Author's Note: Well, here is Chapter 8.

A reminder, for all you people who have forgotten. The Harem is Henrietta, Siesta, Louise, Tabitha/Charlotte and Tiffania.

Kirche isn't on the list, but she will show her good side in a couple of chapters' time. Some differences are going to start appearing here now, so keep your eyes peeled.

As always, Read, Review and check out my other stories!

Disclaimer: I do not own Familiar of Zero.

"Saito" -Talking

'Louise' -Thinking/ Human-Human Telepathy

"Explosion!" -Spell

:Master: -Master/Familiar Telepathy

Chapter 8: Tristania

The next day went by fairly quickly for Saito once he woke up from his magic exhaustion-induced sleep, which had been surprisingly restful for him. Normally he had nightmares whenever he used too much of his magic, but not this time.

Saito merely dismissed that as he got back to examining the map that Jean Colbert had gotten him from the Staff Library. The teacher was a very good sport about his loss in the duel and had insisted that Saito use his first name.

The map in question was of Tristan and its provinces, divided up as if a kid high on sugar had doodled randomly on the map. This was because of the way the provinces were divided. The two Ducal Houses of Tristain had bits and pieces of land scattered hither and yon outside their main lands and they seemed to have no particular inclination to preference in location.

The next step down, the Principalities, rules by Princes that were not in any way related to the Tristain Royal Family, were more conservative with how they grouped their lands, but still had a few territories outside their main lands.

Next, the Marquisates territories were very much smaller than the previous two, rarely exceeding half of a Principality, and always grouped close together, as if afraid they might be raided by their neighbours, which wasn't unlikely.

The Counties, ruled by Counts or Earls, were smaller still, but generally not by much more than a quarter of a Marquis' Territory.

Viscounts were just a step below Counts and Earls, so their land was usually only a hair smaller than their higher ranked cousins were.

The second from bottom of the Hereditary Peerages ladder was the Barony's, ruled by Barons. They were rarely half the size of a County, but there were a bucket load of them.

Finally, there were territories, mostly single valleys in the mountains of Tristain that were given over to Chevalier, the very lowest of the Nobility and the equivalent of Knights. Small and barely populated, they were hard to reach, out of the way and lightly populated.

Perfect for building a hideaway from the Church, in other words.

"Master Saito?" Siesta called, making him start. The maid was looking at him with a blush and an odd look on her face, which Saito couldn't decipher.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought." Saito said with an embarrassed chuckle, "How can I help you, Siesta?"

"I…I was just wondering why you were looking at the map so seriously." the maid blushed again as she remembered how handsome he had looked as he poured over the parchment.

"I was familiarising myself with a European-style Feudal system and the convoluted territories said system brings about on the map." Saito said as he tapped the parchment for emphasis.

"You-rope-ean?" Siesta questioned, "What's that?"

"In my world, the area that Tristain, Germania, Gallia, Romalia and Albion takes up is called Europe." Saito smiled at the maid as he gestured her over so she could see the map too, "Gallia is where a country called France is in my world, Germania is where Germany is, Albion is where the British Isles are and Italy takes the place of your Romalia."

"What about Tristain?" Siesta asked.

"Roughly speaking, it is where a country called Belgium is." Saito replied, "It was badly hurt in two wars, but is well known for their stubborn resistance during both instances, although they got curb-stomped eventually."

"Curb-stomped?" Siesta asked in confusion.

"Beaten badly." Saito translated, "Both times Germany…Germania to put it in perspective for you…was the aggressor and they had a lot more troops than Belgium/Tristain AND they attacked with the element of surprise both times."

"Wow…which country did you live in, Master?" Siesta asked.

"None of them." the Onmyōji replied, "My country is on the other side of the world to Europe, on the Asian Continent. We Onmyōji are required to learn the histories of other lands as a matter of course, as our duties can take us all over the world given the right circumstances."

"That's amazing…" Siesta said with a shake of her head.

"Not really." Saito disagreed, "Most people in my world have access to the information I just gave you; mages have the magical history locked up tight away from normal people, but we share it amongst each other so the mistakes of the past can never be repeated. Just about the only thing the mages of various countries keep to themselves are possible embarrassing secrets that would embarrass their nation."

"I see." Siesta said, "So…why the sudden interest in Tristain's map?"

"The way I see it, I'm stuck here until I figure out how to reverse-engineer the spell that brought me here." the Japanese boy sighed, "Until I manage to achieve that goal, I might as well get used to the political reality of this country so I don't mess things up by accident."

"That must be tough." Siesta said with a frown.

"It is, especially considering how many different Nobles there are and how spread out they are across the country." Saito frowned, "I mean, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how they are distributed. Some places are a bunch of Baronies, while others are Principalities intermixed with Baronies, bordered by Counties."

"From what I hear, all the lands were once owned by the Crown at some point." Siesta said with a thoughtful look on her face, "They granted titles of Nobility to various mages who swore fealty to them. Some younger sons earned a title of their own from exploits on the battlefield, usually a Barony. Others lost a portion of their land as a result of wagering them in card games, I think, and then some Noble lines became extinct, with their lands reverting to the Crown."

"How'd you learn all that?" Saito asked in amazement.

Siesta shrugged. "The Nobles rarely pay attention to the servants while they're talking, unless they want something. We're somewhat like furniture to them; useful, but easily ignored, so they run their mouths without concern when we are around."

Saito didn't like that one bit, but it worked to his advantage this time, so he chose to say, "Well, the more power to you, Siesta. How have the other servants been treating you, by the way?"

"Oh, they're glad that Count Mott didn't get his hands on me." the maid said with a small shiver, "Miss Vallière is currently very popular with the servants because she accepted my boon."

"That's good." Saito nodded, "If anyone does act up towards you, let me or Louise know and we'll straighten them out."

"Thank you, Master Saito!" Siesta hugged him, pressing her impressive bust into his side.

"I-It's nothing, really…" Saito stammered out, his face flushed red at the contact with Siesta and her 'girls'.

"Well now, aren't we cosy?!" Louise hissed from the doorway, glaring daggers at the two. One of her eyes was twitching rapidly and a crimson aura surrounded her body, which was very freaky to Saito.

"L-Louise…calm down…she was just hugging me to thank me for looking out for her…" the Onmyōji stammered nervously.

Siesta was pouting as she reluctantly let go of Saito. "Miss Vallière, That is the case…but Master Saito can hug me all he wants…whenever he wants…"

With a mischievous smile, Siesta breezed from the room, leaving Saito to receive his master's wrath in full.

"Was it enjoyable to have her rubbing those things over you…huh?!" Louise asked angrily.

"Yes, as a matter of fact." Saito replied, "And what business is it of yours if she does?"

"She's my maid!" Louise retorted, "And you are still my Familiar!"

"So you're going to throw a snit at me for Siesta hugging me?" Saito asked with a raised eyebrow, "I may be a Familiar, but I am also human. You do not get to command me like a dog."

"Do you have any idea how degrading it would be for me if you seduce my maid?" Louise spat.

"What?! Who said anything about that?!" Saito yelped, "I've only known her for a couple of days, for crying out loud! I'm not about to drag her into my bed when we've just gotten her out of that position with Count Mott. What do you take me for?"

Louise eyed him suspiciously. "You weren't going to bed her?"

"No." Saito said firmly, "She is very pleasant to talk to and she can give me the ground-up view of Halkaginian society that you cannot because of her lack of a Noble title. She is attractive, that much I admit, but even if she and I did get together, it would be after we both got to know each other better."

"Most boys I know would be bragging how they could get her into their bed before they could say knife." Louise remarked.

"In my world, we have a higher degree of respect for females…generally speaking." Saito said, "I personally refuse to treat a woman like she is solely for the sake of bedding. Relationships are very rarely built solely on the physical aspects."

"Fine then. I apologise for jumping to conclusions." Louise inclined her head slightly, "Now about tomorrow. It's the day of the Void, so we will be going to Tristania in order to do three things. One, purchase a whip so the damn contract magic can be put in place. Two, purchase a sword for you so you can act as a bodyguard. Three, see Princess Henrietta and explain to her everything we know about my magic being sealed."

Saito saw the light flush on her face as she spoke of her magic and had to smile. "What's her reaction likely to be when she finds out that someone sealed your magic?"

"Not good." Louise shuddered, "She has been my friend since we were babies and detests people who mock me. She's likely to use the Princess Sceptre to blast some boulders later on."

"Wait, that reminds me. She isn't at the Academy, so how is she taught?" Saito asked with a frown.

"The Princess is taught by the finest tutors money can buy." Louise replied, "It would be too much of a risk to have her learn alongside the rest of Tristain's Nobility, not to mention the Nobility from other nations."

"A fair point." Saito conceded. In these medieval times, kidnapping Princesses and holding them to ransom was probably par for the course.

"Well, now that you aren't flirting with the maid, we can go for lunch now." Louise said with a small sniff and stalked out the door.

Saito sighed slightly and made a note to talk to Osmond about this as he followed her out the door.

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The Day of the Void

En Route to Tristania

The carriage was packed with students of the Academy, all of them eager to spend their free day in the capital city of Tristain, spending their allowance of money they had withdrawn from the bookkeeper at the Academy.

"They sure are boisterous, aren't they?" Saito remarked.

"Well, they only get one day off a week." Louise said off-handedly, "Surely you were the same?"

"We got a week off a year." Saito snorted, "Plus one additional day for the Emperor's Birthday. Even then, we were expected to comport ourselves in a manner befitting an Onmyōji at all times."

"Your teachers were harsh." the pinkette remarked.

"We are at war, and have been for the last thousand years." Saito sighed, "They have to be harsh in order to ensure we survive. Heichi Kuroboshi agents are ruthless."

"Who?" Louise asked in confusion as they approached the walls of the city.

"Juxtaposed Black Star, or more commonly just Black Star, is the enemy of the Imperial Onmyōji." Saito replied, "They were founded by Abe no Seimei's rival a thousand years ago and have warred against the Ministry of Onmyō ever since. The stories told of what they do to any member of the Ministry they capture is enough to give me nightmares just to think about it."

"…Are they really that bad?" Louise asked. The bleak face Saito made as he had said all that made her shiver at such fear shown by such a strong mage.

"Trust me, you do not want to know." the Onmyōji replied seriously, "I don't want to know, yet I do."

Louise became quiet after that, until they entered the city proper and disembarked from the carriage. Watching the other students swarm out and disperse among the crowds of peasants and guards, she found that she understood, to some degree, why Saito's teachers insisted upon assuming proper decorum at all times, as they all just looked so undignified running about like that.

"Where to first then, 'master'?" Saito asked as he stretched. The journey to the Capital was close, maybe five minutes by car, but that was translated into three hours by horse and barely any shorter by horse-drawn carriage, meaning he was as stiff as a board.

"The whip." Louise replied, "This way."

She led him to a shop that sold all manner of whips for the Nobility and purchased a basic riding crop that set her back by thirty Écu. About the length of Louise's entire arm and with no fancy filigrees or symbols burned into it, the thing would suffice for the purposes of the contract.

"Yeah…I really don't want to be hit by that thing." Saito said as he eyed the crop warily.

"Good thing that you're giving me more than enough reason not to use it." Louise replied with a light blush.

'Yeah…hit me with it three times and I have to take your virginity…what a screwed up system of magic.' Saito thought bitterly. He was, as all teenage boys were, highly curious about the opposite sex, which was why Siestas…advances?…were so interesting for him. The fact he and Louise would be forced to copulate if she broke this rule was highly unpleasant for Saito.

He didn't have ridiculously high morals, contrary to what some of his peers had thought back on Earth. Saito merely followed the law. Something he did have a strong opinion on was personal freedom. Forcing another person to do something against their free will was a big no-no in Saito's book, thanks to the teachings of the Academy of Onmyō Arts, a sub-school within the Imperial Academy.

The two mages carried on down the street before turning off onto a small side street.

"Let's see…the weapons shop was right next to the Piemon's Potion Shop…" Louise muttered. She had come to memorise the part of the Capital that she visited most often, mostly the shopping district and the road to the Royal Castle.

"Is that it?" Saito pointed out a shop with a blue sign emblazoned with a golden sunburst. A sword was fastened to the left of the door as well.

"Yep." Louise nodded, "Just to warn you, the owner is a rat."

Saito raised an eyebrow at that, but mentally shrugged as he followed his petite master into the weapons shop, which was full of sabres, rapiers, broadswords, hand-and-a-half swords, poniards, daggers and throwing knives.

The owner, when Saito saw him, did indeed look very much like a rat. He wore a leather hat atop his head, a pair of glasses perched atop his nose and a pipe was seemingly embedded permanently in his mouth. His moustache was long and thin like whiskers and his two front teeth jutted out in an overbite like a rat's teeth did.

"Ah, Miss Vallière!" the merchant greeted her obsequiously, "It is good to see a member of House de Vallière in my humble shop. How may I service you?"

"My Familiar requires a weapon." Louise replied haughtily, entering her 'Noble Façade' as Saito called it whenever she acted like a cold, impersonal person.

"Familiar? This boy?" the merchant asked in surprise.

"I am the first to summon a human as a Familiar, good merchant." Louise said dryly, "I know it is a surprise, but if he is to be of use to me, he requires a weapon to guard me with, one that was forged for use in combat."

"But of course." the smarmy, greedy look on his face told her that he would do his best to sell her useless crap at a high price, "It is a recent trend, even in the Royal Castle, to allow servants to carry weapons, so I daresay you will be overlooked…now then, young sir, do you have any preference as to what you wield?"

"A sword. Light, but sturdy. Not a rapier." Saito said immediately. He knew from what Osmond had said that any weapon forged for use in combat would work, but he was Japanese and the Katana was the queen of weapons as far as he was concerned. If he couldn't have a Katana, he'd have the next best thing.

"I have just the thing!" the man declared and scurried off.

"You were right." Saito remarked quietly.

"A frequent occurrence." Louise smirked at him as the man staggered back, a golden sword in his arms.

"This is a blade forged by the Germanian Mage-Alchemist Sir Spee." the man passed it to Saito who held it dubiously. It was golden, with red jewellery at the ends of the crosspiece and the end of the hilt. It was obviously well made, but according to Colbert and Osmond, his Familiar Runes should light up when an appropriate weapon is held in his hand. Surreptitiously checking his left hand, he saw that the runes were not glowing in the slightest.

"Sorry, not what I'm looking for." he informed the crestfallen merchant, "If I were you, I'd have someone double check that blade's authenticity. It isn't a blade suited for combat."

"How do you know that?" the man huffed.

"My runes glow when I wield a real weapon." Saito demonstrated by picking up a nearby dagger. Suddenly, his runes flowed faintly and he felt stronger and tougher. Saito instinctively ran through what he somehow knew to be a basic knife kata.

"…wow…" the man blinked, "Well, I'll certainly do as you suggest. As thanks, that dagger is yours, since you seem to be able to use it well."

"Do you sell sheaths as well?" Louise asked. Knives were a useful thing to possess because they could be concealed easily and most people, both Nobles and Commoners, carried at least one knife openly as a matter of course when outside the Academy.

"Indeed." the man, while a rat, was very good at his job and had Saito kitted out with a very nice leather sheath and belt in no time flat.

"Is that a pistol crossbow?" Saito asked as he pointed at the weapon in question. It superficially resembled a black powder single-shot pistol, except for the fact it was slightly blockier and had a bow sticking out of either side of where the muzzle should be, as well as having a box of some sort atop it.

"Ah, yes. Might I compliment you on your discerning eye?" the merchant was thrilled by Saito spotting the weapon, "This is the very latest type of crossbow pistol…the recurved, repeating crossbow pistol known as the Rampant Griffin. It was only made available not two months ago and it had been very popular among the Nobility."

"May I?" Saito asked. Receiving a nod, he carefully picked it up and smiled grimly as his runes flared again. It was moderately heavy and slightly unwieldy for a handheld weapon, but as crossbows were made to be used from a stationary position anyway, that was a moot point.

"Last I checked, recurved weapons put quite a bit of stress on the materials that make them up." Saito said as he sighted down the crude sight built atop the box, "How does this deal with that problem?"

"An excellent question." the merchant nodded, "The materials for the bow section are handpicked by the bowyer and made as flexibly and as strong as is possible. A Mage then casts numerous spells of strengthening upon it to make sure that it cannot be broken by repeated use. The spell does require recharging every month, but it is an excellent weapon regardless of that, whether you use it for hunting or protecting your master here."

"How much?" Louise asked.

"For you, fifteen hundred Écu, including a hundred quarrels." the man said quickly.

"A thousand." countered Louise.

"I have to make a profit, my lady!" the merchant cried, "Fourteen hundred at least!"

"Twelve hundred." Louise threw out.

"Thirteen hundred and not an Écu less!" the merchant said with finality.

"Done." the pinkette extended her hand and shook the Merchant's own.

"This'll do nicely." Saito muttered, "Now for a sword…"

"Hoi, bro!" a voice called at him, "If yer looking for a blade, draw me out for a look!"

"Shut up, Derflinger!" the merchant shouted angrily, seeming to glare at a rusty old sword handing on the wall.

"Ach, you shut up!" the sword retorted, "Hey partner…those wouldn't happen ta be Familiar Runes on your left hand would they?"

"Err…yes as it happens." Saito replied, slightly taken aback by being talked to by a sword.

"Then ya really need to buy me." Derflinger said seriously, "Besides, old skinflint there has been tryin' ta get rid of me for ten years. Hell, he'd probably pay you to take me away!"

"Nagging old rust bucket!" the man snarled, "If you would please take him, I would gladly give you an additional hundred crossbow quarrels for free."

"Make it a hundred and fifty and you have a deal." Saito offered.

"Done!" the man said and hurried off to fetch the quarrels.

"Why are we taking that rusted thing?!" Louise hissed.

"The living blade." Saito said quietly, making Louise gape in disbelief. The last stanza of the poem that specified what to gather in order to free her of the accursed binding of her magic…surely it couldn't refer to this rusted relic, could it?

"It can't be…?" she breathed.

"Better to take…him…with us to be safe than sorry." Saito said before he walked over to the sword and carefully lifted him from the wall, "So…your name's Derflinger?"

"Yep. Nice ta meet ya partner!" the sword greeted him cheerfully, "Nice to see another Gandálfr around."

"You know?!" Saito exclaimed.

"I was forged by…someone…to be the blade of the Gandálfr a few thousand years ago." the sword informed him, "Though I can't honestly remember much about my early days. Five thousand years of rust and neglect doesn't do much good for the memory, don'tcha know."

"I can imagine." Saito said with a shake of his head, "How about a sharpening and oiling at some point?"

"Partner, I'm liking you more and more by the minute!" the sword sounded very hopeful at this.

At length, the merchant came back with the two-hundred and fifty quarrels neatly wrapped up and placed inside a bag. He then packed the Rampant Griffin into a box, including a holster for it, and then presented Saito with a plain black sheath for Derflinger.

Louise paid the man for all of their purchases, an even eighteen-hundred Écu, and they were on their way, with the thanks of the merchant ringing in their ears.

"Now where?" Saito asked Louise.

"Now we go and see the princess." Louise said with a smile, "I haven't seen her in a while…"

"OK then." Saito said, "Lead on then."

The pair walked off, ignorant of the caped figure watching them from a nearby alley.

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Next Chapter: Princess Henrietta

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