Author's Note: Hello! A Belated Merry Christmas and Happy Hogmanay to you all!

Yes, I am very sorry for not uploading for two months, but Christmas is very complicated in regards to presents and the like for me.

Anyway, to set some minds at rest, I wasn't thinking of Harry Potter when I wrote the last chapter. Yes, having power bound is a common plot device in Harry Potter FanFics, but I honestly didn't take it from that. It is my own interpretation of the way Brimir set things up before he died.

Anyhow, on with the Fic! Read and Review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Familiar of Zero.

"Saito" -Talking

'Louise' -Thinking/ Human-Human Telepathy

"Explosion!" -Spell

:Master: -Master/Familiar Telepathy

Chapter 7: Attitude Adjustment

Old Osmond's Office, Tristain Academy for Magic

The office was so full of tension that you could cut it with a knife. Saito and a rather shell-shocked Louise stood in front of Osmond's desk and regarded the old mage warily.

Osmand currently looked absolutely furious, a state no one at the academy had seen him in…ever.

"Are you absolutely certain of your facts, Mr Saito?" the Headmaster asked in a hard voice.

"The result of my scan is irrefutable." Saito replied, "My Master's magic has been sealed, possibly by multiple people."

"Multiple times?!" Osmond exclaimed, "How? A sealing should leave a very distinct sign on a person's magic, not to mention how Miss Vallière shouldn't even be able to cast any sort of magic, let alone those explosions of hers."

Saito sighed as he once again set up the scanning spell he had previously used to examine Louise's magical core in depth. Soon, the hologram of Louise, blazing with blinding light, appeared in the centre of the study.

"Do tell what all this light means?" Osmond asked, wincing at the intensity of the light emanating from the hologram.

"This is performed on all Onmyōji candidates as soon as it is safe to do so, at the onset of puberty." Saito replied, "Ordinarily, a person's magical reserves at the age of ten, eleven or twelve would be represented by a fist sized ball of purple light and only as bright as a guttering flame. A person from an Onmyōji family would be perhaps a third or so larger and a shade or two brighter."

Saito gestured at the hologram that represented Louise's magic. "At the age of fifteen, Louise's magic completely fills her image and even spills out of the confines of her outline every so often. In addition, the colour is a pure, almost blinding white. Both of these signs indicate that her magic is both plentifully abundant and incredibly dense, a rare combination."

Osmond nodding in comprehension. Magic, although an intangible thing, can be classed as being either dense or thin. The denser a person's magic, the more powerful a spell will be, regardless of what it is, meaning a mage can use much less magic per spell. Combining this with possessing a large reserve of magic meant that Louise had immense potential as a War Mage or even as a researcher.

"And how did you determine that her power is sealed?" Osmond probed.

"The image you are seeing here is of the innermost area of Louise's power, within her magical core so to speak." Saito replied, "I decided to examine all of the layers above that for what was causing the bizarre readings I was getting. This is what I found three layers up."

Saito formed a complex handsign and chanted in Ancient Japanese for a moment. Just as before, chains appeared around the hologram of Louise, covering almost the entire image.

"Founder!" Osmand gasped.

"My sentiments exactly." Saito said dryly, "In this case, the more of the image concealed by the chains, the stronger the sealing. As most of her is bound by the chains, this is either a single seal of immense power…or multiple seals of varying strengths and origins."

"Ah-hum…an interesting theory." Osmond agreed, "Do you have a spell that can display all of the spells cast on Louise by origin and type, perhaps?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Saito replied, "We Onmyōji have an enemy organisation that delights in capturing us, so we are taught a few basic spells as a matter of course that deal with diagnosing sealing and binding spells. Unfortunately, I am not as adept with them as I might like. Hold on for a second."

Much to the confusion of Louise and Osmond, Saito sat on the floor, crossed his legs, closed his eyes and placed his hands together, seemingly in prayer. His eyes stared sightlessly into the distance, which unnerved Louise quite a bit.

"What's he doing?" she asked Osmond.

"I have no idea." the old mage replied honestly.

After a moment, Saito's eyes snapped open and he stood up. "Right, that should do it." he muttered.

"What did you do?" his pink-haired master asked curiously.

"I used a meditation technique to sharpen my memory of the spell I need." Saito replied, "I was unwell the day this spell was taught, so my memory of it is usually slightly fuzzy, even although I revised it for my graduation. I got a fairly low mark because of that, so I decided to sharpen my memory with meditation."

"Can I learn that?" Louise asked, her eyes shining with interest.

"It's one of the first things I'll teach you." Saito assured her with a smile.

Osmond chuckled at the eagerness Louise showed for learning new spells. It wasn't really that much of a surprise, he supposed. As a result of her non-existent practical skills, the girl had become nigh obsessive about getting perfect scores in her written work at the very least, to the point that she had been forced to buy a larger bookcase for her room because of the many and varied books she had bought for background research. She had also acquired a desire for knowledge that put most philosophers to shame.

Saito chanted in Ancient Japanese again, prompting the talismans he was using to flutter and then shift to encompass a larger area.

"Shisū Jumon: Shikibetsu! (Spell Index: Identify!)" He commanded. The chains glowed and then rippled with different colours for a couple of minutes before the links settled into two different colours. Half of them were a pale blue, whilst the other half was a pale shade of grey.

"Shisū Jumon: Bunkatsu (Spell Index: Split!)" With this command, the hologram literally spilt in two, the chains dividing in two as well, disassembling and reassembling so that chains of a single colour bound each hologram of Louise.

"I've been bound TWICE!?" Louise shrieked in absolute outrage.

"Looks like it." Saito said angrily, "The pale grey binding is older than the blue binding, so let's see what it is. Jisho Jumon: Chōsa! (Spell Lexicon: Investigate!)"

The grey chains glowed with a yellow light as Saito directed his spell onto them. A small scroll popped up in front of the Onmyoji and began to fill up with kanji and numbers, as well as a phrase in elegant Tristainian script.

"Huh." Saito muttered, "As I expected, the spell used isn't one that I have heard of. Osmond, can you read this phrase? I can't read your language."

"Let's see…" the old man leaned forwards, "Oh my! 'Brimir's Alignment Binding' is what is written here."

"That explains why the origin of the spell is labelled as a mix of magical artefact and permanent enchantment." Saito commented, "As well as why the length of time that Louise has been under this binding is listed as being fifteen years, three months and eleven days."

"Th-that's…" Louise said faintly, "That's exactly how old I am…"

"Incredible." Osmond breathed, "Founder Brimir laid a spell that bound Miss Vallière here, although I am unsure why or even how."

"Couldn't the spell have just been named after him?" Saito asked, "Like a magical brand name or something?"

"A what?" Louise asked in confusion.

Saito sighed again. "Don't the nobility often buy things -swords, horses and the like- only from certain people or merchants?"

"Indeed. Pentagon Armoury is the most exclusive weapon shop in all of Tristain and the Outrider Horse Breeders have the best horses in the land." Osmond replied.

"'Brand names' are essentially similar to those." Saito explained.

"Oh. Then definitely not." Louise said firmly, "No mage would dare use the name of Founder Brimir for such a thing. The Church would be…less than enthused by a person attempting to hitch their cart to the name of our forefather."

"Quite so." Osmond agreed, "In addition, the only person who could have cast such a spell that could last five thousand years is Founder Brimir. He built the entire Familiar Summoning System by himself and the entire structure of the spell has not eroded a jot in that entire time."

This made Saito frown. "Either he was a prodigy in creating self-sustaining magical systems or he also created a repair/regeneration spell to maintain the Summoning System, which raises more than a couple of questions. Where did he get the magic to empower both of those spells? How much of Halkaginia do they effect? Do all counties use the same system or are they slightly different? "

"Why does it matter?" Louise asked in bafflement, "The system works fine and has done so for five millennia."

"What would you do if it suddenly stopped working?" Saito shot back, "How would you repair it? Or replace it? There are nearly five hundred Onmyōji who are aware of every single detail of the Summoning system that we use and even if they were all to keel over and die, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of copies of the step by step process on how to build or repair the system."

"Point made." Osmond butted in when Saito paused for breath, "Returning to the original matter, is there any further information regarding the binding that is relevant?"

"Ummm…" Saito examined the scroll in front of him for a moment, "Just a hint how to release it."

"How?!" Louise demanded desperately.

"It isn't easy to decipher." Saito replied with a small frown, "It's in a small poem.

'Four rings of magic across the land,

Place one in the master's hand.

Four relics of power,

Left by the founder.

The guardian's blade,

Given life after 'twas made.

Familiar of the Void, Gandálfr,

Solve this riddle lest you suffer.'"

There was silence in the room while the occupants digested the contents of the riddle, broken only by Osmond scribbling the words down of a scrap of parchment.

"Well, the first two stanzas are fairly easy to decipher." Osmond said once he had finished his dictation, "The first refers to the Founder's Rings. Each of the royal families of the four kingdoms -Tristain, Albion, Gallia and Romalia- received one of the rings after the death of the Founder. Tristain received the Ring of Water, Albion received the Ring of Wind, Gallia received the Ring of Earth and Romalia received the Ring of Fire."

"Well, I think I can ask the Princess to loan me the Ring of Water." Louise mused.

"Really?" Saito asked, "You're on good terms with one of the Royal Family?"

"The House of de Vallière is a cadet branch of the Royal Family." Louise replied, "Besides, Princess Henrietta was my childhood playmate and she will be eager to help me regain my magic. She hates it when people pick on me."

"I recall she sent one of her Ladies-in-Waiting away in disgrace for badmouthing you to her face." Osmond mused.

Louise flushed. "She shouldn't have risked offending a noble's family like that." she muttered.

"That is her prerogative, Miss Vallière." Osmond admonished her, "Besides, the noble family in question was stripped of their noble title not a week later for treason."

Louise looked taken aback by this, but Saito put in, "OK, that's the first stanza. What about the second stanza?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yes." Osmond took a moment to readjust to Saito's question, "The second stanza refers to the four relics of the Founder. The Founder's Prayer Book, the Founder's Censer, the Founder's Music Box and the Founder's Round Mirror. Each of the four countries received one of them. Tristain has the Prayer Book, I believe."

"So it can be borrowed like the Ring." Saito summed up their discoveries so far, "The last stanza is an obvious warning; solve the riddle or bad things will happen to you and your master. The third stanza is curious though."

"Indeed." Osmond agreed, "I have never heard of a 'living blade' in connection with either the Founder or Gandálfr. Most perplexing. I'll ask Mr Colbert to conduct some research on the subject."

"Damn." Louise cursed bitterly. Two out of three might not be bad, but it was so frustrating to be so close to unlocking her magic whilst simultaneously -and conversely- being so damn far away from unlocking her magic.

"Now now, Miss Vallière." Osmond consoled her, "We will find a way to undo this seal on you."

"Definitely." Saito agreed vehemently, "There's no such thing as an unbreakable spell, especially not one that was created by a passive spell or a magical artefact."

"I…I suppose so." Louise allowed.

"Now then Mr Saito, what can you tell us about the other spell binding Miss Vallière's power?" Osmond asked.

"Right." Saito nodded, "Jisho Jumon: Chōsa!"

The yellow of Saito's spell played across the second hologram for a long moment before a second scroll appeared in front of him, right next to the first one. Kanji rapidly began to scroll across the page before Saito's eyes.

"Huh….OK." Saito muttered as he scanned the text rapidly, "According to my scan, this binding was placed on Louise about…one and a half years ago, so that would be shortly before you entered the academy."

"It also cuts down on the people who could have cast it on me." Louise scowled, "I know every single person who possessed magic that was around me at that time."

"What are the requirements for a binding spell in Halkaginian magic?" Saito asked.

"It depends on the type of binding you wish to place on a person." Osmond replied, "What does the scan say about what the binding does?"

"Let's see…it's a dual purpose binding." Saito replied, "It acts to interfere with Louise's connection between her wand and her magical core and to block about forty percent of her actual magic. I would guess that the dissonance between the two barriers is what partially causes Louise's explosions."

"Dissonance?" Louise asked in confusion.

"The first binding seals about ninety-five percent of your magic, leaving five percent left over to allow you to register as a mage to any scans." Saito explained, "The second binding succeeds in interfering with the connection between your core and your wand, but is blocked by the first binding. What the casters of these spells never took into account was Louise's sheer amount of magic."

"Ah…I see." Osmond said sagely, "So whenever Miss Vallière attempts to cast a spell, her magic partially overwhelms the initial binding, only to run headfirst into the second binding, which attempts to bind what magic it can get access to. The resulting struggle causes a backlash that is manifested by an explosion rather than what the spell Miss Vallière attempted to cast was intended to accomplish."

"That would be my guess." Saito nodded, "It could also be because she is a Void Mage. The mages here in Halkaginia seem to have a natural tendency to align themselves to one of the five points of the pentagram of elements. Louise might have aligned with Void, which is totally different from the other four elements."

"But…But…only Founder Brimir could use Void magic!" Louise protested.

"No, he was one of the few who possessed a natural alignment to Void magic." Saito corrected, "Even in my world, possessing a natural alignment to Void magic was very rare before the magic was stolen. I would guess that before he died, Brimir set up a spell system that would seal the magical abilities of any Void mages that were born until they gathered the necessary items to undo the binding, which vary from kingdom to kingdom."

"That would make sense, as the royal families of three of the kingdoms are descended from Founder Brimir." Osmond remarked, "As you know, magical talent is rare and only noble families are known to possess the talent. Magic runs in the bloodlines and a family will, generally speaking, produce mages with similar magic. Considering this, The Founder must have known that his magic would eventually resurface in his descendents. But why seal their magic?"

"A test to prove their worth?" Saito theorised, "That's what this sounds like to me. Louise would still be able to use ordinary cantrip spells with her magic if it wasn't for the second binding. Most mages wouldn't be satisfied with the level of power of a hedgewitch. One from a Royal Family definitely wouldn't be satisfied with that. By sealing their power, Brimir wanted to test his descendents' drive for power."

"A good theory." Osmond agreed, "Still, the problem at hand is that we cannot break the first binding on Miss Vallière."

"Then let's work on the second one." Saito said with determination, "The spell's name is written in this odd language of yours again. Care to translate it for me, Osmond?"

"Of course." the old mage peered over Saito's shoulder, "Ah-ha! Wisel's Wondrous Cage. A mid level binding spell, and one I just so happen to have experience in breaking. Before I do so, it there any hint as to who cast the binding?"

"No." Saito replied after a moment, "Whoever it was managed to conceal their identity from any kind of magic scanning or tracing."

"I suspected that would be the case, but it was better to check just to be certain." Osmond said with a sigh. He picked up his staff and pointed it at Louise.

"Now Miss Vallière, kindly remain where you are." he told her, "This should only take a moment."

"Right." she replied nervously.

Osmond began to channel magic through his staff, making it glow a faint blue colour. A slight amount of pressure from a moderately large amount of concentrated magic made Saito unconsciously step back. No way did he want to be near that if something went wrong.

"Tri…Malok…Verit!" Osmond commanded.

A bolt of white light erupted from the knobbed end of the staff and struck Louise. Simultaneously, the hologram that represented the second binding flickered. The chains that bound the holographic Louise began to vibrate as the magic of Osmond's unbinding spell ate away at it.

"It's working." Saito muttered in fascination as he observed the phantasmal chains develop a great number of cracks, "Just a little more…"

With one final surge of magic from Osmond, the binding spell shattered like glass, the second hologram fading away as there was now no spell to analyse.

Louise staggered a bit. An odd feeling was coursing through her that she had only ever felt for just an instant before she created one of her explosions. Could it be…?

"I…I think I can feel my willpower!" she said excitedly.

"Your magic." Saito corrected her, "If I'm going to be teaching you, start using my terminology. And yes, I can feel it as well."

"Whew. I'm pooped." Osmond said as he sat down on his seat, "Been a while since I broke a binding spell of that level of strength."

"Was it really that strong?" Louise asked curiously.

"It was." the Headmaster replied, "The person who did this made their first mistake. There are only a handful of mages in Tristain who could have cast a spell of that level of complexity that I would have trouble in dispelling, perhaps nine or ten at most. This means we have narrowed down the suspects to who cast the second binding."

"That's good." Saito nodded, "Moving on; Louise, can you tell how much of your magic you can sense?"

"Ummm…" Louise though hard, "I don't know. It doesn't feel like a lot though."

"My scan here was monitoring the entire process of unbinding as it happened." Saito said, motioning towards his scroll, "Apparently it isn't a good idea to layer two different binding spells atop one another without the proper preparation. The friction damage between the two spells was evident."

"Friction damage?"

"Yeah. They were incompatible in structure and intent. The first one is intended to be undone, while the second one was meant to be permanent." Saito replied, "When Osmond undid the second binding, the… 'scar tissue' for lack of a better term that was left from that friction damage was made worse and damaged the first binding, weakening it's hold on your magic slightly. Rather than a mere five percent of your magic, you now have access to roughly triple that amount."

"Fifteen percent…it's not a lot." Louise said mournfully.

"Still better than zero." Saito pointed out bluntly.

"Grrrr." Louise grumbled, "I suppose so…"

"I believe that now that the first binding has been lifted, we should call Miss Vallière's parents in and explain things to them." Osmond put in.

"M-My mother!?" Louise looked terrified at the thought, "Are you mad?! If she finds out that someone bound my magical abilities, she'll go on a rampage throughout Tristain until she finds the one who did it!"

"Karin of the Heavy Wind is likely to do that." Osmond mused, "Unless she is given a Royal Command not to. I believe coinciding your mother's visit with Princess Henrietta's annual inspection of the Academy. It will also keep your eldest sister in check should she come along with Duchess de la Vallière as she usually does."

Louise shuddered at the thought of her eldest sister Éléonore visiting the Academy and nodded reverently. Her sister didn't respect anyone's opinion unless they were either a specialist in their field or was of a higher noble rank than her own, meaning the Royal Family.

"Errr….is Louise's mother really that much of a scary person?" Saito asked pensively.

"Before retiring and marrying the Duke La Vallière, Karin was the commander of the Manticore Knights, with the strongest Wind alignment Tristain has ever seen." Osmond informed a pale Saito, "She single-handedly put down a revolt by Count Eustace before General Gramont could intervene. Her reputation is such that one time when a rather arrogant Germanian noble invaded a province of Tristain, when his troops heard that she had been dispatched to counter the invasion, they abandoned their lord and fled back across the border."

"Yikes…" Saito had to admit that Louise's mother sounded very intimidating. He made a mental note not to piss her off.

"That is the reaction that most people have about my mother." Louise said dryly, "She is even scarier than my eldest sister Éléonore, which is saying something."

"Éléonore frightened off her intended husband, the Count de Burgundy, because of the abuse he received during their courtship." Osmond added, "She has been attempting to badger her mother and father to pull Louise out of the Academy ever since to force her to marry her own fiancé, Jean-Jacques Francis, Viscount of Wardes. Thus far, she has been unsuccessful in her attempts."

"It is also a reason for me to enter into this Master/Apprentice bond soon." Louise added, "If the Headmaster gives me permission via his status as being my guardian in loco parentis, my parents and sister cannot try anything. The contract is simply that binding."

"Would they try and retaliate again Osmond here though?" Saito wondered, "In my world, powerful mages tend to act like a petulant child if they don't get what they want, lashing out at anyone they can get their hands on in their rage."

"In that aspect, our worlds are similar." Osmond replied with a wry smile, "Fortunately for me, my position here is the next best thing to unassailable. No one else wants the job, so it isn't feasible for me to be removed. As to my holdings, there are no people on my land and I have let them fall fallow for over thirty years. Attempting to sabotage that is unfeasible, I have no other financial holdings other than the Écu I have stored in my treasury, and the La Vallière family is not arrogant enough to try to get past me to get to it. I am therefore essentially immune to anything they might try."

"As are you, Saito." Louise added, "It is the very worst breach of etiquette to attack the Familiar of another mage when that Familiar has not attacked or otherwise harmed someone."

"Wouldn't taking you under the Master/Apprentice contract count for that?" Saito asked.

"No." Louise shook her head firmly, "You haven't used any glamour magic on me, nor are you mentally coercing or physically forcing me to do it. I'm choosing to do it of my own free will because it offers the best chance for me to improve my magic and remove me from play of any of the machinations or schemes of my family."

"How does it do the last one?" Saito asked with a frown, "I didn't see anything in the contract we went over today that would prevent that."

"That's because it is in the contract; it's one of the laws of Tristain." Osmond explained, "The law states that until and unless the contract is negated, cancelled or voided, the family of the one apprenticed has no say in what the Apprentice does. It was put in place to prevent marriages being brokered without the input of the Apprentice, although that usually doesn't stop people from trying."

"My mother is very sharp though, so I doubt she'll try anything." Louise added, "Not with the financial penalty that the law would apply to any who were found to try and interfere with the Apprentice's studies."

"How thorough." Saito commented.

"It is, rather." Osmond agreed, "Now then, I have to finish my paperwork, as well as draft a suitable letter to call Miss Vallière's parents here without making it sound like she has done something wrong, so run along now. I presume that you have enough information to construct the barriers in the training room?"

"Yeah." Saito sighed, "I'm going to have to protect the floor and ceiling as well. That last explosion cared out quite a chunk of the ground and obliterated an Earth Golem as if it wasn't even there. That's at least B-Rank magic, possibly as high as A-Rank."

"Rank?" Osmond enquired.

"Similar to how you determine strength by how many elements a mage can use, we Onmyōji rank our mystics and our spells by how skilled they are." Saito replied, "A F-Rank magic user is a person with a useless talent. An E-Rank has one particular skill they can use, but nothing else. D-Ranks are what most people refer to as hedge witches or hedge wizards. I am officially a C-Rank, a fresh graduate from the Imperial Academy of Onmyōji. Most teachers are B-Rank and the power difference between C and B-Ranks is much greater than any of the previous. A-Ranks are the most powerful mystics in existence today, the Supreme Grandmaster of Onmyōji and the Council of the Onmyōdō. S-Rank is a legend from when Void magic was still in our world. There is one further rank that only one person has ever achieved."

"Who?" Louise asked quietly.

"The rank is known as EX-Rank." Saito replied quietly, "The only known person to have attained it was the last Imperial Minister of Onmyōji and Imperial Fortune-teller, the great Abe no Seimei."

"Wow…" Louise said, "So you're ranking my explosions with the most powerful you have access to in your world?"

"I saw the Supreme Grandmaster obliterate an entire field of golems with a single spell." Saito replied flatly, "Your most powerful explosion, with everything you put behind it, only barely steps over the boundary from B to A. Generally, I would rank them ranging from just under Mid-B to the upper half of Mid-B."

"A fair assessment." Osmond put in, "Now I must hurry you along. Miss Vallière has class soon."

"You mean she hasn't missed some already?" Saito asked in surprise. It was, by his reckoning, almost ten in the morning. By this time, he had been through three classes back at the Onmyōji Academy.

"No, the classes do not start for another half hour or so." Louise replied.

Saito shook his head. "It's a wonder the students learn anything with such pampering." he said in mild disgust.

"You can lead a horse to water…" Osmond shrugged philosophically.

"…but you cannot make it drink." Saito finished sourly, "Great. Well, Louise is going to working to MY schedule once we sign the contract, not the namby-pamby schedule you have to use for the little darlings of the nobility."

Louise had a sudden bout of foresight. She could tell that Saito was going to be the most demanding teacher she had ever had. She could also tell that the results of that tutelage -the signs of which Saito unconsciously showed off with every word he spoke and every spell he cast- would be worth every gruelling minute of training.

SLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSLSL

Half an Hour Later

Saito and Louise's Suite

"Right, that's all of the materials gathered." Saito wiped some sweat from his head as he reviewed everything her had begged, borrowed and 'appropriated' from various locations around the Academy.

Paintbrushes, a copious amount of the finest quality ink available, a wooden ladder, a small, razor-sharp knife, bandages, a wooden stick and, last but not least, a large mixing jar.

Moving with quick, practiced motions, Saito made a cut in both of his palms with the knife. His blood welled up out of the cuts and he hastily held his hands over the mixing pot that was full of ink. For this much ink, four or five litres worth at a conservative estimate, he would have to add about a pint of his own blood.

'Wish I'd brought along all my ink I had stored at the Academy.' Saito thought as he ignored the stinging sensation from his cuts with practiced ease, then snorted, 'Yeah and while I'm at it, how about all of my clothes, books and equipment that I'd sent on to my new workplace. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.'

Once Saito completed his irritating, but necessary task, he lightly wrapped his cuts in the bandages. He'd heal them up at a later point. The Onmyōji grabbed the wooden rod, which he had cleaned up so that no impurities could get into the ink/blood mixture, and began stirring the concoction thoroughly.

Once he was sure it was mixed fully, Saito healed the cuts with the quick application of a specialised healing talisman all Onmyōji kept for just such an instance. He then thrust his hands into the inky mess and began imbuing the mixture with his magic. It was a tedious process and Saito always made the ink in large batches so he could make a surplus of talismans at once so he could cut down on how many times he had to perform this ritual.

His classmates had scoffed at him for doing this. They prepared perhaps a single months worth of talismans in advance, meaning they performed this ritual every single month, whereas Saito prepared five months worth of talismans in advance and thus only had to perform this ritual two or three times a year.

Saito wasn't even close to running out of talismans yet. He always carried a months worth on his person at all times and the last two days had barely put a dent in his supply. Still, in order to properly prepare the training room for borderline A-Rank magic on a constant basis, he needed to prepare some specialised talismans for casting the spell itself and he needed quite a bit of ink to make the spell formula across the walls, floor and ceiling.

Thus the ladder.

At length, he finished the infusion and imbuing process and withdrew his hands from the now magical ink. Rather than coating his hands like regular ink would, it slipped off like water off a ducks back.

"Now for the hard part." Saito muttered as he picked up one of the artist's paintbrushes that he had 'appropriated' from what was apparently a fine arts classroom. He then began to paint the outline of the spell formula that would make up the protection spell for the training room.

When he finished one wall, he started on the one next to it, and made sure that it was drawn so that it connected to the first. This was not the kind of spell his teachers approved of. Ink-created barriers and protections were relatively easy to circumvent or overpower given enough time and preparation. For something like this, he should be carving the design into the wood and stone, drawing far more of the protective qualities of the stone and the flexible nature of the wood than he would get from just painting ink onto the surface.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option in this case, as the Headmaster had installed all of the equipment (where he had found the time Saito didn't know) before giving them the rooms. Removing all of the equipment just for him to cast a spell would just be a hassle that nobody wanted, so Saito had to make do with the hand he had been dealt.

Just because he couldn't do a 'proper' protection spell by his teacher's standards didn't mean he wasn't doing as good a job as he could. Once he had finished the protections, they would draw upon the plentiful ambient magic that a school of magical teenagers had aplenty and essentially last until some part of the formula was broken.

He hadn't been an excellent student of barrier magic, so he had focussed on that lesson using meditation before beginning the mixing of the ink. He really wished he had brought some of his textbooks with him, but unfortunately he had been travelling light and had only brought some Shikigami instruction manuals and a book on intermediate Fire Magic to read while on the train.

He was cursing that decision right now, but it couldn't be helped. It was water under the bridge, so he would have to attempt what he had been repeatedly warned against doing throughout the entirety of the Academy.

Attempt to create his own spells.

All the spells he had used thus far had been right out of the textbook. Granted, the Suiryū Kōbaku had been out of a post-graduate textbook, but it was still a standard spell for a fully accredited mystic who had studied it enough.

He couldn't count on the Halkaginians being able to send him home. Their magic was so primitive that he was surprised that they didn't resort to beating each other over the heads with their wands instead. Harsh, but more than slightly accurate.

A society that hadn't changed to any significant degree in over five millennia was either broken way beyond repair or under the control of an organisation that ordered the various nations to play nice. Considering the fearful reverence that the few people that Saito has spoken to had had for the Church of Brimir, he was almost certain that it was the latter.

Eventually, it would be discovered that he had a Demon and an Ogre for Familiars. Then eventually, that knowledge would make its way to the ears of the Church. When that happened, Saito had no doubt that the Church would give in to a reflexive 'burn the heretic, slay the demon' mentality and attempt to capture, torture and eventually kill him.

He had to have a ready-made escape route and bolthole set up for when that happened and he also needed an arsenal of spells that he hadn't shown. He had no doubt that the Church had a series of informants and spies seeded throughout all of the Halkaginian Kingdoms, at least in the most densely populated areas, so his most widely used spells would likely be leaked to the Church, who would then give that information to whatever organisation was their enforcement arm in this world when they sent them to hunt him down.

'Perhaps the mountains would be a good place for a hideout.' Saito considered as he painted, 'Easy to hide in, easy to defend, hard to move large bodies of troops across without practically screaming 'I am here!' at the top of their lungs. Good thing I watched Rambo.'

He abruptly stopped painting when he realised he had finished the entire room while he had been brooding on his eventual escape from the Church.

"Huh. Who knew that being lost in thought was so conductive to this kind of thing?" Saito said with a shrug, not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He eyed the door, which had been deliberately left unmarked. He would put a higher-level protection spell on it, as well as a powerful locking spell. It never hurt to have an ace in the hole, just to be careful.

The protection barriers he was laying were not just protections against magical accidents in the training room. They also had low-level structural reinforcement charms written in to them that made the walls just about as strong as titanium and more dense than granite, without adding to the weight of the actual stones that made up the walls and floor.

He was just about to get started when someone knocked on the suite's front door. Grumbling about interruptions, Saito made his way to the door and opened it.

Standing outside was Siesta, who smiled at him. Saito couldn't help but smile back. The maid was the kind of girl that made him want to smile.

"Master Saito, I'm here for today's laundry." Siesta said as he stood back to let her in.

"Ah? Oh right." Saito led her to the wooden basin that held Louise's clothes from the previous day. His own clothes had a special spell formula embroidered into them that automatically cleaned them if he didn't wear them for an hour, so they were next to his bed for the next day.

"Oh my, that might put me out of a job!" Siesta pouted prettily at him when he told her about that.

"It's only my clothes that have them." Saito reassured her, "The spell need special thread that I don't have access to, so I can't reproduce it."

"That's good then." Siesta said primly, "As your maid, it would be troubling for me if I had nothing to do!"

Saito chuckled at this. "Siesta, you're Louise's maid, not mine." he reminded her.

"You are Miss Vallière's Familiar, so you are her representative." Siesta replied, "Your orders are the same as Miss Vallière's orders."

Saito doubted that the situation was anything like that, but let it go for now. He could recognise a lost battle when he saw one.

"Hold on for a moment." he told her before crouching next to the basin and taking out his ink and brush again. He sketched a quick spell formula on the wood and then empowered it wordlessly. For such a basic spell, it was a simple matter to do so.

"There, that should make your job much easier." he said in satisfaction.

"What did you do?" Siesta asked curiously.

"I added a lightweight spell to the basin." Saito replied, "Now it and everything in it will be at about 1/10th of its actual weight."

"Thank you, Master Saito!" Siesta squealed happily, "These wooden basins weigh a ton, especially with clothes in them! This will make things so much easier!"

"I'm glad that I've made your job easier." Saito replied with a courteous inclination of his head, "I must return to what I was doing before you arrived. Please don't interrupt me as it is a delicate process."

"Of course, Master Saito." Siesta curtseyed at him before picking up the wooden basin and, with a grin on her face, practically skipped from the room.

"Weird." Saito shook his head. Girls, it seemed, were a mystery unto themselves, regardless of parallel worlds.

The Mystic walked back to the training room and inspected the spell formula before he sat down at a desk and started to make the twelve special talismans that were needed to activate the protection formula.

Strictly speaking, he should be consecrating the room to the gods, followed by a small fasting session before attempting this, but he wasn't exactly certain if the gods of his world could even feel a prayer directed at them from this world, so this would be an excellent test run of that.

Moreover, he always thought the whole fasting thing was stupid anyway.

He had just put the last touches on the last talisman when the suite's door opened. He saw a flash of pink hair from the open door of the training room and knew it was Louise.

"Hey Louise." he called, "How was class?"

"Better than it's ever been before!" she shouted through excitedly, "That damn Von Zerbst had to apologise when she found out I had been sealed! AND I managed to use a small levitation spell!"

"Nice." Saito replied, "I would advise against any elemental spells yet though. The explosions still might happen."

"Right." Louise said as she walked into the training room, "Why is it that I can use levitation spells and not a simple candle lighting spell?"

She was pouting slightly at the restriction, but she was evidently going to go along with it.

"Non-elemental magic is all that the first binding is allowing to leak through, and not a lot of it at that." Saito told her, "Its primary purpose is to force you to search out the keys to your magic by making you a weak mage, whilst making sure you are still seen as a mage."

"It still isn't fair." Louise grumbled, "What's with the artwork on the walls…and the floor…and the ceiling, now I come to think of it?"

"Preparations for the protection barriers." Saito replied as he picked up the talismans he had just made and began to place them in a circle around the centre of the room, "My teachers would be unhappy with me for using such a basic barrier, but…"

He shrugged. Louise gazed around at the immensely ornate and complicated looking lines and characters that he had coated the room in and had to sweatdrop at his remark.

'THIS is basic? What kind of insane perfectionists were his teachers?' she had to wonder.

"Right, all preparations are complete." Saito announced, "Louise, you can watch from the door, but do not enter the room until I give you the go ahead. Understood?"

Louise nodded, hearing the seriousness in his voice, and backed into the doorway.

Positioning himself in the centre of the ring of talismans, Saito knelt down in the seiza position and formed a handsign. As he did, he channelled magic into the twelve talismans surrounding him.

Louise, observing from the doorway, had to stifle a gasp as, seemingly of their own accord, the talismans floated up, hung in midair, and began to glow a pale green colour.

Saito then began to chant in ancient Japanese, the words sliding from his tongue with the ease of practice. He released the handsign and gestured once with his right hand.

The ring of talismans began to spin around him, slowly at first, then they began to pick up speed, until they blurred into a single ring of green light.

Sweat trickled down Saito's brow as his magic fought against the resistance from the leatherwork around the room. He had known that, theoretically, leatherwork was very difficult to enchant, but no one had mentioned that it was like trying to walk through solid stone!

Grimly, he forced more of his power into the spell with a gesture from his left hand this time. The ring of light became fatter as the power flowed into the talismans that made it up.

After a tense couple of minutes, something in the leather just seemed to give way and the Mystic felt his power start to flow into the leather. He gestured with his right hand again before bringing both hands together in a clap-like gesture.

The ring began to pulse with an inner light before it smoothly split into six smaller rings that hovered around him, awaiting in his command.

"Hikari no Yari wa ten o terasu tame… (A spear of light to illuminate the heavens…)" Saito intone as he pointed to the ceiling.

"Hikarinotsurugi wa, chikyū o terasu tame… (A sword of light to illuminate the earth…)" this said while gesturing at the floor.

"Honō no zō ga minami o hogo suru tame ni… (A statue of flames to protect the south…)"

"Inazuma no Senkō wa nishi o surutameni… (A flash of lightning to guard the west…)"

"Mizu no monshō wa kita o surutameni… (An emblem of water to defend the north…)"

"Ishi no isan wa azuma o kobu suru tame ni… (A legacy of stone to inspire the east…)"

"Arise! Tenchi no Shōheki! (Barrier of Heaven and Earth)" Saito commanded.

The six rings of green light separated. Each one flew to one of the floor walls, with one hovering in the centre of the ceiling and the last floating just in front of Saito. With barely a ripple, the rings melted into the surfaces beneath them.

The six surfaces of the room glowed a blinding green for a moment, making Saito and Louise flinch at the brightness. As the light faded, Louise peered through her hands, which she had covered her eyes with, to see how Saito was doing.

He was sprawled out on the floor, limbs twitching slightly and breathing heavily.

"Is it alright for me to come in?" Louise called anxiously.

"W…wait until the green light fades from all of the walls before you enter." Saito answered her in a shaky voice.

Impatiently, the petit pinkette waited until the glowing walls had returned to normal before rushing over to Saito's side.

"Are you OK?" she asked in concern.

"Just…a little spent." he replied, "I underestimated how much resistance the leather would put up. Must be because this world is inundated with ambient magic compared to mine. The animals must soak up quite a bit of it just by breathing. Give me a hand up?"

"Here." Louise let him drag himself to his feet shakily using her hand as a lever. Although he wobbled a bit, he seemed to be physically alright, if a bit tired from his magical exertions.

"Whew. That was the most exhausting act of magic I have ever done." Saito remarked as he tottered into the bedroom, "I feel…great."

"How does that work?" Louise asked with a frown.

"Magical afterglow." Saito replied as he flopped onto his bed, "After a large working, the feeling of using so much magic, at least if you don't go too far, makes you feel a great deal of pleasure. It is somewhat similar to having sex, from what I've read about it."

Louise flushed red at the casual reference to…intimate acts. "Just to let you know, don't speak so plainly about such topics in public. It is considered very…rude."

"Ah. Right. Medieval sensibilities." Saito nodded his head, "Right. Got you."

"Are all people in your world so…plainspoken about such things?" Louise couldn't help but ask.

"Not really." Saito replied with a small yawn, "I mean, we do tend to call things as we see them and occasionally people do speak plainly about…sex and the like, at least with their parents."

"Huh." Louise didn't know what to make of that. She noticed Saito's eyes fluttering shut as she pondered his last answer and smiled. He had mentioned last night that he would fall asleep once he had finished the training room.

Tiptoeing, she let herself out of the suite and set off to find Siesta. She would have to let her know not to disturb Saito's rest.

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Next Chapter: Tristania

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