Louise was fuming as she walked to class, she couldn't believe she'd forgotten about the exhibition and now Saito was going to embarrass her in front of everyone again.
Taking her seat she held in a growl as Kirche sat behind her.
"So Louise where's my darling? I haven't seen him today."
Louise was just about to bite back a retort when Mikoto walked into the room following Tabitha.
Standing abruptly she seemingly teleported over to her, "Mikoto I need you to participate in the familiar exhibition tomorrow!"
"Why" Mikoto drawled.
"Because if you don't everyone's going to laugh at me again."
Mikoto stared at her for a few seconds, "I refuse."
"B-but" Louise was interrupted by their teacher walking into the class.
"Alright class back to your seats" Louise reluctantly obeyed.
"For those that weren't here yesterday my name is Professor Chevreuse, I am an earth mage and my runic name is Red Earth now as you know the four elements of magic are fire, water, earth and air and whilst yesterday was just a taster session to see what you could do today I'm going to teach you all a new spell" she placed some pebbles on her desk.
"The words are ren, ine, yan" she pointed her wand at the pebbles, said the words and turned them into brass, although most people thought it was gold.
"Now lets see if one of you can cast this spell" she scanned the room, "you near the back taking notes."
Louise looked up surprised she hadn't expected to be called upon, not with her reputation.
"Me?" she pointed to herself.
Chevreuse smiled "yes, what is your name?"
Louise stood up "Louise ma'am, my name is Louise Francois de la Valière."
Mikoto's blinked in surprise surely the teachers here weren't that stupid.
Even the other students looked really nervous and started saying it was dangerous and a bad idea.
Unfortunately Louise took their comments as insults and decided to try anyway.
Mikoto followed Tabitha out the room and waited.
A few seconds later came the anticipated explosion.
Mikoto waited a minute more before opening the door to inspect the damage.
The windows were shattered, the walls burned, the table destroyed, Louise's clothes were damaged but she appeared otherwise fine, the rest of the class were fine but Chevreuse was unconscious.
Mikoto did not envy the person cleaning up although if they used magic they'd probably be done pretty quickly.
"Look's like I screwed up a little bit" muttered Louise nonchalantly.
Mikoto raised an eyebrow.
"What part of this is 'a little'" demanded a chubby blond boy.
"Your magical success rate is zero" shouted Guiche.
"Louise the Zero" shouted Kirche as others also started shouting insults.
Mikoto looked around the room in shock which quickly turned to anger, didn't these idiots know anything!
"Is everyone alright?" exclaimed Colbert as he burst into the room.
"Chevreuse is unconscious but everyone else appears fine" Mikoto answered curtly as others also answered.
He nodded in thanks before ordering Louise to Headmaster Osmonds office whilst he got everything under control.
Mikoto sat in the classroom with Tabitha as Chevreuse was whisked off to the infirmary and Colbert announced that they now had a free period.
"I can't believe Louise the Zero actually tried that spell" ranted Kirche as Montmorency nodded in agreement.
Mikoto frowned as she walked behind them next to Tabitha.
She would've argued back but she was more concerned about Tabitha, ever since the explosion she'd stopped reading had a strange look in her eyes.
Encountering Louise on the stairs Kirche started mocking her asking if she was finally going to be expelled.
Louise kept walking she said they'd decided not to punish her because it was partly the teachers fault.
Kirche and Montmorency laughed again.
"I'm just having a bad day that's all" muttered Louise.
"Yeah well you're always having a bad day, you can't even get a real code name Louise the Zero."
"Why don't you be quiet!" shouted Louise.
"Valière" interrupted Mikoto.
"What do you want" she demanded harshly but Mikoto could see the pain in her eyes.
"The exhibition tomorrow, I'll do it."
All mages present were surprised/shocked, having all heard Mikoto refuse back in the classroom.
"You really mean it?" asked Louise hopefully.
"Yes" said Mikoto walking back down the stairs, "and if you're nice to me I might even tell you what your element is."
"Really?" Louise practically glowed with happiness.
"What are you talking about? Louise doesn't have an element" called Kirche.
Mikoto ignored her and kept walking intent on finding Saito so they could practise.
10 minutes later she found him outside the kitchen trying to swing a long sword that was clearly too heavy for him.
"Saito."
He flinched, lost his grip on the sword and fell back onto his bum.
"M-Mikoto, w-what brings you here?" he asked nervously.
Mikoto was saddened at his reaction, "I was looking for you."
"W-what for?" Saito gulped.
"I thought we could practise together for the exhibition tomorrow, though it seems you've already got an idea of what you're going to do" she looked at the rusty long sword in dire need of some TLC.
"Y-Yeah" said Saito as he shakily tried to stand.
"So for the exhibition how about a sword fight?"
"S-Sword fight?" stuttered Saito, "a-against y-you?"
He went white when she nodded.
"T-That's ok, I can do the exhibition myself no big deal."
"You know I'm not going to hurt you, right?" asked Mikoto sadly.
Saito flinched.
"You should take her up on that offer partner, you might not get laughed at if you do" said Derflinger.
"A talking sword" muttered Mikoto as Saito contemplated Derflinger's words.
"You won't use your ability?" asked Saito tentatively.
"Only to create a sword but otherwise no."
Saito nodded before reluctantly agreeing.
Standing 20 meters apart, Mikoto formed her iron sand sword and stood ready.
Saito took a nervous breath before also holding Derflinger in the ready position.
Mikoto's eyes narrowed when Saito's left hand lit up but asked if he was ready.
"Ready" called Saito.
"Alright then, in 3" Saito exhaled, absently noting how light Derflinger now felt.
"2" he tensed ready.
"1" he blocked out his surroundings only focusing on Mikoto.
"Go" he charged.
"Where did you learn how to wield a sword?" asked Mikoto after their spar absently noting his hand had stopped glowing.
"I-I didn't" panted Saito, he was exhausted whilst Mikoto didn't look like she'd broken a sweat although her injuries were starting to bother her.
"It's the power of Gandàlfr" inputted Derflinger.
"Gandàlfr?" asked Mikoto.
"The Gandàlfr has the ability to wield any weapon" bragged Derflinger.
Saito stared at his runes in surprise.
"Then why couldn't he wield you properly before?"
Derflinger thought for a moment, "to be honest I'm not really sure I thought it might have something to do with the runes but..."
"They worked during our spar" finished Mikoto.
"I wonder if it has something to do with your emotions" Mikoto addressed Saito.
"My emotions?" Saito tilted his head.
Mikoto nodded, "when you were having trouble practicing earlier what were you feeling?"
"I wasn't really feeling anything" answered Saito, "I mean I was frustrated and tired but..."
"Your heart wasn't in it so your runes didn't activate" Mikoto reasoned, "I don't think that'll be a problem tomorrow because they activated during our spar but it's defiantly worth knowing."
"In any case as long as our performance tomorrow goes something like our spar today I'm sure we'll be fine" Mikoto stood up, "well I see you later or tomorrow then."
"Yeah, see ya" muttered Saito as Mikoto walked away, she was so different to how the media portrayed her he didn't really know what to think anymore.
A few hours later Mikoto stood next to Tabitha watching 3 carriages enter Academy grounds.
It was pretty obvious that whoever was in the middle carriage was royalty and Mikoto thought they were pretty stupid to travel in plain slight like that.
She heard the crowd gasp when the Princess stepped out and Kirche declare that she was prettier but decided she'd rather be elsewhere and quickly left to get something to eat.
"So we're going to have a sword fight for the exhibition tomorrow" informed Mikoto as she and Saito stood in Louise's room giving her the rundown of what they'll be doing.
Louise nodded, "do you even have a sword?" she asked Mikoto.
Mikoto nodded but didn't elaborate.
Louise looked confused, "why don't you just use your lightning magic?"
Mikoto frowned but a knock at the door prevented her retort.
Saito quickly opened it only to be pushed aside by a young woman in a cloak.
Mikoto raised an eyebrow at the princesses entry, "you know it's considered rude to barge into someones room without being granted entry, princess."
"P-Princess" Louise stuttered as Henrietta sheepishly lowered her hood.
"How did you know?" asked Henrietta surprised she'd been figured out.
"Your dress."
"Hey don't speak so casually to the princess" growled Louse.
Mikoto snorted uncaringly as Henrietta enveloped Louise in a hug.
Saito could only point dumbly as Louise kneeled and proclaimed her room wasn't good enough for the princess.
Mikoto rolled her eyes and lent against the wall with her arms crossed.
It wasn't hard to figure out they were childhood friends and Henrietta had clearly missed Louise if her tears were anything to go by.
"You must be Mikoto" Henrietta turned addressing her.
Mikoto nodded surprised to be put in the spotlight.
"I wanted to thank you for saving those girls from Mott, I knew he was pompous but I never thought he was capable of..." she grit her teeth and turned away tears in her eyes.
Mikoto put a hand on her shoulder and nodded in understanding.
Henrietta smiled slightly, "I wanted you to know he's been stripped of his nobility and will spend the rest of his life in prison, his lands have been seized and all his money given to the victims as compensation and to help them rebuild their lives, also because of his actions a lot of things were called into question and I've ordered a through investigation of all nobles in my court I don't explicitly trust, the investigation is still ongoing but around half of those investigated so far have been arrested."
Mikoto was stunned she hadn't expected anything to come of the incident with Mott but right now her respect for the princess just skyrocketed.
"Thank you" she whispered full of gratitude.
"Louise I think you've summoned two amazing familiars" Henrietta smiled.
"They're alright, I guess" she muttered turning away.
After a few more minutes of conversation Henrietta had to leave, after thanking Louise for the enjoyable evening Mikoto decided to walk her back.
"You know" Mikoto started "next time you decide to sneak into the girls student dorm to visit a friend you might want to choose a different disguise."
"How so?" asked Henrietta.
"You look really shady in that cloak and the people here aren't very observant, I wouldn't put it past someone to attack you thinking you were an intruder."
"I hadn't thought of that" admitted Henrietta, "I was more intent on not getting caught."
"The best hiding method involves blending in with your surroundings, next time acquire a school uniform and tie your hair back people will be less likely to pay attention to you."
"You sure know a lot about hiding."
Mikoto lowered her head sadly leaving Henrietta to draw her own conclusions.
"Freedom is the best treasure after all" muttered Hentrietta.
"I couldn't agree more."
The next morning the exhibition was well underway and both Mikoto and Saito were waiting for their turn.
Currently Tabitha and Sylphid were flying over the audience performing some acrobatic maneuvers.
"That was Sylphid and her master Tabitha, next up are Louise de la Valière and her familiars Mikoto and Saito" Colbert announced.
Mikoto and Saito nodded to each other before walking onto the stage.
They stood opposite each other and held their swords ready as Louise stood in the middle.
"Ready" she called as both Mikoto and Saito nodded, "then fight!" Louise jumped backwards as the two combatants charged at each other.
Mikoto skidded under Saito's horizontal slash and went for a diagonal slash against his back.
Saito spun around and quickly intercepted her blade.
Adjusting her grip Mikoto slid her blade across his getting behind him and causing him to fall forwards.
She struck at his legs but he jump rolled out the way and held his blade up in the ready position again.
The crowd cheered at the impressive display of swordsmanship.
The fight continued until Saito disarmed Mikoto whose sword dissolved mid air.
Mikoto smiled slightly as Derflinger was pointed at her neck, "I surrender."
The crowd clapped and cheered as Saito helped Mikoto up and bowed to the audience before walking off the stage to where a very happy Louise was waiting.
Finished another chapter next up is Fouquet.
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Till next time.