"Earth?" Louise asked curiously.

"Yeah, up until a while ago I was in New York City, America, on Earth." Jake had, after some internal struggle, accompanied Louise back up into her room so they could talk without getting disturbed. So far, that effort remained fruitless.

"I don't believe it. For such a different world to exist..."

"It's not like I want you to exist either! If you didn't, it would have saved me a lot of trouble. Anyway, take me back to where I used to be!"

"Impossible."

He couldn't believe it. He had already noticed that this stuck-up self-assured attitude was a common trait of the nobles of this... no, of any world. "Don't say that so simply! I have responsibilities back home, you know?"

"No matter who it is with or where they are from, the contract is absolute", Louise said while undressing and threw her clothes to him again. he shoved them aside and raised from the chair. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

"Changing for bed. Why?"

"I already have a girlfriend, but are you really fine with a guy watching?"

"Hard to believe that someone like you has a girlfriend. and you're just a familiar, so in the end it doesn't matter. Wash those for me, will you?", she said and went to bed.

"As if. I'm never going to do your laundry" the clothes landed on the ground when he said that and got up to leave.

"And just who do you think will me taking care of you?"

"Hm?"

"You're my familiar, right? Cleaning, laundry, errands... those are to be expected. Make sure to have my clothes ready by morning. Don't worry. If you do your work right, you'll get fed."

"You really are some blockhead, still going on with the familiar stuff. And fed? Are you treating me like some dog or something?", Jake asked but by the time he finished, he already noticed that the pinkette was fast asleep. "Fuck that, I'm not going to bow to anyone's command here", he said loudly and left. it was already deep in the night, but somebody probably was still awake. The best guess was probably to go look for the other non-nobles here, somebody had to maintain everything and it wasn't the mages for sure. He left the wing that was obviously the students' quarters and headed downstairs. For quite a while he wandered around in solitude until he came across a black-haired girl who was busy wiping the dust, she too was probably about his age. "Yo!" he shouted out to her and she turned around to him. She had a pretty face, the hair cut just above the neck and a well-endowed bosom that filled her french maid dress in an almost inappropriate manner. She looked at him with a lot of confusion.

"Yes? Can I help you?"

"I hope you can. I accidently ended up at the academy this afternoon and couldn't find out how to return home yet, but despite bringing me here I haven't been assigned a bed yet, so aside from the floor I lack a place to sleep. There's nobody else around so I thought you might be able to help me there. It's just for the night, anyway, if everything works out. I'm Jake, by the way", he introduced himself and reached out to her in greeting.

The girl bowed and shook his hand. "I'm Siesta. But how unfortunate... I'll have to ask Marteau about that. Officially he's the head chef, but he really is more like the janitor of the academy. He's responsible for all the servants around here. He'll know if there are still some spare beds. I'll just finish here, I'll bring you to him afterwards", she said with a sympathietic smile.

"Thanks, I'll wait by the fountain." When he sat down, he finally remembered something that he totally forgot in all the trouble - his personal belongings. Keys, wallet, phone... he shut it down for no, no use in wasting charge when he still didn't know about the availability of electricity, although his initial prospect really wasn't the best. He had yet to see even a single electric light he remembered for just how long he had already been here, his stomach growled loudly.

"Jake?", Siesta asked from close behind him and he jumped in surprise. "It seems you are quite hungry, aren't you?" He heard genuine concern in her voice.

"Well, yeah, my last meal had been almost a day ago... but don't let that bother you, I already have gone longer without food before. I'll have plenty when I manage to get home." When there was a way to bring me here, there also has to be a way back after all. And then there's the matter about those runes. He stared at the lines on the back of his left hand. He'd show them and return to his world, no matter what it takes.

Being done with the chores, Siesta guided him further downwards under the building and Jake noticed the sweet and strong smell of fresh food in the air. When they arrived in the kitchen, he noticed that there were still people working, peeling vegetables, mixing spices or cleaning. Siesta headed for a tall, broad-shouldered man with a large hat. "Chef Marteau! A moment, please? It's urgent", she called out to the man. Jake presented his best smile as the large man approached him and Siesta retold his story.

Marteau looked to the ceiling in thought while his hand brushed over his beard idly. "Hmmm... there are a lot of leftovers from dinner if you'd be willing to settle for that. It's the best we have to offer until morning and it would be less that we'll have to throw away. Sadly, there aren't any spare beds right now, but a few of the servants here still have to work for a while and others will get up soon. you could rest in an unoccupied room until there's a bed you could sleep in for longer."

Jake shrugged. "Beggars can't be choosers they say. Guess I'll take your offer."

"That's that then. I'll arrange for to that a meal will be ready at the servants' table in the dining room. Siesta, your shift is over anyway, so grab some food for the two of you and show him a room. Breakfast will be ready by 8am, so don't sleep in, Jake. Siesta, by six, as usual. Good night, you two", Marteau said and got back to work. Siesta bowed slightly and Jake imitated the gesture.

The leftovers from dinner, some pork-like meat and a lot of mixed vegetables, had already been thrown together to a stew. After both grabbed a bowl full of it, they made their way to the servants' quarters. After passing a few doors, Siesta spoke up: "Say, Jake, would you like to eat with me in my room? Dinner in solitude is bad for the mood."

Jake considered that offer for a while. Now isn't that surprising. It certainly is an offer one wouldn't make to a stranger, but she seems too nice to have any ulterior motives. And even if she does, I already have a girlfriend nobody could ever compare to. After coming to that conclusion, he shrugged. "Yeah, let's. It's nice to have some pleasant company." In the weak candlelight he saw a hue of red appear on her cheeks. Now now, don't give her the wrong idea...

When they arrived in her room, barely more than a chamber but with a comfortable bed, a table with chair and a wardrobe, she sat down on her bed and offered the place next to her, but Jake sat down at the table. "Where are you from, if you don't mind?", Siesta inquired after a few bites.

"Far away. So far that even if I told you, you probably wouldn't know. I asked others before and none of them had even heard of the place."

"So how did you even arrive here? You weren't... abducted and left here, were you?", the maid asked worriedly.

"Pretty much. A spell backfired and I was accidently teleported here. And everytime I ask them to send me back, all I get is 'it's impossible' and 'we can't do that'. Annoying as hell, really." Absentmindedly, Jake pushed around a piece of meat with his spoon. This was a different world, but how to measure the distance between this one and his homeworld?

"Have you already asked the headmaster? He is a good and responsible man, he'll be able to send you back for sure." There was a radiant smile on her face when she said that.

"I'd like to have the ones responsible take care of the problem but since they have yet to do anything, I'll probably try that, thanks." He drank the last bit of fluid from the bowl and got up from the chair. "If you don't mind, I'll look for somewhere to sleep now."

For a moment, there was a mischievous smile on Siesta's face which was quickly replaces by the usual cute and innocent one, but not fast enough to avoid his notice. "If you don't mind, you could sleep here... I have to get up earlier than you anyway and you will not have to switch rooms later."

Jake smirked at her knowingly. "Just for your information, I'm already taken, so anything a bad girl might do is futile", he warned her and undressed. Only keeping on his black boxershorts, he lied down on the bed as close as possible to the wall and turned away from her. He heard her undress, too, and felt her back pressed on his when she went to bed. "Good night, Siesta."

"Sweet dreams, Jake."

Damn you...


Jake woke up next morning when he heard the door of Siesta's chamber closing, and if nobody had snuck in here, that meant it was around six in the morning. Taking his time to get up, Jake got dressed and left the room. Being careful not to get in the way, he just followed the flow of servants down the hallway and soon found himself in the kitchen again. Looking around for a moment, he soon found Marteau again. "Yo, Marty!", he waved to the chef who just raised his hand in return. "What's up? It's a bit early for your breakfast and quite busy down here."

Jake just nodded. "Since you were kind enough to assist me last night, I wanted to ask if I can lend a hand here." One doesn't bite the hand that gives food after all.

"Not much you could do without getting in the way of others, but you could stoke the fires. The cooks will tell you when it's alright. when you're done with that, no offense but I'd like you to leave this to us."

Thus Jake started going around and fed wood to the fire. With the Eyes of the Dragon, he could precisely see the temperature rise and too soon he had nothing left to do. So he waved goodbye to Marteau and left early to stretch his legs in the courtyard and go through some of his combat moves. There were no nobles outside yet, just a few servants moving fine chairs and tables around, but after a while he noticed that there were also some magical beasts and animals around that kept looking at him. The supersized mole was the most unnerving. When there was the sound of a gong, probably from the dining hall, he went back inside to get his breakfast. He went past the rows of tables that were clearly meant for the nobles to a simpler table where a few servants were already eating. He spotted Siesta sitting there and sat down next to her. "Yo! Good morning, Siesta."

"Good morning, Jake. I take ityou did sleep well?"

"Yeah, thanks for that. A million times better than sleeping outside." The servants' breakfast consisted of a spiced soup and bread, cut-up meat, cheese and vegetables. While he took in his meal, Jake sometimes looked back over his shoulder to see more and more nobles take place. All went well until he noticed a certain pinkette enter the hall. One didn't have to be a specialist to see that she was fuming. Ear of the Dragon.

"Good morning, Louise! I your familiar waiting outside with the others, hm~?", the busty redhead from the day before asked from her seat, but the mockery in her voice was unmistakable.

"No, he didn't behave so he's still up in my room. I'll get him down later."

"Oh, so the commoner in red clothes who is eating with the servants must be someone else, I see", she giggled and returned to her meal.

Thanks, just what I need... But to his surprise, Louise just sat down on a seat close to him and started eating, although one could easily her the screeching noise from a knife used with too much force. Everytime he looked in her direction, he saw her eyes shooting death glares through him.

When he was finally full with no other excuse to stay, Jake got up and tried to leave silently, but the moment he did, Louise caught his wrist and dragged him outside behind her. He could have resisted easily but decided against another commotion with literally everyone present. So he just let himself get taken outside where Louise only stopped when she was sure that noone else would be around for a while and whirled around to him.

"WHERE IN THE FOUNDERS NAME HAVE YOU BEEN?", she yelled with a bright red face and tears in the corner of her eyes.

Having something like that already anticipated, Jake leaned back to the wall and replied: "The only bed in the room was the one you occupied and I didn't intend to arouse your wrath by intruding, so I went down to talk to the sevants who gave me dinner a proper place to sleep and invited me to breakfast." He paused a moment. "Hmmm... yeah, that's the whole story already."

Louises voice was trembling as she tried to hold back her anger: "There was... a place to sleep for you, even right next to mine... and you... dare. to. run. off?"

"By 'place to sleep' you surely don't mean that pile of hay, do you?" No reply. "You jest."

"I really was a fool to believe a commoner like you could be a proper familiar. You aren't even a commonor... you are even lower than a dog! Even they know to obey their masters commands! You... you... vermin! Maggot!" She raised her wand to without a doubt cast another spell on him, but with a panicked face Jake ducked and ran back to the main yard. He suddenly felt an explosion right behind him. "Stop and take your punishment, you most worthless familiar!"

"NO way in hell I will!"

She gave good chase but they stopped when they approached the area where the other sorcerers were relaxing with their familiars. Louise took a few deep breaths to calm down and save her further embarrassment. With a nod she told him to follow and he fell in line a bit to the left behind her. "In the future, you'll come upstairs and we'll take our meals together. I'll even see to it that you get a proper mattress to sleep on. I can't let you be such a rebellious embarrassment in case my family decides to visit."

"Sounds agreeable for now." Louise huffed. "What's everyone doing there?"

"All second-year students have the day off today", she answered, "we're supposed to communicate with all our freshly-summoned familiars."

Jake gave them a deadpan stare and said: "I'd just as soon pass...", when he suddenly felt something hot on the backside of his legs. Seeing a small flame, he extinguished the fire this his hand and turned around to find the source.

"Oh?", the busty redhead (her again) commented, "Is this the first time you've seen a salamander?"

"Keep it on a leash! That was dangerous", he warned her.

She just started explaining with a smile: "It's allright. Familiars under contract faithfully obey every order from their master and they never run away. Isn't that right, Flame?" The salamander wigglet its tail.

"So, Flame's the name, huh?" Jake wondered and knelt down. Eyes of the Dragon. He gave the salamander an evil glare. "Flame, you won't do that again, right?"

As fast as his short legs allowed, the salamander hurried and tried to hide behind its master. "Huh!?" she called out in confusion, "What the hell did you just do!?"

Jake had already gotten up and brushed the dirt from his pants. "Louise really was right, animals are smarter than some people. They do kno their superiors."

"What by Brimir are you talking about? Hey Flame, stop acting weird!" She grit her teeth but as she turned back, everything was back to normal, at least to the outside. "Still, Louise, congratulations on covering your failed summoning with an explosion. Nobody but you could pull something like that of. Oh, wait, nobody else needs to", she giggled behind the back of her hand.

"That's not true! I made the summoning properly, he was just what appeared!"

"Unlucky me", Jake murmured.

"Well, he's very befitting of Louise the Zero", she admitted, "See ya around!"

After watching her leave, Jake turned towards Louise as she said: "What's up with that wench Kirche?!"

"So", Jake started, "Louise 'the Zero'?"

Louise looked at him for a moment, then lowered her head. "It's... embarrassing. I don't want to talk about it right now."

Finally getting to something interesting about her, Jake didn't want to let it slide. "So I'm supposed to be your trusted familiar but I din't even get to know your nickname?", he insited.

Louise sighed. "You notice those explosions I kept throwing at you?" He nodded, having an idea where this was going. "Ever since I started practicing magic, no matter what kind of spell I tried, every single spell ends in a detonation. At best they have some unexpected results, such as you understanding our language when you were meant to be silenced." After a moment of silence, she commanded: "Don't jsut stand there! Go get us some tea, at least!"

"Yes, yes, I'm off."

Jake shambled past the tables with nobles when a flying eyeball appeared right in front of him. He staggered back in surprise until he hit something soft which let out a cry. Turning around, his eyes met with Siesta's and he noticed the cake which was supposed to be on the plate she still held. They reached for it at the same time and too late he noticed her stare at his left hand which just put the cake back where it belongs.

"Could it be... that you're the one who became Miss Valliere's familiar, Jake?"

He looked at her in surprise. "You know about that?"

"It's all over the rumor mill that a peasant has been summoned as a familiar."

"Of the whole sentence, only the 'summoned' part is true... and that, too, only until I find a way to undo the process and return home. And the whole noble thing is still weird to me. Those with magic are nobles and those who can't use it are peasants, right?" Siesta nodded, but they were interrupted by the blonde sorcerer, Guiche if Jake remembered correctly, called for his cake.

"Coming right up!", Siesta replied, but Jake suddenly took the plate.

"I'll take it to him."

"But that's..."

"It's fine. This is good enough for that snob", he commented with an evil smile.


"I talked all night with Verdande here", Guiche enthused.

"I see... all night...", blonde girl sitting opposite him deadpanned while petting her tiny frog familiar.

"Yes. These intelligent eyes... This sensual texture... Truly, it was destined to become my familiar."

"In any case, keep it buried when you're with me."

They were interrupted when the cake was placed on the table. "Order's up!"

Guiche didn't look up from his mole and just noted: "Oh, and bring some more tea as well." And with that, his attention was back to the girl. "Your familiar is very cute, just like you."

"You're such a flatterer." In spite of her words, there was a content smile on her face.

"I won't lie to your eyes."

She suddenly leaned forward and confronted him: "I heard rumors thatyou're dating a first-year recently."

He was visibly caught by that, but was quick to respond: "Such nonsense! There's-"

"-nothing hidden behind my feelings for you... wasn't it?", their waiter who, as Guiche noticed, was still standing around without the tea, interfered.

"What are you-"

"Oh, I get it! the color of the cape changes with the grades! Black is for the secon-years, so Ketty last night was a first-year. I see, I see..."

"What is he talking about?", frog-girl asked angrily.

Guiche ignored that, instead he got up and yelled: "Hurry up and get back to your business, waiter!"

"Wrong", Jake said as he turned a bit towards them, "I'm not a waiter."

"You're that runaway familiar of...", but the shock prevented him from completing the sentence.

Jake shrugged and walked away. "Thanks for yesterday again. And enjoy the souffle! See ya!"

"Guiche, what was that all about?!"

"Oh yes... You know, I told you, right? I had that peasant familiar to deal with last night, that's all." He panicked a little as he noticed that first-year looking around, no doubt for him. "Montmorency, it's far too rowdy here. Let's sit under that tree there!"

"What is it, all of the sudden?"

In the meantime, Guiche didn't notice Jake meeting Ketty whom he helped with her search.

"Lord Guiche!", Ketty called while running towards him. "I have been looking for you, Lord Guiche."

"Oh, Ketty!", he noticed and let go of Montmorency's fingers as if he burned himself. She in turn gave him an evil stare as she understood the situation.

"I brought the handmade souffle for the tea party today, just for you!", the brunette exclaimed with glee.

Montmorency couldn't hold herself back any longer. "Souffle?"

"Oh, well, that..."

"Good for you!", Zero's familiar suddenly said, "You were saying that you would love to have some of it."

Guiche looked at him, flabbergasted. "YOU!"

"It's nothing, just telling the truth, right?"

Guiche ignored Montmorency's question about that, and instead countered: "What is it you're going on about? You're going to found needless misunderstandings with these ladies!"

By now the yelling had attracted quite a crowd of students who wondered what was transpiring there. "What's going on there?", a chubby student asked. Someone replied: "Guiche is picking a fight with that peasant familiar."

Jake, meanwhile, was unimpressed by Guiche's accusations: "What part of it is a misunderstanding? You're the one at fault for two-timing."

And with that, the female wrath was unleashed around him and he terribly failed at calming the betrayed ladies down. The result of it was him sitting on the ground after taking a slap on the face, much to everyone's amusement. The chubby one was the first to comment on it: "You just got dumped, Guiche! Well, you deserved what you just got."

Guiche, who blamed this embarrassment on the stupid familiar, got up and stated: "It seems you do not know how to pay respect to nobility."

Jake shrugged: "Unfortunately, there is no nobility where I come from."

"Very well, then. I challenge you to a duel!"

The dragon thought about what he just heard. "A duel?"

"That's right. I challenge you to a duel! You're nothing but a peasant, and a familiar to boot. Yet you have mocked me, and on top of that, you have made two ladies cry!"

"Cry?", Jake asked stifling a giggle, "they were bot hopping mad." The crowd laughed again.

Guiche was fuming. "Prepare yourself! I'll be waiting at Vestori Square."

Jake grinned after Guiche as he took off, b


ut Louise interfered with his satisfaction. "You! what are you doing?!", she yelled at him as she, once more, pulled him after her by his wrist.

"What?"

"What do you mean, what? Why are you promising to fight a duel without permission?!"

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to apologize to Guiche. Right now, he still might forgive you."

Jake twisted his wrist out of her grip and stated: "I refuse. Why do I have to apologize?"

"You don't understand anything. Peasants can never win against nobles. You'll be lucky if you get away with just minor wounds!"

"He gave her the cold shoulder and asked after a deep breath: "I already told yu that I'm from a world without nobles. Thus you're right to call me a commoner, because there's nothing but commoners where I live. But what ever made you think that I couldn't defeat a mage? You know nothing about me yet, so I'll just show you." He turned around to some other students who had been following them. "Hey, where's Vestori Square?"

It was again the chubby one who answered: "Over there, straight that way."

"Malicorne!", Louise complained, but during that Jake already thanked him and ran off.

"Oh, this will be a sight!" Malicorne was clearly looking forward to it.

"Oh, geez! He's only a familiar, yet he's always going off on his own!"


Meanwhile, in the headmaster's office

The headmaster was deeply lost in thought as he thought about what colber just told him and his secretary. "No previous case exists of a peasant familiar."

"That is not the problem at hand!", Professor Colbert interrupted and opened his book, "I didn't recognize the familiar's rune that appeared on him, so I looked it up and found this." He put the book down on Osmonds desk.

"Oh! Oooh! Mis Longville, I apologize, but..."

"Understood", the secretary cut him off mid-sentence, bowed and left, but not without taking a glance on the runes described in the book.


At Vestori Square

Guiche and Jake stood in the center of a ring of spectators who came to observe the duel. Jake was already bored before the fight even began, since Guiche was too talkative for his taste. "I praise you foractually showing up and not running off!"

"Who would run away?" Jake asked. Since he was about to pop the bubble any moment now anyway, he didn't even need to hold back and gave Guiche his best condescending voice.

And once more, instead of letting them be, Louise had to interfere again: "Guiche stop that! You know that duels are forbidden!"

"Only duels between nobels are forbidden. He's a peasant, so there's no problem."

She kept insisting, but he shut her up swinging around his rose. "No matter what you say, the duel has already started!" A red leaf dropped to the ground and conjured forth a living armor with a spear. "I am named Guiche the Brass. Therefore a brass golem, a Valkyrie, will be your opponent."

Jake was not surprised when the golem just charged right at him, swinging its fist to his stomach. He sidestepped the golem, and although it was made of solid metal, he grabbed it by the neck, tripped it over his leg and ripped the spear from its hand mid-flight. A moment after the armor hit the ground, it found itself pierced by the spear the the chest and pinned to the ground where it dissolved. Sadly, that included the weapon.

Jake turned back to Guiche with and evil glare. "I'll give you a word of warning, noble: If you dare to underestimate me, I'll eat you alive." Ever since the stunt, the crowd had become silent. A strange aura of malice and expectation followed that declaration that made even Guiche take a step back. He assumed what might have been a karate stance and waited for his opponents next move. Guiches reaction was to just summon more Valkyries. As the first reached Jake, his fist shot forward, piercing its chest as his hand transformed for just a fragment of a second into his dragon claw. He shoved the dead armor into the next enemy, forcing two Valkyries to attack from opposite sides. Using the advantage of leverage, he redirected the spears towards each other and pierced by each other's weapons, both dropped to the ground. Only three left. One was closer than the other two, so he offensively disarmed it the way he had already previously done. It required more force since he couldn't use the opponent's momentum, but he had plenty to spare. But instead of killing it, he spun around and smashed off its legs in a horizontal strike. Now the final two (minus one grounded) ran forward, the one on the left getting pierced by a powerful spear toss while Jake rolled past the one attacking from the right and came back to his feet behind it. transforming the teeth of the dragon, he attacked it from behind and grabbed his shoulder and the top of the helmet. With the sound of tortured metal, he bit halfway through the neck of the last standing Valkyrie and tore off the rest. When he went to pick up the spear, the head he dropped already dissolved before it hit the ground. The spear in his glowing left hand, he leapt at Guiche who panicked and stumbled backwards, landing on the ground once more. Jake stood above him and planted his knee on Guiche's chest, pressing the air from his lungs.

Now, for the grand finale... With glowing red eyes and rows of razor sharp teeth transformed, the stear stuck deep in the ground right next to Guiche's head, he leaned deep down, right in front of the noble's face, and whispered: "I told you, I'd eat you alive, right? Right?" Where Guiche was in panic before, he was now scared to death. Just almost, though, because he had already passed out.

As the spear vanished, Jake stood up and stretched. Playing the villain like that usually wasn't his style since most stopped making big trouble when they knew that a dragon was around, but some just wouldn't learn from half-hearted measures. Most could be banished, but for others it was either death or scared to death. It was one of the more painful lessons of life as a guardian. Some beasts were just too destructive to be treated like the others. But even with him just doing his job, Rose was probably even worse, having killed all huntsmen at once. Spread over all their bases, there were hundreds, thousand of them. He hoped he wouldn't ever get close to that.

"That was... disappointing" he spoke towards the sky, "I really expected more than that. Hm. Whatever." He looked around in the crowd. "Could someone get him to the infirmary? Or whatever you have for that? Pretty please? Louise! Come on, I still owe you some tea." The crowd had parted for him to pass through and watched after the pair as Louise tried to match his pace.

"Jake Long... Just what are you?"

"Ah, finally the right question. Took you long enough." He stopped and bowed to her. "A guardian of our magical community, bane of the Black Dragon, and student of Luong Lao Shi, Jacob Luke Long, the American Dragon."