"Of all things I had to summon, why did I get some commoner with a sword?!"
We were back at the Academy that Louise and the other students attended. Upon arrival I was quickly given actual clothes to wear. They were quite worn and looked like a beggar's clothes, but it was better than being naked.
"Well? Aren't you going to say something, commoner?!" Louise demanded.
"Where am I?" I simply said. Taken back a little by my voice, and the fact I towered over her at nearly six feet tall with my ever present scowl, she replied.
"You are at the Tristain Academy of Magic."
Tristain? I never heard of a place like that on Cray.
"Tristain? Where is that?"
Louise looked at me like I was crazy.
"How do you not know of Tristain on the continent Halkeginia? What are you, a foreigner?"
As a matter of fact actually. There's no such place like that on Cray so I must not be on Cray anymore. That makes things more complicated.
"Yes. Until now, I've never set foot on this land nor heard of it." I said.
"Great, not only is my familiar a commoner, but a foreigner of some other land." Louise sighed. "So? Who are you? Do you have a name, commoner?"
"Amos." I replied. My title Blaster Blade felt too strange to have as my name so I decided to tell her my real name. Not many know my real name, as Blaster Blade eventually grew to be it.
"Amos? 'Bearer of burden'? Such a peasant name indeed…" Louise sighed. "With that sword of yours I thought you'd be some warrior with a better name than that."
"I am."
"Huh?"
"I am a warrior. And I am proud of my name. I bear the burden of the weak and oppressed, so that they may go forward free from limitations."
"Hmph. For a mercenary you act like some royal knight."
If only she knew. Well, I wasn't a knight of the United Sanctuary any longer considering I was Reversed and killed my comrades. I was anything but royal.
"Anyway, you are now my familiar and your duty is to serve your master. Start with getting my clothes washed." She said before tossing me her clothes.
"Servant? A Familiar is supposed to aid their summoner in their magic as well as be their guardian, are they not?" I asked. Since when were a mage's life partner also their slave?
"That's right but you are clearly a commoner and therefore you are a servant to me, a noble. Now hurry up or you won't get any dinner tonight, commoner." she said before shooing me away. I sighed as I left the room, still coming to terms that a warrior like myself has been reduced to servant duties.
I made my way downstairs only to realize that I have no idea where to get these clothes washed. Looking around, I found a maid who was sweeping the halls. She looked young and had chin length black hair and eyes.
"Excuse me." I called. The maid jumped in surprise at my voice.
"Ah yes, how may I help you?" She curtsied.
"Where can I get these washed?"
"Oh allow me. It's my job after all." she replied. I shook my head.
"I was asked to do so by my master and I shall carry out her orders." I may not have liked it, but I still had my honor. Plus something was compelling me to obey but I couldn't figure out what it was.
She gasped in surprise.
"Oh! Are you the familiar that Miss Valliere summoned?" she asked.
"Yes. My name is Amos." I confirmed.
"I'm Siesta. So your name means 'Bearer of burden'?"
"One that I wear with pride."
"I think it's a wonderful name." she said with a smile.
She led me to the washroom and we continued to chat as we did our chores. During our talk I learned that nobility came with the ability to do magic which made me sick. This meant that the nobles thought they were superior and could do anything they want the with common people. There's no one to stop them and there are surely many who are oppressed without justice. Siesta agreed with me but said that there's nothing they could do about it. When it came down to it, the nobles had power and the common folk did not and would easily be killed if they were to go against them. It pained me to see her talk about this because I could tell that she was a victim of such oppression.
Finished with the clothes, I bode Siesta goodnight and returned to Louise's room to find her asleep. I looked in the corner to find a pile of hay. At least I wouldn't be sleeping on the floor.
The next day...
I woke up early that morning in time to wake up Louise. It was only right due to my new status as her Familiar/servant. Students shouldn't be late to class.
"Hey, wake up. You'll be late to class." I said as I shook her lightly. Her eyes stirred and slowly opened. Still in a daze, she turned her head at me.
"Munya…?" she moaned. Munya? What a strange noise to make. Slowly, she sat up and rubbed her eyes from the morning sun. She looked at me in surprise before having a look of recognition.
"Oh right. I summoned you." Seriously? How can you forget something important like that?
She got off the bed and held her arms out like she was expecting something from me.
"Dress me familiar." she commanded.
"What?" I asked in disbelief.
"No noble will dress themselves when there is a servant present. Now hurry up or I'll be late to class."
I sighed in defeat and did as I was told. This was still awkward since I was over ten years her senior, servant or not but then again she didn't see me as a person.
Satisfied, Louise headed for the door.
"Come, we are going to get something to eat." She beckoned. I grabbed the Blaster Blade and hung it over my back as I followed.
The dining hall was quite grand. There were even outside tables in the case of huge familiars owned by the other students. Some had strange looking creatures that reminded me of the Dark Zone and others from the forests of Zoo.
Louise took a seat outside and I sat down on the ground. The seats were apparently for nobles only. At this point, I wasn't surprised that everything revolved around the nobles. It was the way this world worked. Who ran this country anyway? If they were corrupt just as I imagined then I may just take it upon myself to do something about. There was no way I was going to sit by and watch innocent people suffer and the thumb of these so called nobles.
When Louise's food came, the servant laid down a plate for me as well. It was single loaf of bread that looked like it was sitting out for a few days. I looked up at Louise in disbelief.
"Be thankful you are getting to even eat bread made for nobles!" she huffed in arrogance.
I said nothing despite my mild irritation and ate in silence. I glanced over at the other tables and noticed a young blonde boy talking with a girl who was also blonde. If I recalled, he was with another girl last night. I passed by them right before I met with Siesta. Flirting with her no less. As if on que, said girl walked around and came to the table me and Louise were at.
"Excuse me…" She asked.
"What do you want, Katie?" asked Louise.
"You're… the girl that the blonde boy was with last night." I remarked. She turned to me in surprise.
"Oh! Do you happen to know where Sir Guiche is?" Guiche was his name huh. This player was about to get a dose of reality.
"Yes, he's over there." I said as I pointed to where he sat with the blonde girl. The girl named Katie looked devastated when she saw the boy with another girl. She hurriedly went over to them with tears already welling out of her eyes.
"S-Sir Guiche?" Guiche nearly jumped out of his seat at the sight of Katie.
"K-Katie?! How did you know I was here?" He exclaimed in cold sweat.
"Louise's familiar told me. So it was true then that you were dating another girl?" she asked in a cracked voice. Guiche's face paled and he began to panic.
"Uhhhh no no no! This is some misunderstanding!" The blonde girl that was sitting next to him stood up in anger.
"So it was true that you were seeing a first year!" she yelled.
"Montmorency! Please, I can explain!" Rather than giving him a chance to do so, Katie and Montmorency slapped him in the face and both took off in tears and in rage. Recovering, he glared over at me.
"You! Zero's familiar!" All eyes were now on Guiche and me.
"Thanks to you, the reputation of two lovely ladies have been damaged. How are you going to take responsibility?!" My eyes narrowed. How much more conceited can this brat get?
"Boy, you clearly do not see the fault in your actions. Any sane person would know that cheating a lover is a most dishonorable thing. You call yourself noble? There is nothing noble about pinning the blame on someone else rather than taking responsibility for their own actions."
Guiche was clearly taken back by this, as he had trouble coming up with a response to my undeniable truth.
"Ha! He's got you there Guiche!"
"A commoner just lectured Guiche! Can you believe it?"
Guiche clenched his fists angrily from the insults hurled at him. He pointed the rose he was holding at me.
"That's it! I challenge you to a duel!" This shut up the crowd from their mockery and audible gasps sounded the courtyard. Louise stood up from her seat.
"Hold it Guiche! You know duels are forbidden!"
"Only between nobles. But with a familiar who is a commoner? It's fair game."
A duel? Interesting. I was curious to see how well the magic of this world held up to the magic I'm used to back on Cray. This is also an opportunity to put these so called "nobles" in their place.
"Very well, I accept." Louise's eyes shot up to the size of saucers.
"WHAT?! Are you crazy! Swordsman or not, a mere commoner cannot hope to defeat a noble!"
"Enough!" Guiche interrupted. "He has accepted and therefore the duel shall take place! In one hour, come to Vestri Court. We shall duel there." With a flip of his cape, he left. So corny. Did he really think he was that big of a deal? I'm going to enjoy putting him down.
"What are you doing Amos?!" Siesta panicked as she pushed her way through the crowd.
"Simple, I'm going to put that brat in his place."
"You're going to get killed!" she exclaimed. "A commoner can't defeat a noble!"
"Is that what you believe? That I don't have even a small chance?" I asked in a confident voice.
"W-Well…" She stammered. I placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Trust me and watch."I assured her. Louise was silent the whole time as she watched me and Siesta and finally spoke up.
"You are not going through with this! We are going to apologize right now!" She grabbed my hand to pull me but failed.
"Master, do you not trust my abilities?"
"Huh? You are just some swordsman while Guiche has magic! Of course I don't!"
Just a swordsman? Oh no, I was much more than that. I gave her a small smirk.
"I'm not just a mere swordsman."