replied eagerly, after all this was my favourite subject. Louise looked at me oddly.
"You see, elements, that is material rather than magical elements are distinguished by the size of their atoms. Atoms are made of smaller particles called protons, neutrons, and electrons. Gold has a greater number of these than most other metals, which is why it is so dense. Now, creating Gold requires an insane amount of energy. Only the death of the largest and most short-lived of stars creates Gold. So, it would make perfect sense that only Square class mages would possess the power to transmute Gold."
As I rambled on, I noticed several students were taking notes. Perhaps they had been more impressed by my cheap Chinese smartphone than I had realised... Maybe I should thank Colbert later.
"Fascinating Mr Scott. Now then, class I would like a volunteer to attempt Transmute." At this Louise raised her hand as if she was lightning.
"Ah, Miss Valliere. Since your familiar has been so enlightening, please do go ahead."
Several students panicked at this.
"Um wait Mrs Chevreuse, the Zero is..." At their mouths being filled with Red Clay without the teacher batting an eye I raised an eyebrow.
As a blue haired girl I guessed to be Tabitha getting up and leaving the room, the other eyebrow joined it.
I turned to Louise.
"You can do it Louise. Believe in the me that believes in you!" She huffed at my encouragement but didn't respond. The corner of her mouth was crinkled upwards slightly, however.
She walked down to the desk at the bottom of the lecture hall and drew her wand.
I made sure to unclench my teeth and squinted my eyes. Fortunately, I had left my bag and sunglasses in her room.
As she took out her wand and prepared to chant. I made certain to watch closely.
Hopefully I could uncover some clues about her Void magic. We didn't have access to the Founders Prayer Book and the Ruby of Water yet, and likely wouldn't for a while. Worst case scenario, we might never have access to them.
Once I convinced Louise of my origins, and to at least consider the validity of my memories of Zero No Tsukaima, getting her to master her Void magic was a top priority.
With the windstone crisis, invading Reconquista, Elves that would kidnap us, and Gallian assassins among the other countless threats, we would need every single advantage.
Chevreuse stood next to Louise and smiled.
"Now listen closely, Miss Vallière, you have to visualize vividly the metal that you wish to transmute the pebble into. It's properties, such as hardness and weight. It's appearance, such as colour and pattern. It's uses such as potions or tools." Chevreuse advised the young girl on the details of her craft with a passion.
Yet the rest of the class cringed in fear, with some students hiding beneath their desks.
At the last moment Louise caught my eye, I nodded to her gave her a smile and a thumbs up.
She waved her wand.
As she pursed her lips to begin the incantation, she looked rather picturesque. The foreign words that left her lips, for some reason weren't translated? They sounded Norse, I would guess they might be similar to the languages spoken by Vikings of old.
Louise closed her eyes in concentration before uttering a short word. Most likely a rune of some kind.
She flourished her wand elegantly.
The pebbles. All of them, began to shine a radiant, electric blue.
They quickly filled the room with light, but I kept staring at them.
It felt like the world was frozen.
Looking at the pebbles, all at once.
They all promptly vanished, and my world was replaced by chaos.
Louise and Mrs Chevreuse went flying, smoke rose to the ceiling.
I flinched back as the blast wave pushed me back into my seat.
Frightened familiars ran amok. Kirche's Salamander let lose jets of panicked fire. A manticore leaped through the window sending shards of glass flying. The giant snake slithered through the window and attempted to eat someone's familiar.
I stood up. Back straight, chin up.
I pointed at Louise.
"It's okay Louise. You tried your best. You'll just have to try again next time! I believe in you!" I smiled reassuringly. She didn't seem re-assured.
"As I was trying to tell you, the Zero's success rate is ZERO!" Kirche seemed a little resentful of having her mouth filled with clay. Neat.
Louise wasn't fazed in the slightest. She wiped off the soot on her face with a handkerchief.
"Looks like I messed up a little..." She stated in a dull monotone.
The teacher's eye twitched.
/-v-\
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