Disclaimer: Zero no Tsukaima isn't mine. There. Generic disclaimer, done.
"Saito" -Talking
'Louise' -Thinking/ Human-Human Telepathy
"Explosion!" -Spell
:Master: -Master/Familiar Telepathy
Chapter 5: Maids, Magic and Rivals
After restraining Louise to prevent her from committing senicide on one Headmaster Osmand, albeit with more than sufficient reason to, Saito returned his attention to a thoroughly baffled Siesta.
"Sorry about that, Miss Siesta." Saito said apologetically, "Louise is…understandably anxious that no one misunderstands the situation here, and your…misinformed story was the last straw."
"I'm afraid I do not understand" Siesta confessed as she gazed in confusion at a sulking Louise who was muttering darkly under her breath.
"Look at the back of my hand." Saito directed her. As the maid gazed at his upraised hand, her eyes widened in recognition.
"Those are…Familiar Runes?!" she gasped, "But…how?"
"So you've seen plenty of them around this place to recognise them." Saito mused, "Well, the simplest explanation is that I was summoned by my, rather irritable, Master over there."
"I've never heard of a human being a Familiar before." Siesta breathed.
"Neither have I." Saito replied with a shrug, "Nevertheless, I am a Familiar, at least until I figure out how to forcibly remove these runes. If only those idiots hadn't knocked me into the portal, this wouldn't have happened!"
Saito glared at his branded hand for a moment before regaining his composure. "AHEM. Anyway, not only am I a human Familiar, I am also a magic user."
"A MAGE!?" Siesta looked shocked, "You're a noble?!"
"No, just a magic user." Saito corrected her, "I am from a world where magic users have been forbidden to rule over non-magic users for centuries. I am no more a noble than you are."
"That is to remain top secret." Louise snapped at Siesta, coming slightly out of her revenge introspection session, "The rules of the Academy preclude Nobles from gossiping to family about other people's Familiars except in the most general of terms, but the hired commoner staff is a different matter."
Siesta drew herself up proudly. "Headmaster Osmond has directed that I am to be your personal maid, Miss Vallière. I am no longer paid by the Academy, but by your purse." she declared proudly, "As my Mistress, your secrets are mine to keep."
Louise nodded tersely and returned to her plotting of a certain Old Man's demise.
"Aaaaanyway, to return to the matter at hand, I have been asked to examine Louise here to try and determine why her spellcasting abilities are so…bizarrely disastrous." Saito continued, "After I determine that, I am to train her in using magic correctly. These lessons are to be kept a close secret and are not for public dissemination. More particularly, the person called Von Zerbst is not to hear hide or hair of them. Understood?"
"As you wish." Siesta nodded, "That will not be easy though. She regularly flirts with the men in the kitchens for information and it will only be a matter of time before they tell her of my being taken into Miss Vallière's service."
"Will she try anything with you?" Saito asked sharply. Picking on a normal person with their magic was a big no-no where he came from and he intended to stop Zerbst if she tried anything.
"She'll try to bribe me, with favours or coin." Siesta predicted, "Miss Zerbst isn't malicious towards commoners however, so I doubt there will be anything beyond that."
"Nevertheless, I believe a little insurance is necessary." Saito said firmly. He withdrew four blank paper tags from his coat pocket and retrieved his portable inkpot and brush from the other. Under Siesta's curious gaze, the brush darted in precise strokes across each of the tags as he worked on them.
At last, he sighed, cleaned the brush and returned the brush and ink to his pocket.
"That will have to do for the moment." he said unhappily, "Knew I should have paid more attention in my classes on intent-based Kekkai."
"Your classes on what now?" Louise asked, once again drawn from her plotting, this time by the mention of new magic.
"Kekkai Magic. A good translation would be Barrier Magic, or in this case, Warding Magic." Saito replied.
"Oh, we have those." Louise said, "We call them shielding spells though."
"This is in combat, correct?" Saito asked.
"Yes, although the Elven Kingdom uses a massive one to keep humans out of their territory." Louise confirmed.
"That one definitely falls under the term Barrier Magic." Saito told her, "The term barrier is used when a magical shield is used to protect a house, castle or really any area of land. Shields are used in personal combat, or are formed into very shoddy approximations of barriers."
"And Wards?" Louise asked.
"Wards protect individual people similarly to Shields, but in a different way." Saito replied, "Shields merely create a physical shield to protect against a physical magical attack. Wards can protect against poison, warn of attack - mundane or magical, warn if a certain person comes nearby…a whole host of subtleties that Barriers and Shields are unable to be used against."
"Amazing…" Louise breathed. Human Halkaginian Magic had nothing similar to any of these, barring elemental shields in combat.
"Ummm….what does this have to do with me?" Siesta asked.
Saito turned in his seat to regard her seriously. "With your permission, I would like to cast an intent-based Warding spell on you." he told her.
"Wh-what would it do?" she asked shakily.
Saito frowned at this. She was scared of having magic cast against her. Bearing in mind the fact that only the generally arrogant Nobles could cast magic in this world, this led to a rather unpleasant scenario in Saito's mind.
"Miss Siesta…who cast magic against you to make you fear it this much?" he asked gently.
Louise sat bolt upright, a look of fury on her face. "WHAT!?" she shrieked. Saito just looked grim that his guess had been -regrettably- right on the money this time round.
The maid paled at Saito's question and began to tremble. "I-it was a Third year student." she said shakily, "H-he got angry that his bed wasn't changed on time and shot a fire spell at me."
She ran her hands through her short hair as she said, "I managed to dodge it, but my hair got caught by it. I fled after I put it out and was forced to cut my hair to disguise the fact I was attacked. A shame, as it was longer than Miss Zerbst's hair when I arrived at the Academy."
"Why that foul dog!" Louise ground out, "He's a Noble! We are supposed to protect the commoners with our magic, not use it for petty tantrums like that! Attacking an unarmed commoner is against everything the Code of Nobility stands for!"
She whirled towards Siesta, who was watching the pinkette's rant with her face in an astonished expression, her mouth half open from shock at a Noble condemning another Noble.
"Who was it?" Louise demanded, "Who was it that demeaned the Noble's Code?!"
"H-he left earlier this w-week, t-to return to his f-family estate." Siesta stammered, intimidated by the intensity of the aristocratic girl's gaze.
"Mott!" Louise snarled, "The son of that arrogant, pretentious prig! Why does it not surprise me that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?"
"Who is this Mott person?" Saito asked, deadly calm, although his eyes looked dangerous, a promise of retribution in them.
"Comte de Mott. Also know as 'Mott de L'Onde' (Mott the Wave)." Louise told him, "He's a Palace Messenger who comes to the Academy every now and again. He is, as I said, the most arrogant and stuck-up Noble in Tristain. Not even Guiche, who gets along with everybody, likes him. He also has quite the reputation as a rake, taking a different commoner girl into his bed every night, or so I hear."
"That is true." Siesta interjected, "He changes his maids every six months, I've spoken to some of them. He…he requested me, by name, to be his maid before the Headmaster assigned me to you, Mistress."
"Humph. I'll forgive some of Old Osmond's guilt for getting around that request for you." Louise looked reluctantly impressed at what Old Osmond had done.
"Care to fill me in?" Saito asked.
"Oh, Osmond just neatly dodged the Count's request by assigning Siesta here to me, the youngest daughter of a Duke." Louise replied with a wry grin, "Even although I am not in line to inherit the title, I still outrank a mere Count. Because of her assignment to a specific Noble, rather than as general Academy staff, Mott will have to ask me for Siesta, a request which I have no intention of saying yes to."
"Why is the fact that you outrank Mott such a good thing? In service to a Noble is service to a Noble, isn't it?" the confused Onmyōji asked in a perplexed manner.
"The higher the rank of the Noble we serve, the less likely we are to wish to leave their service." Siesta interjected, "The higher the rank, the more prestigious the position is to the commoner. Being the personal maid to the Third Daughter of one of the two Ducal Houses in Tristain is far more prestigious than a bed-warmer maid for one of many Counts. I would be insane to ask to leave Miss Vallière's service for Mott. In such a situation, I can ask a boon of my mistress, asking her to refuse Mott's request to release me."
"Feudal rights?" Saito frowned.
"Yes." Louise replied, "The fact that Mott's son offends me by his disgraceful treatment of the commoners we Nobles are supposed to protect, gives me an excellent reason to dismiss his father's request outright. The precedent is quite clear in this case, so Mott will have to back down."
"That leaves the son." Saito concluded, "Why did he leave the Academy in the middle of the year?"
"A family gathering taking place on the Coast." Louise replied, "I recall the idiot boasting of his various family members, their connections and how he would be the next rising star in the Royal Court because of them."
"All the subtlety of a wild boar that one." Saito observed, "Why is the father not at the gathering?"
"Members of the Court, even one as low ranking as the Messenger's are required to remain at Court unless on Royal Business or a family emergency comes up, for which they must ask and receive permission from the Queen herself to attend to that business." Louise replied promptly.
"So he's bored and decided he wanted a new woman to bed? How disgraceful." Saito said with feeling, "So when is the son due to come back?"
"In a month or so." Louise replied, "And he'll be busy catching up with coursework that week, so he won't have the time to make mischief among the staff."
"All the more time to plan a…suitable…punishment for him." Saito said with a vaguely sinister expression on his face, which Louise matched.
Siesta looked at the pair of magic users in astonishment. They were planning to snub a sitting Count and punishing his son, just because they took offence to the son's actions?
"Why…why do this?" she asked them.
Saito and Louise exchanged a look, shrugged, turned back to Siesta and said, almost in unison, "Because it's the right thing to do."
Siesta was taken aback. "Just because of that?" she asked, stunned.
"I take the Code of Nobility seriously, unlike most Nobles." Louise replied, "To do anything else would shame my honour, my family and the spirit of the Code."
"In my world, it is the duty of all magic users to bring punishment upon those who abuse their powers for heir own ends." Saito added, "I swore to uphold the rules of my country when I graduated, and I plan to do so even in a completely different world."
The maid was overcome with emotions and simply nodded in acquiescence, her gratitude showing in her eyes. Saito and Louise looked elsewhere while Siesta discretely wiped her eyes of any stay liquid that may have leaked out.
"So…Master Saito, you were saying something about a spell of some sort you wanted to cast on me?" Siesta said at length once she had recovered her composure sufficiently.
"Wha… 'Master'?!" Saito spluttered, "Just call me Saito. And yes, I have a spell I'd like to cast on you for your own protection. An intent-based Warding spell to be exact."
"What will it do?" Louise asked, for Siesta's benefit.
"Several things. First, it will warn me and Siesta if someone approaches within three meters of her with the intent to attack her physically or magically." Saito explained, "Secondly, it will set off a large blue flare should that happen. Finally, it will create a red aura around the person who emits the intent."
Louise and Siesta gaped at him in astonishment. "That's…that's very…comprehensive." the pinkette managed to say at last.
"Hardly." Saito snorted, "My Warding teacher would fail me on an assignment if I dared turn in a Ward as simple as this. She is of the opinion that any Ward like this worth its name should follow the principle of A.A.D.D."
"Aadd?" Siesta said in confusion, "What's that?"
"It's an acronym, standing for Alert, Alarm, Designate and Defend." Saito explained, "My Ward only covers the first three because, unfortunately, I am not as learned in the art of Warding as I would like to be. Combining a magic shield into the Wards spell structure is beyond my abilities at the moment, which I will have to remedy at some point.
Regardless, this ward should suffice for the moment, if only because it is outside the experience of Mages from Halkaginia."
"Is there anything I should do?" Siesta asked nervously.
"Stand up and position yourself in the centre of the room." Saito directed her. As the maid stood and did as she was asked, Saito moved to Siesta's front and stood four feet away from her.
"The sensation will feel…odd, but not painful or uncomfortable." Saito informed Siesta, "Just odd. Are you ready, Miss Siesta?"
"Just call me Siesta…Saito." the maid smiled at him, "And yes, I'm ready."
"Lets begin then." Saito said then closed his eyes and held op one talisman, which began to glow red with magical energy.
"Shokan-ju: Minami no Kaminoshugo-sha: Suzaku! (I summon you: Divine Protector of the South: Vermillion Bird!)" Saito incanted before throwing the talisman into the air. The talisman then hovered in midair, creating the outline of a large red bird.
"Shokan-ju: Kita no Kaminoshugo-sha: Genbu! (I summon you: Divine Protector of the North: Black Tortoise!)" The talisman flew past Siesta and hovered behind her, creating the outline of a large black tortoise with an equally black snake wrapped around it.
"Shokan-ju: Nishi no Kaminoshugo-sha: Byakko! (I summon you: Divine Protector of the West: White Tiger!)" The talisman flew to Siesta's left and created the outline of a massive white tiger.
"Shokan-ju: Higashi no Kaminoshugo-sha: Seiryū! (I summon you: Divine Protector of the East: Azure Dragon!)" The final Talisman flew to the right of Siesta and formed the outline a long, sinuous wingless blue dragon.
Louise gasped as she watched, feeling the amount of magic that this spell required. 'And Saito says that this is an incomplete spell?!' she thought numbly.
Saito ran through several handsigns before pointing at Siesta with his right hand and intoning, "Shiseijū Kekkai: Hatsudo! (Four Holy Beasts Ward: Activate!)"
The four beast images dissolved into streamers of red, black, white and blue and began to swirl around Siesta in a rough dome before drawing into her and vanishing in a flash of white light.
Saito sagged slightly and staggered back to his chair. "Whew…that's that over with at last." he said tiredly.
"Is it really that tiring?" Louise asked.
"Yeah, it is." Saito confirmed, "It isn't magically tiring or physically tiring, but mentally tiring instead. Each of those four beasts represented a part of the spell structure that I had to maintain via mental concentration, as well as feeding a not inconsiderable amount of magic into them to initially power the spell. There is a connection between Siesta and myself right now that is a minor draw on my magical reserves, but it forms the bridge between us for the warning part of the Ward."
"Your magic is so much more powerful than ours that it's unfair." Louise remarked as she shook her head slowly.
"It isn't actually." Saito replied, "I am actually a far weaker magic user than any Mage in this world. If I were to try using Halkaginian magic, I would be barely able to boil water, never mind using it to attack someone. I rely on the extra magic generated by the spell formula on my talismans to offset my own deficit.
I will grant you, my magic is more advanced than this world's, but my world has also got less magic to work with, so we had to develop intricate rites and rituals in order to increase our power by any substantial amount, like my talismans. In the West, Mages such as you add various runic formulae to every stage of the construction of their wands and staves in order to fully harness their power, as well as using a magical beast hair or feather as a conduit for their powers."
"Magical beasts? Like what?" Louise asked, intrigued.
"Phoenix feathers, Dragon heartstrings and Unicorn hairs are the best known, but hardest to acquire." Saito replied, "Lesser known but far easier to find are Selkie hairs, Hippogriff feathers and Kelpie hairs."
"I haven't heard of two of those last ones, but I have heard of the others." Louise noted, "Those really allow a Mage to use more power in their spells?"
"On their own, not by much, plus each wand or stave using them as a focus core has to be crafted especially for each Mage." Saito cautioned her, "You can use various woods, but others do not work well as wandwood -Cork Oak, for example, actually disrupts the flow of magic through a wand it is made of- while others are commonly used for their reliability, like willow or beech."
"I can see why your people chose to use the talismans." Louise said with a shake of her head, "Much easier to use, plus a whole lot easier to replace."
"On the other hand, they require an excellent memory to make." Saito replied with a frown, "Each brushstroke has to be as precise as is physically possible and the ink has to be bound to the user via some of their blood mixed into it, so no one can just steal your talismans and use them against you."
"Those…those are Blood magic?!" Louise exclaimed, face pale, "That's illegal!"
"In my world -my country at least- there is a fine line drawn regarding the legality of Blood Magic." Saito said as he regarded Louise steadily, "If you use your own blood, for the specific purpose of creating talismans and then destroying any remaining blood ink, it is not illegal. If you use other people's blood, regardless of the reason, your memories are erased and your magic sealed."
Louise shuddered at the thought of losing her magic. It was regarded as the worst punishment possible for a Noble to merely lose their title and be reduced to the status of a commoner, a Fallen Noble. Nobody had ever even contemplated the thought of doing anything to another person's magic.
'Although that accursed woman Von Zerbst has all but accused me of being an Upstart Commoner.' Louise thought sourly. 'Upstart Commoner' being the name given to commoners who are elevate to the Nobility for deeds in battle or for whatever other reason.
Mage Nobles hate the upstarts on general principle and pulled every dirty and underhanded trick in the book in order to ruin their reputations, gouge their finances and otherwise 'punish the curs for reaching beyond their station', or so one Noble Louise had overheard put it.
"To return to the subject at hand, your magic has a couple of advantages over mine." Saito told Louise, "First, your incantationless spellcasting is much, much faster than my incantations. I could barely keep up with Mr Colbert because my incantations slowed me down so much."
Louise thought back to the duel that had taken place a short while ago. She couldn't really recall any noticeable speed difference between the two combatants, but perhaps it was something that only Saito and Mr Colbert could see from their perspectives.
"Secondly," Saito continued, "From what Old Osmond has told me, even when Halkaginian Mages use incantations, your casting speed is still far faster than mine. Seriously, three little syllables -less than ten, fifteen seconds, tops- and you shoot off a stream of fire, where as I have to chant for a full thirty to fifty seconds to do anything. In a duel or on the battlefield, the faster one can cast often determines the victor."
"So your magic is more powerful, more versatile and can do a lot more than ours, while Halkaginian Magic is much, much faster?" Louise summarised, "Still seems like you have the better deal here."
"I honestly can't say if there are anymore advantages/disadvantages to either magic as I have only been here for not even a day yet." Saito pointed out with a sigh, "Ask me again in a year, if I haven't figured out how to break my contract with you and gone home by then."
Louise's face then became as cold as stone as she replied icily, "I'll do that…Familiar."
Saito winced as he realised that he had put his foot in his mouth. She was going to lose her Familiar when he eventually figured out how to return home and she wasn't exactly enthused by the thought, which was odd as Familiars were seen as a sign of academic progression here, rather than a right of passage as they were back home.
Still, the fact that her Familiar was -essentially- rejecting her must be both humiliating and hurtful for the pinkette, who was already accustomed to being rejected by her peers. Saito sighed and his face took on an understanding expression, making Louise look suspicious.
"Louise, I am not rejecting you, or treating you like you're beneath my notice." he said gently, "I only want to be free and go home. It isn't personal and I would want to go home regardless of who summoned me. If our positions were reversed, surely you would want to go home as well?"
Begrudgingly, the pinkette nodded once and sighed. "I know, intellectually, that you are right, that you didn't come here willingly, but emotionally, it still hurts. Never mind. I'll get over it eventually. Now I don't know about you, but I am rather hungry. Let's head to the dining room as it should be time for the evening meal right about now."
Saito then recalled he hadn't eaten since breakfast in his own world. Who knew what time it was by now, as Halkaginia didn't seem to have invented clocks yet.
"Good idea. I haven't eaten since breakfast." he said ruefully, "Siesta, could you give the bedroom a quick clean while we are out?"
"Of course." Siesta nodded and began eyeing the room with the practiced eye of an experienced maid, "It shouldn't take long. Should I clean the other rooms as well?"
"The antechamber certainly, but leave the sitting room be for now." Saito replied, "I'll want to scan it first before anyone else sets foot in there, just to be on the safe side."
"As you wish, Master Saito." Siesta answered with a bow.
"…Just Saito, please." the Mystic sighed and stood up again, "We shouldn't be more than an hour. Later."
Saito and Louise left the apartment and headed towards the dining room, leaving behind a maid on a mission.
LSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLS
Five Minutes Later
Dining Hall
"Is that him?"
"The Zero has another Mage for a Familiar?!"
"Hmmm…he's cute!"
Saito frowned slightly as the whispers of the assembled Nobles washed over him and Louise like the babbling of a brook. The stares made him feel as if a large target had just been painted on his back, which was more than slightly uncomfortable.
"Not exactly subtle, are they?" he muttered to Louise, who sighed and glared at those who were staring at them, quickly making the watchers swiftly return their attention to their meals.
"As I said in Old Osmond's office, they have gotten steadily bolder in the last year." the petite pinkette muttered back, "Odd though. Von Zerbst isn't here. Neither is Montmorency, her chief stooge."
There was indeed no sign of the busty redhead or svelte blond anywhere in the dining room. Tabitha sat by herself on a small table towards the back, but Louise didn't count the bluenette as one of her antagonists. Rather, she knew the Gallian to very much apathetic towards Kirche's campaign against Louise, so she was put from Louise's mind as she addressed a slight problem that had only just occurred to her.
"Saito, I'm not sure you will be allowed to sit at the tables. Familiars are forbidden to." Louise whispered.
"…something else to mention to Osmond." Saito said resignedly, "Now, what does the rule say specifically?"
" 'All students' Familiars are not to be seated anywhere but the floor whilst in the dining room'." Louise quoted, "It was put in place a couple of centuries ago after a student brought his beaver Familiar in and it chewed most of the table it sat at into sawdust."
"That…was more detail than I was expecting, but thanks for the explanation." Saito said and thought for a moment before snapping his fingers and with drawing a talisman from his pocket and throwing in on the floor next to a small wooden table.
"Talisman of Earth, come to my aid!" Saito chanted, "Kōshitsu Enkai-Hyō! (Imperial Family Dining Table!)"
The stone floor rumbled and bulged up, forming a small circular table, complete with chairs that seemed to grow from the floor. Saito waltzed off to the servers and returned to sit easily on one of the chairs, pointedly ignoring the stares from pretty much the entire dining hall in the process.
"…" Louise looked at Saito mutely for a moment before shaking her head and sitting down at the wooden table and saying to him drolly, "And you say that they have no subtlety."
"They don't." Saito replied as a server came up with a tray of food for him, "But, unlike them, I'm not raised to be a Noble, so I don't actually care what they think. They, on the other hand are supposed to be taught manners and actions appropriate to their station, which includes not staring at someone or whispering about them while the person in question is still in the room with them."
The petite Noble suppressed a snort of amusement with difficulty. "A fair point." she conceded as the server placed plates in front of her and Saito. Conversation was halted between them as they ate the meal before them, a very nice chicken dish in a creamy sauce, with veggies on the side.
"Ahhh…" Saito sighed once he finished, "Very nice. Although I find it odd that chickens exist in alternate dimensions."
"Why? If this is a parallel world to your own, it is reasonable to assume that the basics of life will be more or less the same." Louise pointed out reasonably.
"You must read a hell of a lot of books to come to that conclusion so fast." Saito said after a moment.
Louise shrugged. "Practically the only time I ever willingly left my room for most of this year, barring eating and classes, was to go to Tristania, the city nearby, on the Day of the Void. I was mainly interested in finding out information on spells and the like to try and figure out why I can't cast anything without blowing things up, but I occasionally bought books on other subjects for light reading to alleviate boredom."
"Good to know." Saito remarked, "Now, we'd better head back. I'm not certain the door will open to let Siesta out if we aren't there."
"Good point." Louise nodded and stood up, "Although you might want to do something about the table and chairs you created. The cleaning staff hate it when the students alter things with magic and don't reverse it."
"Hmmm? Oh, I already took care of that." Saito replied, grinning as he did so, "Watch."
Saito stood up and took three steps away from the furniture he had created. With a groan, the table and chairs sunk back into the floor, leaving it looking exactly as it did before he cast his spell.
"That particular spell lasts from when someone casts it to when the last person who sits down at the table stands up and steps away from it." Saito told a rather impressed Louise.
"So useful." Louise muttered as they headed for one of the doors out of the room.
"ZERO!" a familiar and hated voice shrieked from behind them. Louise turned her head to see a seething Kirche and Montmorency positively glaring at her with malice seeping from their pores.
"Zerbst. Montmorency." Louise acknowledged them formally. "What do you want? I'm busy right now."
"Don't play innocent with me, Zero!" Kirche snarled, "I know you had something to do with Old Osmond pulling us into his office and giving us a dressing down!"
Louise raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Oh? I had no idea he was going to do anything yet." she remarked, "Looks like he's doing some work to prevent me from blowing him up for the little joke he pulled on me earlier. Cunning old pervert."
"Grrrr!" Montmorency growled, her eyes flashing with anger, "Thanks to you, we aren't allowed to leave the Academy on the Day of the Void until our third year! And he's making us do…spell drills, whatever they are!"
"Repeatedly casting the same spell a set number of times." Saito informed them, "A punishment from my world."
"That's so…dull!" pouted Kirche as she batted her lashes at Saito and squeezed her breasts together to emphasise their size, "Not flashy or awesome at all!"
"I think that's the point of a punishment." Louise remarked dryly as Saito flushed red and looked away from the Germanian's voluptuous figure.
"Watch your back, Zero!" the blond girl hissed as she turned around and stalked towards her boyfriend, Kirche drifting towards Tabitha with a glare at Louise and a lustful wink at Saito.
"What is their damage?" Saito groused as he and Louise walked towards their room. His face still held a trace of his blush from earlier.
"The von Zerbst Family is a prominent Noble House in Germania." Louise said with a frown, "They have influence in all levels of government, even some minor influence in Gallia, Romania and Albion. Just about the only reason they do not have such influence in Tristain is because of the Vallière Noble House…my House. Our houses have been rivals for centuries, although we mostly cover the influence part of the rivalry with rivalry over various trading interests we own and operate."
"So…it's because of a rivalry that started before you were born?" Saito asked, half-amazed and half-expectant.
"Yup." Louise replied flippantly, "Things would have been bad just with that, but when my powerlessness -other than thrice-be-damned explosions!- in magic became apparent, she began to influence members of the student body into bullying and sneering at me."
"Nobles and their pride." Saito said with a shake of his head, "And what was with her flirting with me?"
Louise gritted her teeth at the reminder. "Zerbst is a very big lover of men. Thanks to the…lumps of fat on her front, she can twist men to do her bidding and occasionally sleeps with them. Most of those she favours have done some deed that sparks her interest." she said, spitting the words out viciously, "You are the first human Familiar -a Mage, no less- in five millennia, who has also fought and defeated an experienced teacher in a duel. She won't stop chasing you until she has you in her bed and between her legs."
"Great, so I'm a prize to her." Saito deadpanned, "Doesn't the Academy frown on students having that kind of relationship? At the Academy, we have chastity seals put on us once we enter puberty that prevent us doing more than kissing and holding hands until it is removed after our graduation."
"Founder!" Louise exclaimed, "That is harsh! Yes, it is frowned upon, but not against any rules. Germania is somewhat more…liberal…when it comes to certain activities between a man and a woman. As long as Zerbst doesn't become with child, she can do as she pleases with commoners and those of a lower Noble rank than her."
By the end of her explanation, Saito was frowning. "In my world, at around the same level of social development Halkaginia is at, it was preferred that Noblewomen were…untouched…by men until their wedding night." he said slowly, "How is Halkaginia so different there?"
Louise shrugged. "Generally, we aren't." she replied, "However, the Church of Brimir emphasises that a person's life is their own, so actual arranged marriages are only for the High Nobility and Royalty. Germania merely took that one step forwards by abolishing the entire 'unsullied bride' requirement, except for intermarriage with foreigners, for a very simple reason: the land of Germania is full of wild, dangerous beasts that occasionally manage to enter a town and cause a great deal of death and damage before being either expunged or killed.
The beasts do not differentiate between Nobles and commoners and have occasionally taken guards by surprise, killing or maiming their charges before they can react. The philosophy in Germania is simple: live life to the fullest while you are alive and still have all your limbs attached."
"Huh. Surprisingly pragmatic for a government policy." Saito mused.
"Germania is often sneered at for being rustic, barbaric and down to earth." Louise remarked, "But pragmatic is a much better way of putting it."
The two walked on in companionable silence for a while, before Louise asked Saito, "When are you going to finish up the work on the duelling room?"
"Tomorrow." Saito said firmly, "I have expended far too much magic today to even consider it today."
"Reasonable." Louise nodded in agreement, "I just hope that you can help me. I'm at my wits end with my magic."
"I'm no expert in diagnosing things, but I'll do my best." he promised her.
As Louise opened up the door, a black clad figure hurtled out of it and straight into Saito, knocking him to the floor.
"Master Saito!" the blur cried, revealing itself as a very tearful Siesta, "A strange magical…thing!…is in there and flapping around!"
"Ea-easy, Siesta." Saito said, with a heavy blush on his face as she pressed her cleavage which, while not as large as Kirche's, was big enough to stimulate him to the point that he really wished she would get up.
Saito managed to convince her to get off him and let him stand up himself. Louise was watching him with a twitching eyebrow and a slightly dangerous look in her eyes.
Saito sighed. This was just getting more and more complicated!
'Why me?!' he bemoaned himself as he then began to persuade Louise not to overreact. At length.
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Next Chapter: Investigations and Discoveries
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