After making sure it was indeed Andvarti's ring Tabitha and Sylphid flew her to Lake Lagdorian, wherein she threw the ring into the water. A few seconds later the water spirit emerged.

"Your ring as promised."

"We thank you for finding and returning our treasure so promptly."

"No worries, honestly I got lucky finding it so quickly. Just keep a better eye on it next time."

"Do you not seek a reward for our treasure's return?"

"I find and return the ring, you stop flooding the world and return the water level to normal, that was the deal. I don't need a reward."

"Very well, once again we thank you."

She nodded and walked back to where Sylphid and Tabitha were waiting behind her.

"Thank you," whispered Tabitha once she was in ear shot.

"Don't mention it."

The next day both she and Saito were called to the palace. Tabitha and Sylphid gave her a ride whilst Saito used the prepared carriage.

They were really only there to watch Louise receive a medal, and be thanked by Prince Wales and Princess Henrietta.

She hated things like this, not that she'd let it show. Instead she just nodded and silently prayed they'd be done soon.

The moment they were dismissed she was out the door faster then anyone could blink. Spotting Tabitha waiting outside she opened a window and jumped down.

"Can we go?"

Tabitha closed her book and nodded.

They mounted Sylphid and took off back to the academy.

"Are you alright?" asked Tabitha.

"I'll live."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I just don't like being thanked or praised for killing people."

Tabitha merely squeezed her hand around her waist in silent support.

"MIKOTO!" cried Saito rushing over to where she and Tabitha were reading against the tower wall, whilst wearing the most gaudy glasses she'd ever seen.

"What are you wearing?"

"Louise gave these to me saying they were a present, but every time I stare at other girls they light up. Please get them off!"

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" roared Louise running up to them.

"Come here," Mikoto sighed and he gratefully crawled closer.

"OI MIKOTO STOP IT!"

Holding the edge of his glasses she channelled electricity between her fingers, breaking part of the glasses. Now broken the came off easily.

"Thank you so much," bowed Saito.

"You're welcome."

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR!" roared Louise and Saito flinched pushing himself against the wall next to her.

"Vallière, Saito is a teenage boy of course he's going to look at girls. Forcing him to look only at you and injuring him when he doesn't is classed as domestic abuse, though you probably don't realise it. Saito is his own person and doesn't have to stay with you, I'm sure if he asked he could get his own room in the servants quarters, and with the connections he's made at the Academy he doesn't need to rely on you to live here. He can leave you whenever he wants and if you don't stop this abusive behaviour towards him, he will."

"He can't do that he's my familiar!"

"So am I technically, yet I share a room with Tabitha and don't usually interact with you beyond what's necessary. I don't like you Vallière but I understand you have problems, the fact your explosions don't really hurt people despite your element's nature is the only reason I haven't done anything. If you were casting an actual spell and not just expelling excess magic the result would be far more devastating. Besides it's his choice."

"Saito come here!" ordered Louise.

Poor Saito was looking between her and Louise clearly not knowing what to do.

"Do what you feel is in your best interest," advised Mikoto.

He frowned and stared at the ground.

"COME HERE!"

"No. I can't take it anymore, the shouting, the controlling, the explosions, the whipping. I can't-"

"Whipping?!" interrupted Mikoto alarmed before her sharpened eyes locked onto Louise. "You whip him."

She flinched and took a step back, "I-I..."

"Tabitha, I'm sorry but I'm going to be late to practice today," she said standing up.

"I understand."

"Valliére, Saito, let's go," she marched towards the girls dorms.

Saito quickly rushed after her though Louise tried to run, she was immediately captured with iron sand and dragged after them. Protesting and insulting them all the way until they made it to Louise's room.

Opening the door she dumped Louise in the corner and closed the door.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"If I find any whips in here then we are going straight to the headmaster," warned Mikoto, "and don't think for a second you can escape me."

She then went about searching the room and almost immediately found a riding crop, placing it on the table she resumed her search.

10 minutes later she'd found 3 more riding crops, a long whip and 2 chains.

Grabbing the offending items she nodded to Saito who opened the door and she wrapped Louise in iron sand, only this time she grabbed her wand as well.

They made good time to the headmaster's office, everyone quickly moving out of her way at the murderous glare on her face. Only Colbert had the confidence to follow them to ensure she didn't kill someone.

Knocking loudly she was immediately granted entry.

Marching into the room she dumped the whips and chains on his desk.

"I do not condone torture."

Osmond stared at her for a moment clearly trying to get his thoughts together, "Miss Mikoto please start from the beginning."

"All I know is Vallière has being torturing Saito with these whips. I don't know when it started since I only found out 20 minutes ago, but I'd imagine it wouldn't be long after our summoning."

Osmond nodded, "Thank you for coming to me and not handling the situation yourself."

"Be aware if you don't do anything about this then I will, and I know how to make it look like an accident."

"O-Of course."

She nodded and stepped to the side next to Colbert.

"Miss Valliére please explain this to me," Osmond gestured to the whips and chains on his desk.

"I was simply disciplining my familiar," was Louise's answer.

Mikoto understood Osmond was in a tight spot, legally Louise had every right to torture not only Saito but her as well. The reason for this was to magic society they were familiar's before they were humans, and she had just threatened Osmond to find a way around the law and prevent Louise from physically abusing Saito ever again.

"I understand that but Saito is a commoner and physically abusing him sets a bad president for future mages," said Osmond.

Wracking her brain Mikoto tried to find anything that could possibly push the odds in her favour.

"He's my familiar before he's a commoner."

"No he's not," Mikoto interrupted having found what she needed.

"What! Of course he is!" argued Louise.

"You gave him a letter saying he was fired, which means he's not in your service anymore, as a servant or as a familiar."

Everyone turned to Saito who pulled out out a folded piece of paper and passed it to Osmond.

"Miss Vallière did you write this letter?" asked Osmond glancing up from the paper.

"Y-Yes but-"

"Then Miss Mikoto is correct, by giving this to Mr Saito you have removed him from your service. With this he is no longer your familiar and you have no right to treat him as such. Unless of course Mr Saito decides he wants to stay in your service."

"OF COURSE HE DOES!"

"Mr Saito?"

"I-I..."

"Deep breath Saito, it's a yes or no question. If you want to stay as Vallière's familiar say 'yes' if you don't say 'no'," said Mikoto.

He took a deep breath, "No."

"Then it's settled, Mr Saito is now just a commoner and will be temporarily employed by the academy. I shall have a room in the servants quarters prepared for you."

"Thank you sir," Saito bowed.

Osmond nodded, "Before that I need to know has Miss Vallière 'disciplined' you at all after you received this letter?"

"Not physically but she gave me strange magic glasses that lit up when I looked at women."

"I see, would it be fair to say that despite the letter Miss Vallière wasn't entirely aware you weren't her familiar anymore, and now the situation had been made clear she knows not to try anything else. Besides it would be quite scandalous for a noble to fall for a commoner."

"I suppose that's fine," answered Saito and she nodded when Osmond glanced at her.

"Unfortunately I won't be able to punish Miss Valliére for her actions due to the fact they took place before Mr Saito received this letter."

"I understand," answered Mikoto and Osmond breathed a sigh of relief.

"Excellent," he waved his wand producing 5 copies of the letter and levitating one to her, one to Louise and one to Saito. "I shall send this one to the palace to let them know of Saito's new status. If that was all..."

Louise stormed out, slamming the door behind her and leaving Saito to stare worriedly after her.

"Don't," said Mikoto and everyone turned to her, "right now there's a voice in your head telling you to go after her, to go back to being her familiar. I know because the same voice is in my head. From what I understand that voice is the result of the runes stressing obedience to the person who branded us. I did some research and apparently the impulse to obey Vallière will get stronger as time goes on, and there are only 3 ways to stop it. The first, find a way to get rid of the runes and wait for the impulses to fade. The second, find someone who can get rid of the obedience command tied within the runes. The third, kill the person who branded us."

"But then how will I know the difference between my decisions and what the runes are making me decide?" asked Saito worriedly.

"For me if I ever choose Vallière over Tabitha for anything, then the runes have taken over my mind. I can tell their rate of progress by how strong the impulses are, right now I can still ignore them but sooner or later I'm going to start having to distract myself whenever one takes hold."

"So if I find someone I'd choose over Louise I'd be able to tell when the impulses are affecting me."

"And that person could help you ignore them as they get stronger."

"I see, but who?"

"Personally I recommend Siesta."

"Siesta," he lit up, "thanks Mikoto."

"No worries," she said as he rushed out the door, swinging it shut behind him.

"Was all that true?" asked Colbert after a moments silence.

"Every word. I've thought of a few possible solutions but they're not ideal."

"What are they?"

"Use void magic to remove the runes, cut off our hands and kill Vallière, are what I've thought of so far."

"Awfully drastic don't you think?" said Osmond paling.

"You're not in our situation so you don't understand. Right now I'm still myself but as time goes on the person you know as Mikoto Misaka will be pushed away, and replaced with someone who will obey Vallière's every whim, agree with everything she says and be her devout follower for the rest of their life. What was really happening wouldn't have been immediately noticeable, especially since Saito doesn't like confrontations and I don't interact with her very much. But it would've probably started with Saito giving in to her slightly quicker and being more willing to do things he was usually reluctant to. You wouldn't think anything was wrong as time progressed either because you'd get used to Saito giving into Vallière, and even he wouldn't have known what was truly happening."

"That's horrible," breathed Colbert.

"I'm rather surprised you haven't confronted Miss Vallière about this," commented Osmond.

"I doubt she knows anything, void magic is so beyond rare that the only record of it I've found was when Brimir used it some 6000 years ago. Looking up Brimir all I really understood was you consider him a god and believe elves to be evil, which isn't very helpful. There isn't really anything on the summoning ritual or on runes either, and I've discovered your society really doesn't like experimenting on or with anything."

Honestly when she'd thought about this world's magic society as a whole the first word that came into her head was, lazy. They used boats to fly despite them being aerodynamically one of the worst choices. They had no information on how the summoning ritual actually worked, only how to get it to work. They used magic for literally everything. Their knowledge on other race's was limited to how evil elves were. She could do more with her lightning than they could with wind, water, earth and fire at their disposal. The only exception she'd met was Tabitha, but she'd been forced into a position where she couldn't be lazy if she wanted to survive.

"I shall ask the palace for any information about the summoning ritual, runes and void magic for you," said Osmond. "The academy will help you in any way it can."

Whether he was saying that because he actually cared about her and Saito, or wanted to lower the chances of her resorting to killing Vallière if she failed to find a solution was debatable. Probably a bit of both, but it was helpful none the less.

"Thank you."