Author's Note: I am sorry for the long delay, but personal matters have conspired to distress me to the point that I could not write.
This chapter is written in loving memory of my grandmother, who passed away yesterday, aged 88. The world is a poorer place with her passing and I will miss her desperately.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Zero no Tsukaima. So there.
"Saito" -Talking
'Louise' -Thinking/ Human-Human Telepathy
"Explosion!" -Spell
:Master: -Master/Familiar Telepathy
Chapter 4: Settling In
Headmaster's Office, Tristain Academy for Magic
Saito and Louise stood side by side in front of Old Osmond's desk, while the man himself was chuckling away for some reason.
In an aside to Louise, Saito asked her quietly, "Is he always like this?"
"Most of the time he is lecherous towards his secretary." Louise replied equally quietly, "But this is the first time I've seen -or even heard of! - him sitting giggling for five minutes straight."
"My apologies." Osmand said after he finished chortling a few minutes later, "I was merely amused at seeing Mr Colbert run so fast from that last spell of yours, Mr Saito."
The Onmyōji blushed. "Yeah, well I would have run in his position. Honestly, I didn't expect the Twofold Incantation to be so…powerful. I underestimated how much more powerful the local ambient magic field is here compared to my world." he explained ruefully.
"By how much?" Louise asked curiously.
"At least double." Saito replied, "My Talismans are designed to use a small percentage of my magic in concert with manipulating the ambient magic itself in order to fully power the spell. In addition, I have added to the spell framework on my talismans that only activates whenever I attempt a fire spell. It either draws double the amount of ambient fire magic or enforces three times the usual amount of control over it, whichever is needed more."
"An interesting addition." Louise looked thoughtful, "I take it Fire magic is not one of your strengths?"
"It's my weakest magic by far." Saito admitted, "Half the time, my spells fizzle out or explode in my face, even with my enhanced talismans. It's pretty embarrassing to tell the truth."
Louise felt giddy. Saito understood. He understood, as no one else could, how she felt when her spells blew up, when she suffered constant ridicule because of her failures.
Old Osmond stifled a chuckle as he saw the look in the young noble's eyes: amazement and wonder. Yes, this would be a good thing for her. The youngest daughter of the Duke de Vallière had become somewhat of a recluse when not in class or eating since her abysmal spell casting abilities had become evident halfway through her first year.
At first, the teaching staff had thought that she would keep a stiff upper lip and ignore the teasing, which was lead by Miss Zerbst, but she had retreated into herself after a letter received from home.
Osmond suspected the letter had told the young noble exactly how her eldest sister felt about her 'constant and unceasing disgracing of the Noble House of de Vallière', as the woman had practically screamed at Louise during a visit earlier on in the year.
Osmand shuddered. Éléonore Albertine Le Blanc de La Blois de La Vallière was infamous for inheriting the abrasive and sharp tongue of her mother, Karin 'le Vent Fort' (The Heavy Wind), a Square Mage who specialised in wind magic. Éléonore was also absolutely convinced of her own rectitude in all things, so she was typically avoided like the plague whenever possible by anyone who wasn't actively trying to court her.
Deciding to move things along, Osmond cleared his throat in order to draw the attention of the two young people in the room.
"AHEM. Yes, well, that is actually why I would like to ask you something Mr Saito." Osmand said as he peered into Saito's eyes piercingly, "Have you given any thought to the request I made before the duel?"
Saito had to think for a moment before he recalled that Osmand wished him to tutor his 'master' in magic.
"I think that you had better explain your proposal to my…master…before we go any further, Osmand." Saito said carefully, "My acceptance would be contingent on her own."
"What are you two talking about?" Louise asked with a frown. Osmand quickly brought the pinkette up to speed on what he had asked of Saito.
"But…he's my Familiar!" Louise protested, "If Von Zerbst hears that my own Familiar is teaching me magic, I'll never hear the end of it!"
"I doubt that Miss Zerbst will find out so long as you don't tell her." Osmond countered.
"How? We will need a space to practice!" Louise demanded, "All the classrooms are in use all day and my room is almost falling apart from my own practice sessions. Where will we practice?!"
"In the sitting room of the married couple's suite I'm moving you both into." Osmond replied cheerfully.
Silence ruled the room for a moment as the two young magic users stared incredulously at the old man, rendered temporarily speechless by the Headmaster's announcement.
Finally, Saito shook his head and asked quietly, "Are you insane? Once the students find out, they'll have me in bed with her before the day is out!"
Louise's face flushed a bright red that clashed with her long pink hair at Saito's words, but she was forced to concede that he spoke the truth. The very instant this information was propagated amongst the students, Von Zerbst for one would ensure that Louise's reputation was dragged through the mud and blemished at the first opportunity.
Osmond frowned for a moment. "Surely not." he protested, "I find it hard to believe that the students would be so cruel as to imply something of that nature."
The Onmyoji rolled his eyes in exasperation at the Headmaster's words. "As I told you before Osmond, teenagers are ego personified." Saito said, his voice slightly exasperated, "That means that jockeying for social position is far more important than it should be and is far more vicious than it should be. Nothing is sacred at our age, even if it is none of our concern. The fact all the students are aristocrats just exacerbates things more, because they are quite likely to bring their family pride into the whole mess."
"Hmmm…." Osmond looked thoughtful, "I see. This is most troublesome. Miss Vallière, do you agree with Mr Saito's hypothesis?"
"Y-Yes." Louise nodded sourly, "Von Zerbst will be the forerunner in the rumour mill, but there will be plenty of others eager to throw mud at the brick wall."
Osmond's face merely frowned again, but internally, he was baffled. Such obvious and hurtful power plays had not been the norm when he had attended the Academy as a student. Was Miss Zerbst trying to start a blood feud? Regardless of the fact that her family and Miss Vallière's were already at loggerheads, such actions as had just been described to him would be a dangerous provocation even if the two families had allied with one another.
The crux of the problem lay with Louise and her perceived position at the bottom of the Academy's social ladder due to her ability -or lack thereof, not to put too fine a point on it- with spells. That, in addition to her eldest sister's disapproval, was likely what had emboldened Miss Von Zerbst to act in such a brazen manner.
The aged headmaster turned a firm look upon the worried pinkette and said, "Don't worry Miss Vallière. I will have words with Miss Zerbst and inform her that her conduct towards you has grown far in excess of what is tolerated at this Academy. Any further actions such as what she has done in the past will not be tolerated and will lead to severe punishment for her if she doest rein herself in."
Seeing Louise's astonished face, Osmond chuckled and added, "As unlikely as it might seem to you Miss Vallière, the Academy does have an upper limit to how much bullying we will tolerate. Miss Zerbst has reached that limit and, if your certainty of what her reaction will be is genuine, it is apparent that she had reached it a long time ago whilst we instructors took no notice. For that, I apologise profusely. It seems I will have to be a bit more explicit with the teaching staff on just why the noble rank of the students is to be ignored within the walls of the Academy…"
He trailed off and began to mutter to himself whilst the two teenagers exchanged a look with each other, disbelief in the seeming senility of the man before the two of them upon their faces.
At length, Saito coughed to return the old man's attention to the two of them.
"AHEM! So, are you going to insist on moving us into a couple's suite?" he asked, a hint of panic in his voice, "Surely a dorm room of some sort would be less…scandalous."
"No, that would be counterproductive." Osmond swiftly countered, "That would undermine your status as a qualified mage. What I believe would be appropriate is if you took Miss Vallière here as your Apprentice."
"WHAT!?" Louise shrieked, her face becoming as pale as chalk.
Saito looked between his rapidly paling 'Master' and the old man who had so innocuously disturbed her to such a degree.
"Alright, now what?" Saito asked in exasperation. Couldn't he get through one conversation without something disturbing either himself or his 'Master'?
'On the balance of things, I believe not.' Saito concluded sourly.
"The taking of an Apprentice is generally not an action taken lightly in Halkaginia." Osmond explained, "Neither is accepting an apprenticeship. The 'Master' is required to teach the Apprentice whatever magic they want to study, all set out in a magical contract that both sign upon the beginning of the apprenticeship. The 'Master' can also arbitrarily issue punishments to the apprentice without just cause, which means that the practice fell out of favour rather rapidly once this Academy was founded."
"Is their no other way?" Louise asked as she sagged in defeat.
"No, I am afraid not." Osmond replied, "No other way is as simple as this. The Master/Apprentice contract is sacrosanct. No one, from the poorest of peasants to the Queen herself, can interfere with it once the contract is in full effect without suffering terrible consequences, both legal and magical."
The black haired Onmyōji stared at Osmond for a moment before saying, "So, the nobles founded this Academy in order to avoid having anything close to a proper disciplinarily system. Is that basically what you're saying?"
'That's what he wants to ask about?' Louise thought incredulously, 'Not the fact he will be compelled to teach me some of his magic? Not the fact he will have nigh complete control over me? He is so bizarre…'
"Blunt, but true." Osmond admitted, "Founder Brimir as my witness, it was decided centuries ago and I doubt that anything has been done in the intervening time to increase the level of punishments."
"What are the punishments?" Saito asked.
"Writing lines, confiscation of their focus, restriction of various privileges, suspension, expulsion, fines…" Osmond listed.
"No manual labour?" Saito asked in surprise, "No enforced physical exercise? No mind-numbingly boring spell drills?"
"Thank the Founder, no!" Louise replied vehemently, "No noble worth their wands would stoop to moving something physically when they could get a servant to do it for them or even just use a simple levitation spell."
"In addition, most nobles do not exercise unless they are in the army, aside from dance classes." added Osmond, "And what are spell drills?"
"Repeatedly casting the same spell a set number of times." Saito explained, "Just a magical version of writing lines. I remember I once had to cast a colour-changing spell a thousand times in a row a couple of years ago. I was practically asleep on my feet by the end of it."
"What had you done to earn that punishment?" Louise asked curiously.
"I was late handing an assignment in three times in a row." Saito replied wryly, "The teacher in charge of that lesson was not impressed."
"I can imagine." Osmond said dryly, "Those are all interesting suggestions, but I'm afraid only the spell drills are likely to take root. A most interesting punishment, as it tires the body by exhausting the user's magic. The best part is that it will make casting that particular spell second nature to the one being punished. Yes, I will add it to the list of punishments next term-!"
A knock at the door interrupted the Headmaster, who glanced in an irritated manner at the door.
"Come!" he barked irritably. The door opened to reveal a green haired woman wearing glasses. She looked as if she was in her mid-twenties and carried a large stack of documents in her hands.
"Ah, Miss Longueville!" Osmond greeted her expansively, the irritation disappearing as if it hadn't been there in the first place.
"Old Osmond." the woman replied with a curious glance at Saito, "You have to sign and approve all of these before tomorrow's staff meeting. And please keep your Familiar away from my skirts."
Osmond pouted childishly. "Oh, you're no fun." he grumbled, "Spoiling an old man's fun…"
"You weren't kidding." Saito muttered to Louise quietly.
"Told you." she replied smugly.
"Ah yes." Osmond said, perking up slightly, "Miss Longueville, please escort Miss Vallière and Mr Saito here to the first floor Married Quarters and assign them a maid…Miss Siesta I think would be appropriate for them. In addition, please make certain she knows the real reason why they are being moved together and to be discrete about it. I will bring a rough draft of the contract when I visit you both tomorrow before classes."
Miss Longueville nodded. "Very well. Come this way you two."
The two young mages reluctantly followed her out of the room without a protest, both wearing troubled expressions for very different reasons.
Saito was worried he would be unable to help Louise with whatever seemed to be the problem with her magic. He had never heard of a person casting an explosion spell rather than a simple levitation charm, or any other spell for that matter. He was newly graduated after all, and this task was more along the lines of one that the Imperial Spellcrafting Institute would be interested in doing. All of their members were the acknowledged experts out of every Onmyōji in the Ministry at crafting, creating and altering spells. They would, no doubt, be able to diagnose what was wrong with Louise in a trice.
'Well, I'm here, they aren't and I'm being asked to do something about it, so no more whining about who would be better for this job.' Saito thought grimly and began to review the spells he knew that would help him do a preliminary diagnosis of Louise's magic.
Louise on the other hand was turning her mind towards unravelling the enigma that was one Hiiraga Saito. He was unlike any man she had ever met, commoner or noble. He seemed to overlook even basic power plays as if they weren't there, yet had an affinity with highly complex spell structure that bordered on the insane. He seemed to be quite a humble character, but he flew off the handle at what the Familiar branding ritual entailed, practically glowing with righteous indignation at the mention of Mind Magic and Compulsion Magic.
'I know that he said that no magic user in his world is in a position of authority over non-mages, but…is such a thing even possible?' Louise wondered to herself, 'In all of Halkaginia, Mages have been the Nobility since the time of Founder Brimir. Some even call Mages 'nature's nobility', although that would actually best describe the Elves. I cannot picture a world with such a drastically different social structure!'
The two pondering teens were brought out of their thoughts by a delicate cough from Miss Longville, signalling that they had arrived at their destination, a large door with intricate flowery carvings and a lock in the very centre of the door.
"Now, Miss Vallière and Mr…Saito wasn't it?." the green-haired woman said with a glance at the two of them, "The door is spelled to only open for select members of the faculty and the holders of the rooms keys. Observe."
Miss Longville withdrew a slim wand from a pouch on her waist and sharply rapped the lock three times and said, "Ouvert! (Open!)"
A smooth series of clicks could be heard from the door before it swung inwards on its own.
"A basic locking spell." Saito remarked, "Not bad."
"Basic?!" Miss Longville looked taken aback, "Mr Saito, this spell was only invented five years ago by one of the best Spellsmiths in Tristain! No-one has been able to bypass a door it has been cast on!"
"Saito's world has some…unique spells." Louise interjected hastily as she didn't want an argument in the corridor of all things, "From what little I have heard and seen, his magic is capable of a great deal more than most of our own spells."
"As you say, Miss Vallière." the secretary looked dubious, but conceded the argument to save time, "AHEM. Follow me."
She led them into a room that Louise recognised as an antechamber, with thee doors leading off from it.
"The bedroom is through the doors in front of us." Miss Longville informed them, "The privy is through the door to your left. The room on the right was originally a sitting room, for entertaining guests and the like, but the Headmaster directed that it be set up as a duelling room, with the exception of the necessary reinforcement, buffering and cushioning spells that are the norm for such a room. I would surmise that he wishes Mr Saito here to cast those spells himself."
Saito pulled a sour face. "Figures. It is another test, like the duel with Mr Colbert. He's seen how my offensive spell casting works and how strong it is, now he wants to see how good my enchantment and fortification spells are."
"I would say that is as good a guess as any." Miss Longville agreed, "Now, all of Miss Vallière's belongings have been moved into the bedroom, which is slightly larger than her previous quarters. An additional bed has also been added for Mr Saito, although it is rather small by comparison."
"That's fine." Saito assured her, "I've lived in a four person dormitory for the last decade or so, so most beds will be the lap of luxury by comparison."
"I'm sure." Miss Longville replied dryly as she pulled out a pair of keys and offered them to Saito and Louise, "These are your room keys. They are unique and would require a considerable amount of Écu to have replicated, so I would advise that you not lose them."
Saito nodded as he took one of the keys and examined it. Forged from silver, it was approximately six inches long and looked as if one good punch would break it.
"Are these reinforced magically?" he asked as Louise took her own key and examined it as well.
"To a degree, yes." Miss Longville replied, "No amount of human strength can bend or break them, but a well placed spell can destroy them."
"Good to know." Louise commented.
"Well then, I shall take my leave and let you both settle in." the secretary nodded to them both cordially, "I shall send Siesta along momentarily to introduce herself and get to know you. Good Day."
With that, the green haired noble swept out of the room, the door sliding shut with a quiet 'click' that echoed in the now silent room.
The two teens exchanged uncomfortable looks before Saito decided to get straight to the point.
"Right then, what is making you so nervous about me?" he asked bluntly, his voice loud after the tense silence that had filled the room, making Louise start in fright.
"Ah…" Louise shook herself as she focussed on Saito, "It's…complicated."
"In which case, let's go and sit down while we discuss the issue then." Saito invited as he walked towards the door to the bedroom, which opened as soon as he approached it.
"A sensory spell, magically linked to the proximity of the key, coupled with a very mild and limited puppetry spell of some sort." Saito guessed as he walked into the room, followed by Louise, "Rather crude, in both form and execution, but doubtless sufficient for its purpose."
"Do you regularly try and guess all of the magic that you see?" Louise asked curiously.
"Not all the time." Saito replied, "Just when I'm dealing with a completely new -to me at least- system of magic. Now…ah. Let's sit at this table."
The room was set up exactly like Louise's former room, with the addition of another bed on the opposite corner of the room to Louise's own bed. It was, as Miss Longville said, a great deal smaller than the pinkette's own bed, but was good quality and very clean looking.
Saito sat at the small round table and gestured for Louise to take a seat as well, which she did so slowly and begrudgingly.
"Well?" Saito said, raising an eyebrow enquiringly, "Are you going to tell me why you looked like you were about to have a heart attack when the Headmaster mentioned the Master/Apprentice contract?"
"As I said before, it's complicated!" Louise hissed. Taking a deep breath, the pinkette organised her thoughts before she began.
"The headmaster gave you a very, very abridged history of the transition from apprenticeships to Academy education." Louise began, "But he completely omitted the reason that the transition happened in the first place."
Saito tilted his head, indicating interest.
Emboldened, the youngest Daughter of the de Vallière family forged on. "About three thousand years ago, one of the Lords in Germania went insane without anyone realising it. He bound several people -fellow Lords, minor nobles and even the Heir to the Germanian throne- in several so-called 'Master/Apprentice' Contracts. The contracts actually were Slave Contracts, loosely disguised as Master/Apprentice Contracts."
"…" Saito stared at Louise in disbelief, speechless. It took him a minute to find his voice.
"How…how the hell did they get caught by that?" he demanded incredulously, "Didn't the idiots think to read the entire thing through before signing it?!"
"Unfortunately, the Lord in question specialised in glamour, illusion and befuddlement spells. He wrought so many of them over the contracts that no-one could see anything other than what he wanted them to see." Louise replied with a shrug, "They also had no reason to doubt his motives, as his family had been allied with theirs for generations, even the Germanian Royal Family.
To make a long, bloody story short, it took two years of bloody fighting to kill the insane Lord and free those who he had enslaved. He had done…unspeakable things to them and their families whilst they were under his thrall, the least of which make the most horrific torture techniques known to man look like a mild annoyance by comparison. That started the process of creating at least one Academy in every one of the four countries, although Tristain's Academy is widely acknowledged as being the best."
"That single event triggered it?" Saito asked in confusion.
Louise shifted in her seat uncomfortably as she replied, "Well, there was another reason. The contracts are generally written so that the Master is in almost total control of the Apprentice. As Old Osmand said, the punishments that can be issued by the Master can be for any reason at all and can also be anything at all. Once we sign the contract, it will magically compel me to obey your orders during a lesson, as well as forcing me to carry out any punishments that you issue.
Back in the day, some Masters took advantage of the punishments to have their way with their Apprentices. Others levelled a completely unrealistic level of punishment for minor infractions, completely abusing the contract, so there was quite a bit of resentment for them anyway. The insane Lord was just an excuse to do away with the practice, except in rare situations…"
"…Like this one." Saito finished sourly, "So you're worried that I'll abuse the contract by either making you do things you don't want to do or by punishing you arbitrarily and unfairly. Is that a decent summery?"
"Y-Yes." Louise looked down at her clenched hands as she replied quietly to her Familiars question.
Saito sat and looked at the girl for a moment before sighing and massaging his temples.
'This world…is insane.' Saito thought tiredly.
:My, my Master.: a sultry voice spoke up in his mind suddenly, :It would seem that you have worked your way into quite the predicament, haven't you?:
:Emereldas?: Saito was taken off guard by his Familiar's sudden interruption and it took him a moment to reply via their , :What happened? The link was unstable and I couldn't contact you.:
:It took a while for the link to readjust to you being in another dimension, Master.: Emereldas informed him, :It was fully adjusted several minutes ago and I have been using the link to listen in on your situation.:
Her voice became teasing as she said, :I know I asked for a lively time as your Familiar, but jumping into a completely different dimension was a bit foolhardy of you, Master.:
:Hey!: Saito yelped, :It was a complete accident! A bunch of out of control monks knocked me into the summoning sphere! Totally out of my control!:
:I surmised as such.: Emereldas sighed, :Have you heard from the ginki (Silver Ogre) yet?:
:No, and her name is Urajirosatoukaede.(Silver maple): Saito replied sternly.
: I know but it's such a mouthful!: Emereldas whined, :And she won't let me call her Kaede like you do!:
:Master's privilege, Emmy.: Saito replied, much to her annoyance.
"Saito? What's going on?" Louise asked, "Your arm is glowing."
Saito looked down and saw that his left arm or, more to the point, his left Familiar tattoo, was glowing a light blue.
"No need to worry." he assured the pinkette, "One of my Familiars is just speaking to me via telepathy."
Seeing her shocked look, he dutifully rolled back both sleeves on his jacket to expose his tattoos and gave Louise the same explanation he had given Osmond. When he reached the part of what species his Familiars were, the pinkette paled again.
"Who knows this?" she demanded sharply.
"Me, you and Osmond." Saito replied.
"Good…that's good." Louise said as she slumped in relief, "Do not tell anyone else. If the Church hears of this, you'll be executed without delay!"
"You have a church?" Saito asked with a frown, "To what god?"
"Founder Brimir."
That little revelation stopped him cold. "You deify and worship a human being?!" Saito asked slowly.
"He saved the human race from being wiped out by the Elves." Louise retorted, "He created the Summon Servant spell and his four sons and apprentice founded the five nations of Halkaginia: Tristain, Germania, Gallia and Albion are ruled by the descendents of the sons and Romalia is ruled by his Holiness the Pope, who is chosen by the Holy Council of Archbishops. The Founder basically created our entire way of life, Saito, so is it of any surprise he is so revered?"
"Revered, I could understand. Worship? Hell no!" Saito shot back, "In my world, a similar religion sprang up far to the West about two-thousand years ago and caused some of the bloodiest wars in history!"
Saito sighed again and started muttering to himself under his breath.
:Hmmm…interesting a parallel world that shares some similarities with your own world, but with major differences as well.: Saito's Familiar noted, :Fascinating. I wonder if the time axis of this world works at an accelerated rate…:
Saito tuned her out. Even after only a single day, he had learned how to ignore Emereldas when she began speculating about complex theories, which was frequent.
"Anyway!" Saito forced his mind back to the initial subject of their conversation, "The simplest answer to your fears is to make certain that there are defined limits written into the contract to what I can do to punish you, as well as adding a code of conduct that would prevent me from doing anything untoward to you."
Louise gaped at him. Why, in the Founder's Holy Name, hadn't she thought of that?!
When she voice her exclamation, Saito shrugged at her and told her, "You're so used to the tales of draconian Masters and browbeaten Apprentices that the possibility of the contract being any other way didn't occur to you."
"Huh." Louise thought about that for a moment. The tales her mother had told her of the Master/Apprentice Contracts did all seem to have the same theme of evil Master and heart of gold Apprentice, so Saito seemed to be right.
"I suppose you are right." Louise said with a thoughtful look on her face, "I'll have to go over the other stories I haven't been told to be certain, but it seems to be the best route to take."
"Good." Saito looked relieved that Louise agreed to his idea, "I'll send a message to the Headmaster right now."
He reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a flat metal box about the same size as an A5 notebook. He opened it up carefully and withdrew a single piece of paper from it before replacing the box back in his pocket.
The paper was cut into a rough caricature of a human with the symbols '紙' (Paper) and '神' (God) emblazoned on the head area. Saito removed an odd-looking oblong with a bulky sphere on one end from his other pocket, he shook it slightly and then unscrewed the shaft, revealing a small brush. He the unscrewed the ball, revealing a small inkwell.
"A portable brush and inkwell for if I ever need to send a message to anyone." Saito informed a curious Louise. Returning his attention to the paper, Saito dipped the tip of his brush into the inkwell and then wrote a character in the centre of the paper's body in quick, practiced strokes.
Writing done, Saito pressed a small kanji engraved into the shaft of the brush, which cleaned the remaining ink off of the bristles before reattaching the brush and inkpot to the double-sided lid and returning it to his pocket.
Louise looked at the strange pictogram Saito had drawn on the paper figure, she tied to make heads or tails of what it meant.
'鳩' (Pigeon)
"In my land, each pictogram, or 'kanji' as they are called, represents a word." Saito explained when Louise asked him about it, "The two kanji on the head represent the words 'paper' and 'god/divine entity'. This paper is used to create a Shikigami (Paper God), a low-level golem that functions primarily as either a scout or a messenger. Every Onmyoji has some skill with Shikigami, but those who specialise in them can make them accurately take on a human personality and act as servants."
"Wow." Louise blinked, "That must save them quite a bit of coin."
"A little." Saito shrugged before he held up the paper and focussed for a moment before saying, "Take on the form I have chosen and serve me! Shikigami: Denshobato! (Paper God: Carrier Pigeon!)" and throwing the paper into the air.
There was a brief flash of light, and then a white pigeon fluttered down to land in front of Saito.
"Coo." it said.
"Shikigami. Record." Saito ordered.
The pigeon-construct blinked. "Recording." it replied in Saito's own voice.
"Headmaster, Louise and I have an idea about the Contract." Saito began, "We would appreciate it if you could leave a blank section so we may insert limitations to what punishments may be issued to Louise and what they can be issued for, as well as another blank section so we can write out a code of conduct for both me and Louise to follow. Halt recording and playback."
The pigeon opened its beak and played back the message perfectly.
"Good. Rewind to start, find Headmaster Osmand and deliver message." Saito ordered briskly. The pigeon bobbed its head once in acknowledgement and took flight, zooming out the open window quickly.
"Once you sort out my magic, can you teach me that?" Louise asked, eyes sparkling with amazement, "That looks so useful!"
"Sure." Saito shrugged, "We'll thrash out the details of exactly what you want to be taught tomorrow."
Louise nodded excitedly. Hopefully something could be done about her magic, because she was really starting to hate being the odd one out at the Academy. Von Zerbst and Montmorency were bad enough, but now the rest were beginning to get brave enough to start to ignore her father's noble rank and pick on her.
A knock on the front door pulled Louise from her thoughts. Saito got up.
"Ah, that must be the maid…Siesta, I think Osmond called her." Saito said as he walked to the door and opened it. Standing in the doorway was a girl who couldn't be that much older than he, maybe seventeen at most? She had black hair that only just extended to below her ears, dark grey eyes and…
'Dear sweet kami, those things are massive!' Saito yelled to himself, although he outwardly showed no expression.
"Miss…Siesta?" he enquired.
The maid flinched slightly before visibly steeling herself as she answered, "Y-Yes. I am Siesta of Tarbes, if it pleases my lord."
She even finished with a slight curtsey, which did…interesting things to her bust, making Saito gulp.
"Ahem. Yes, well, come inside, Miss Siesta. We have a few things to discuss." Saito managed to get out with a bit of difficulty. He stood to one side and gestured for her to enter.
With a slight amount of hesitation, which Saito attributed to being unused to being treated like an equal by 'nobility', Siesta entered the suite.
Louise looked up from her hands when she heard Saito invite the maid in and frowned. Why was he being so polite to her? She was a commoner, a maid.
Then she saw Siesta in person.
'Founder Brimir, what did she eat to get a bust like that!' her mind screamed as the maid entered the bedroom. Louise's eye began to twitch as the girl stopped before the table and curtseyed to her.
Saito saw the twitch, the look of jealousy and the direction of her gaze landing squarely on the maid's breasts and groaned to himself.
'This must be one of the Headmaster's pranks!' Saito thought despairingly, 'I am so going to get him for this.'
Muttering darkly about scheming men with beards, the Onmyōji sat back down at his seat and looked at Siesta.
"Right then Miss Siesta, might I ask what Miss Longville or Headmaster Osmond has told you about the situation Louise and myself are in?" he asked politely.
"Errr…" Siesta looked worried for some reason, "Do I have to say?"
"We have to confirm what you have been told matches what we have been told you have told." Saito told her honestly, "And the way you said that makes me think Osmond hasn't told you the truth."
"O…K." the maid said uncertainly, "I was told by the headmaster that you are both lovers and require a maid who will be discrete when covering up your affair."
For a moment, there was a shocked silence as the two magic users were rocked on their metaphorical heels by what Siesta had told them. Then, Louise let out a wild shriek that echoed across the entire Academy.
"OLD OSMOOOOOOONNNNNDDDD!"
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Next Chapter: Maids, Magic and Rivals
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