A/N: Well, I'm back with no reviews :( but I'll let it slide for now. After all, only the first chapter was up. *Cough* leave a review *cough*. But now, things get interesting. Marcus starts abusing loopholes in FOZ's magic system, then proves his strength in a duel against a noble (Not Guiche, that's for later) No, despite the fact that Marcus means "warlike" and "hammer", and Martel also means "warlike" and"hammer" doesn't mean he's a warlike hammer wielder. He's just... uh... a 'mage' who uses a hammer (that's not Mjolnir). Sure. Let's go with that.

Chapter 2/ClairVOIDance

The next morning.

Marcus refused to let Louise sleep in. There was training to do! "Louise, time to get up."

"..."

"Louise. Get up."

"..."

Marcus sighed, before picking up a bucket of water. Kids these days, always sleeping in.

"Louise. Last chance to get up."

"... Murgle."

Taking that as a no, Marcus rolled his eyes.

Then he dumped the water on Louise.

That got her up quickly. Heh, heh.

"Hey, what was that for? Huh? Oh, you're the guy from yesterday."

Wow. Just, wow. "The guy has a name, you know. Come on, it's time to start training."

Louise rubbed her eyes, looking out the window.

It was still dark out.

Louise proceeded to state the obvious. "It's still dark out."

"Oh, good. You can make basic observations."

She half glared at him, the other half too sleepy. "Hey, you. I'm a noble. Show more -"

She promptly yawned, then fell back asleep on the wet bed. Marcus rolled his eyes, before dumping another bucket of water on Louise. It was a good thing he had a spare just in case this happened. Of course now Siesta was going to have to dry the sheets.

Louise on the other hand... "Hey! I'm tired, so let me sleep."

Marcus was not amused anymore. "Training starts now, Louise. Get up, get dressed, and get outside."

"What about breakfast?"

Enough of her complaining. Why was she still doing it? "You'll be more alert for breakfast after training. Now, get up if you're worthy of holding the title of a Noble."

Louise grumbled in objection, but got up anyway.

"Did we have to run this far?"

It wasn't that far. "It's not that far, only about eight kilometers."

In fact, it was almost a tenth of his normal morning run, with Louise slowing the pace considerably. Said Louise glared at him. Oh, boy, an angry child. What next, nice nobility?

... There had to be at least one of those somewhere.

"So, what are we doing now?"

Children were so impatient nowadays. Marcus would have had a lot more issues with Louise if she couldn't even dress herself properly. Alas, life was fortunate for him. "I've written up several spells I want you to try."

"I can't do any spells."

Explosions are spells, Marcus thought dryly. So was dispel, and whatever other spells mages could do. He himself was a decent mage, capable of ripping spells into bits with his bare hands. "Humor me."

"Fine."

Yay, compliance. "The first one is explosion. Should be easy enough."

"HEY! Is that supposed to imply something?"

Was she blind to insults? Of course it was. "Of course not. Get exploding."

Louise pouted, then pointed her wand at a faraway tree. "Explosion."

The tree, naturally, exploded, leaving smoke covering the immediate area. Marcus grinned at the result. Today, was a very good day for him. "Congratulations, Louise. You've successfully casted explosion."

The smoke was beginning to clear, and Marcus' grin widened. "I amend that statement. You've casted explosion, and it ended wonderfully."

Louise's eyes widened when she saw the result of her spell, and Marcus chuckled at her childish reaction. Explosives were wonderful, especially when someone can point and make things explode.

The crater was roughly twenty meters wide, and its edges were completely smooth. A decent anti-army attack. Louise would be much more useful on the battlefield if this was her default spell. Although he would have to do more testing to figure out how large she could make this spell at dot level.

"So very wonderfully."

Louise was speechless, and a little bit wobbly, but Marcus was almost giddy at the end result. Finally, someone who could be of use to him! Even if she was a little disoriented after, it was better than nothing.

"Well, that answers that. Time to do the next spell. Follow me."

"Wait, what?"

They reached the new clearing soon enough. "This should be enough room."

"For what?"

The clearing was rather large, and although it would be fine for another explosion, Marcus had said she was doing another spell. Unfortunately or not, depending on how well it ended. "Now, I want you to do this spells, with this circle layout."

He handed her a paper, and her eyes widened as she read it. "This is impossible, no mage could cast pentagon class or higher, let alone a hexadecagon class spells! Nobility can cast hexagon spells, but they require two people, not one! And what's this about using one's hand? Our magic requires an external focus."

Why did children disbelieve so much? He hadn't complained when he was a child. He was too busy killing clones to complain. "Try them. You know magic theory well enough to do these spells right. This is just a little, extra."

Louise sighed, then raised her hand.

The two returned just in time for breakfast, Marcus politely excusing himself beforehand, and the other students were amazed at just how fast Louise ate her meal.

"Wow, little Louise. What were you doing earlier to make you that hungry?"

"Training. Now let me eat, I ran eight kilometers just to get here."

Kirche giggled. "Your familiar made you do that?"

"Well, his training did pay off. I can do something not even you can do."

This piqued Kirche's interest. "Oh, really? And what would that be?"

"I already said, let me eat, Zerbst."

Kirche pouted. "Oh, little Louise. You can't keep a secret forever."

Someone tapped Kirche on the shoulder. "Enough."

"Fine, Tabitha. I'll stop."

Marcus entered the room, noting the bearded old man sitting behind the desk. Probably the Headmaster. "Headmaster?"

"Oh, call me Old Osmond. Everyone does."

Excellent. One more person to be of use to him. That made three so far. "Old Osmond. I would like to request for a personal maid for Louise."

"Oh? Why would that be?"

Explanation Time. Yippee. "I'm an honorary familiar, not a real one. It would be better for her if she had someone that would be able to execute the duties of a familiar, as well as someone of the same gender and similar age she could relate to. Therefore, I would like to request for a personal maid for Louise."

"Did you have anyone in mind?"

Of course he did. Why else would he be here? "Yes."

"Is this maid going to be filed under Louise, or your name, Marcus? If you're the son of a general, you are technically a noble."

"Both. Call it military and political protection."

Marcus found Siesta washing more clothes. "Hey, Siesta. Sorry about making you dry Louise's bed this morning."

"Oh, it's fine, Marcus. Really."

Good, she wasn't mad. "So, I talked to the headmaster earlier. He agreed to make you Louise's and my personal maid."

"Eh? But, I'm just a regular maid."

And an exceptional one at that. "A regular maid who's willing to help at normally unreasonable hours. Besides, Louise would be happy to have someone to help her with her daily routines. She's going to be tired from her training, after all."

"What kind of training?"

Probably impossible spell arrays. "Very complex magic spells."

"They don't explode?"

Only the explosion one, (un)fortunately. "Only the explosion spell does."

Siesta giggled. "Well, I suppose I could."

"Don't worry, you'll get a stipend for it. You're working here because you need money, right?"

"Well, my family's poor, so I'm sending money home."

Marcus could solve that problem absurdly quickly. "Okay, so I'll set aside a portion of your salary to go directly to your family, then."

"Could you really do that?"

Of course he could. "Of course."

Lunchtime came around, with the students spending their time getting to know their familiars. Not a bad idea, especially since most of the familiars were animals.

Louise was nowhere to be found, though, and Marcus was confused.

"Tabitha, do you know where Louise went?"

Tabitha shook her head.

"Then, where is she?"

He was interrupted by a boy's voice. "Maid, this tea you just served me is cold."

"I'm sorry sir."

Marcus stiffened at hearing Siesta dealing with the blonde boy, Drefan, he recalled.

"You should be, you worthless commoner!"

Marcus caught Drefan's hand as he was about to strike Siesta. Servant abuse was not tolerated, ever. "Now, Drefan, was it? I really can't have you hitting my maid now."

"Then, why was your maid serving me?"

Marcus glared at the impudent child. "Because I ordered her continue her daily duties as a maid of this Academy."

Like hell he would let someone get away with this. "You know, the mistakes of the servant are the mistakes of the master, and mistakes are punishable."

Did the whelp want to challenge the alpha wolf? Let him try. "You make it sound like you're trying to threaten me."

"I, Drefan de Dean, challenge you to a duel!"

But not now. Marcus had tea waiting for him. "I decline."

"Good, now the duel will be - WAIT! You can't just decline a duel. Have you no honor?"

Honor? What honor? "There is no honor in killing children who do not wish to kill."

"I am a line class wind mage. There is no way a commoner like you could kill me."

A hand rested on Drefan's shoulder. Oh, Guiche was back from training for today. It was probably only for brunch. "Drefan, this is no ordinary commoner. He possesses knowledge beyond our own comprehension, and the strength to support any challenge he makes."

Drefan turned around. "Guiche? What are you doing here?"

"Montmorency healed me earlier today. I'm just here for brunch, then it's back to training for me. Marcus, where's Louise?"

Called it! Marcus shrugged. "I have no idea. She ran away after our training. But I suppose, I could accept this duel, if just for a show of power."

Guiche's eyes widened, and he jumped in front of Marcus. "You can't! Killing a noble could mean death for you too."

Aw, Guiche was worried for his safety. How cute. "Relax, I won't kill him."

"Are you sure?"

He kind of was. "I'm mostly sure. Drefan, when do you want to have this duel?"

"Thirty minutes from now, in Vestri Court."

Marcus nodded. "Guiche, where is Vestri Court?"

"I'll show you. Please don't kill him."

Like he would waste his time killing a whelp like Drefan. "Don't worry, I won't kill him."

He thought about it for a moment. "I probably won't kill him."

Guiche frowned at him, his arms crossed. "That's not reassuring at all."

Of course it was!

"I must congratulate you on not running away."

Serious business time. "I should say the same thing."

Marcus drew a large, short-handled hammer from his coat, holding it in his right hand. Drefan scoffed, "A hammer. Of course a commoner with no honor like you would use a hammer, not even a sword. A noble like me would use something dignified, like a wand."

He drew his wand, raising it. "Air -"

Nope. He was cut off by a loud boom, then realized the wand was out of his hand. He turned around, and gaped. The wall, reinforced with magic to resist magic and physical damage, had a large hole in it.

Marcus had thrown the hammer, and left a hole in the Academy wall.

Marcus himself was a bit annoyed. "Sorry, I missed. I was aiming for your hand. The wand's not broken, but still, I thought the wall would be stronger than that. Guiche?"

"... I have no idea how to respond to that."

Fine by him. "Well, Drefan?"

The honorary familiar drew another hammer, but Drefan panicked. "I yield!"

What. Marcus was rather confused. "Yield?"

"I give up! Please stop."

The whelp thought he could escape judgement? He was wrong. So very, very wrong. "You tried to injure my maid, challenged me to a duel, and proceeded with said duel after you learned that I was stronger than you, and most importantly, my tea is getting cold. Do you really think I'd stop with you uninjured?"

Guiche stared at him worriedly. "Marcus, if you keep going, you might kill him."

"Don't worry Guiche. It's a good lesson in humility. Who ever heard of a commoner killing a noble, with a hammer of all things?"

His summoner's voice rang out, "MARCUS!"

Marcus sighed. "Oh, Louise, you're back. I was wondering where you ran off to."

She was fuming. "Marcus, as you master, I demand that you stop this at once."

He'd give her leeway this time. After all, he was the familiar, and Louise the master. "Fine. But where'd you run off to? We still have training to do."

Louise paled, then ran off. The coward.

"She seems scared for some reason. Was it something I said?"

"..."

Maybe it was? Either way, she killed the mood. Now he had to be diplomatic again. "Oh well. Drefan, will you attack my maid anymore?"

"Of course not."

He would learn. "Remember if you do, you won't be missing just a hand. Now, I believe I had tea was waiting for me. I hope it's not too cold by now."

The students raised an eyebrow. How did someone transition from threatening a noble to causally talking about tea?

As easy as Marcus had just done.

That afternoon.

"Class, transmutation is a key part in earth magic. Now, watch carefully."

The instructor waved her wand, a rock turning a golden hue. Pyrite, Marcus noted. How quaint. "Now, this isn't gold."

Guiche raised his hand. "Yes?"

Of course it would be him to answer the unspoken question. "It's pyrite."

The teacher was obviously pleased with this response. "An earth mage, I presume?"

Any earth mage worth their salt could figure that much out. "Yes, ma'am."

"Is there anyone here who would like to do a transmutation? You there, the one taking notes. You seem competent enough. Come up here."

Wow. Just wow. Louise looked up. "Okay."

"Wait, Louise isn't good at any spells! They all explode violently! Please don't make her try that spell!"

The class was practically begging the instructor to make Louise stop. She was rather bewildered by their insistence, but Marcus found it rather humorous as Louise walked up. "There's nothing dangerous about transmutation, children."

Well, there was, if Louise hadn't been trained to up the scale while keeping the input energy the same. It would have ended explosively, yet very productive for him. Nuclear reactions and all that could do the same, of course. A focused enough explosion could tear the bonds of the compounds, then another one would break the atoms. A third would force them into their new position, while a fourth would fuse them together. A bit inefficient, but better than nothing.

Louise turned around. "I can do it. Just watch."

She raised her wand, a large prism of rock rising from the ground.

She tapped the rock, and a gold color spread across the rock.

"Is, that gold?"

Yay. Guiche could make basic observations. Good job, Guiche. "Yes, Guiche, it is."

Louise wobbled slightly, then steadied herself. Willpower drain was taking its toll, but Louise should be fine. "I'll be fine."

She walked back to her seat, the rest of the class utterly shocked. Children are always shocked when something comes around that they've never seen before.

"Louise, is that what you could do?"

"Maybe, Zerbst. Maybe not."

Marcus grinned. "Your training is paying off, Louise. Good job."

She looked at him with a slightly confused expression. Why was that? "The target was big enough. The rock summoned should have exploded, though. I don't know why it didn't."

Marcus shrugged, then went back to taking notes. He'd tell her later.

Marcus looked around for his 'summoner'. "Siesta, have you seen Louise around? It's not healthy to skip lunch."

"I believe she's avoiding you, Marcus."

What? Why would she do that? Marcus was a lovable person. "Why would that be?"

"Well, you woke her up extremely early to train this morning, and I believe she doesn't want to train during lunch."

He wasn't training. "Like I would train during lunch."

Siesta frowned at him.

He was doing pushups, while balanced on his thumb, positioned vertically on a precariously tilted chair, and snacking. A simple exercise to keep the body balanced.

"Really now, Marcus. Then what's this?"

Not training. "This is a simple exercise to keep my body balanced."

She deadpanned at him. "Balanced, he says."

"Am I not?"

"It's not that you aren't, it's the fact that you're doing this while eating."

"Don't be ridiculous. This is snacking. There's a difference."

Siesta rolled her eyes, a small smile flickering on her lips.

Marcus turned to see what Siesta was looking at. "Marcus Martel! I, Bridgette de Voclain, challenge you to a duel!"

The honorary familiar sighed. Not this again. "And here we go again. That's what, the fourth one during today's lunch?"

"Yes, Marcus, the fourth. That's the seventh one today."

Children. "I'll be back in a bit. Keep my tea warm, will you, Kirche?"

"Of course!"

She waved her wand, a small flame forming under the cup, then ran off to watch the duel. Marcus was pleased to have such nice friends.

More people were challenging him. "Marcus Martel! We challenge you to a duel!"

Not now, children. "Sorry, you'll have to take a number. Maybe after this one."

"Aww."

Heh, heh. Silly children. "Anyway, Bridgette, was it? Names here are rather diverse."

"Don't think you'll win this time!"

He wasn't going to lose, though. "That's what the other six said. Three of them at once, actually. Both groups."

"Well, I'm a triangle class fire mage! I won't lose!"

She would. Bridgette pointed her wand at him. "Firebolt!"

A sphere of fire blasted at Marcus at high speed, easily knocked away by his hammer. "Was that it? I'm saddened."

Marcus was suddenly behind her, but Bridgette wasn't done yet. She quickly moved out of the way, and pointed her wand again. "Firestorm!"

Marcus' eyes widened for a moment, before a huge column of fire burst from the ground, incinerating everything the flames touched. Silly children. "Not so easy to dodge now."

Idealism is for fools. "Eh, Louise makes spells better than this."

Bridgette froze, feeling the hammer resting against one side of her throat, Marcus' free hand against the other side.

"I yield. Marcus Martel wins."

The hammer was removed, and Marcus cracked his neck. Stiff joints were rather uncomfortable. "Oh, I think I see Louise. Any challengers wait a bit, I'll be right back. Go make a plan."

With that, he ran off. Time to chat with Louise.

"Louise."

Louise eeped, then spun around. "Uh, hey Marcus. How did your duels go?"

Rather boring, actually. "Boring. You'd make a better opponent. So, why are you avoiding me?"

"What? I'm not avoiding you. I just like enjoying my lunch without being interrupted by people challenging my familiar."

Yes, she was avoiding him. What a coward. "Well, I can't stop them from doing that. Really, why do people keep challenging me? I'm not that strong, so even if they do beat me, they'd just be beating a commoner in everyone else's eyes."

"The same commoner that's defeated seven nobles so far, and several at once."

Really? That's what all this was about? Wimps. "Meh, that holds no meaning to me. When you're done eating, we have training to do."

She turned away from him. "This is why I eat my lunch away from you. You keep doing this. Isn't waking up in the dark to train enough?"

Of course not. "Only when you learn to avoid the water buckets. Then you can try to avoid ambushes during lunch as the next lesson."

Louise visibly paled at that. "Please don't do that."

The honorary familiar chuckled. "Well, that's that. Now, I have another bunch of mages to fight. I hope they have a plan this time. I left the three that challenged me with the rest of the school, with orders to make a plan. You can try too, you know. If you can hit me with an attack, I'll wake you up normally, late at that, and you can have the day off from training."

He's back! "Hey, I'm back."

Every student at the Academy proceeded to draw their wands at Marcus.

Excellent plan. "Ah, you really can come up with a plan. I'm touched."

The rest of the students promptly fired at Marcus with everything at once, forming a huge sphere of molten rock, superheated water, and rapidly spinning air where Marcus was standing.

Not really. A simple one, in fact. But it would be good enough to beat Marcus. "Ah, I'm impressed. Hit the opponent with all the usable elements. It's lacking two things, though."

The students turned around, gaping at Marcus' uninjured form sitting on top of the wall. Not good enough, apparently. "Power and control. At best, it was a triangle class, but with so much willpower clashing and dispersing, it defeated the purpose of everyone firing at once."

Marcus moved to the side, dodging a beam of orange light fired from behind the crowd. What was that? "That's power. Several of the same square class fire spell, bound to each other. That's Louise for you."

Several more beams were fired at him, but he managed to dodge them, taking on a teaching posture, as if he were lecturing a class instead of dodging square class fire spells. That jerk. "Now class, it's best to take notes about this. After all, Louise is very good at Magic Theory. Who knows, maybe you'll all be able to do this one day?"

A beam of purple light barely missed him, and Marcus frowned. The class, on the other hand, wondered what that was supposed to be? "Okay, maybe not that one."

Something unique, perhaps. Purple, like the Void tower. Void? He drew his hammer, and deflected another purple beam. "Wow, Louise. I said hit me, not kill me."

Louise emerged from the crowd, barely fazed by the exertion of willpower. She raised her empty hand, then fired another beam of purple light, this one larger than the previous ones.

Marcus deflected it.

She raised her wand hand, and fired another beam, this one small and fast.

Marcus dodged it.

A pattern was forming here.

"Louise, let the others have a chance."

The 'others' simply shook their heads, giving Louise and Marcus room to fight. Marcus was saddened by this turn of events. "Fine, I see how it is."

He deflected another beam. "Needs more power."

Louise held her wand with both hands. "You're right. So here's some more power."

Marcus barely deflected the next beam. "Well, that was something."

He held out his arm, smoke rising from the arm of the duster. "You got a hit at least."

Louise pumped a fist into the air. "Yes!"

She then promptly passed out. One question hung in the air, thought by all, and spoken by few. "How did Louise the Zero manage to get a hit on someone the entire rest of the class couldn't? And what was that spell?"

It was a legitimate question, after all. But Marcus acted like wasn't. "Because I taught her a loophole in the mechanics of magic. She is quite good at Magic Theory, after all. That spell takes a lot of willpower, though, especially in rapid succession."

Professor Colbert ran up to Marcus, as the latter picked up Louise. "What exactly was that spell? I've never seen anything like it."

"Of course you haven't. If you did, then everyone would have known about it. Come, we have much to talk about."

Old Osmond stared at Marcus, stroking his beard. This was troubling. Very troubling. "What exactly did you teach Louise, and how did she learn it?"

Marcus waved a hand dismissively. Impudent child. "It's easy. First, take two spell, preferably triangle class or lower, but Louise is really only good with square class spells, then bind them to the same Void element. Since Louise is a square class Void mage-"

Colbert was as surprised as he was, though much more vocal about it. "WHAT?"

"I said, Louise is a Void mage. Took a bit of research, but Void is the element with the lowest cost per spell for her. I don't know the politics about the Void element, but it's not my job to care. Now, do you want an explanation and learn something new to teach everyone here, or do you want to rant about one simple fact?"

Osmond narrowed his eyes. If Miss Valliere really was a Void mage... "Continue."

"Now, this technique is based on the fact that an element can be stacked four times. From here, the geometry of the spell, as well as the elements used, will affect the power and cost. Different elements have different costs for different mages. Now, elements can be viewed by their properties, which follow Aristotelian elements and qualities, which makes sense because of the old layout. But, Void isn't part of this pattern, and actually has different properties. Void itself as an element can be formed by finding the center of the elements, and moving in a certain direction changes it into another element. The fact of the matter is, stacking an element four times, then adding Void, allows for another four elements to be stacked on top of this Void element. This is theoretical, well tested, and repeatable by any Void Mage."

Osmond nodded. This was ridiculous, of course. Not a single mage could possibly pull off such a stunt. Even the Founder was said to have difficulty with normal, non-Void spells. "I see. We'll look into this. Professor Colbert?"

"Of course, at once."

Professor Colbert left with Marcus, leaving Osmond to finish his daily paperwork. Children were stress. Maybe he could smoke a bit to relieve that a bit of that stress.

Marcus woke Louise up extremely late. Best to get on her good side. "Well, Louise, it's late, and you need to get up. We have a long day ahead of us."

Louise sat up, wiping her eyes. "But you said you'd wake me up late."

He did. "Look outside."

Louise did, blinking. "It's light outside."

She was still stating the obvious. "Yep."

"It's about midmorning."

Basic observations easily made? "Yep."

"Oh, it's the day of Void."

"And you have no training for today."

Louise thought for a moment, but Marcus interrupted her musings. No more sleep for her. "We're going shopping, Louise, whether you want to or not."

"For what?"

Nothing much. "I need a forge."

"For. What."

Her tone was much harsher the second time. Best to explain. Marcus still hated explaining, though. "I want to test the strengths of different catalysts, as well make some armor for you. Maybe a weapon would be good too."

"I am a noble. I do not need such commoner equipment."

First right, then wrong. How naive. "You were solely focused on me yesterday. What would prevent an assassin from stabbing you in the back, and killing you? Oh, wait. Nothing."

Louise's head sunk. "I get it. Let's go."

"So, what are we getting?"

More explaining. "First, we find some weapons. I doubt you've trained with melee weapons, but you'll need a weapon if you run out of willpower, in addition to making you much better at close range combat, and more difficult to battle in general."

"I suppose."

Oh look, a weapons shop! "Ah, here we go."

They entered said weapons shop, and Marcus noted the weasel-like man behind the counter. Nope, nothing wrong here. Nothing wrong at all. "Oh, a noble. Miss, this is a perfectly legal and legitimate business, I can assure you."

Louise nodded, looking around, and Marcus facepalmed. Shady people, were shady. "Louise, take a look around. Sir, I would like to have a word with you, in private."

The man paled, but nodded.

Behind closed doors, Marcus sighed, his face weary. "Look, there's not much I need. I need a few weapons for references, so I can forge some of my own. I don't plan on selling them, I plan on using them. So, what I need are just a few weapons, regardless of actual usability, and an anvil. I know you have the former. Do you have the latter, and if not, where can I find one?"

"Well, I suppose I could sell a few of my weapons to you, with an extra fee, of course, since they're not going to be used. As for the anvil, I have one in here that I could sell to you."

Excellent. An anvil for his hammer to pound. Wait. That sounded bad. Eh, it didn't matter to him. "How much do you think it would cost?"

"Hm, about five thousand gold pieces, more or less, based on the quality and quantity of the weapons you choose. The anvil itself is brand new, but nobody wants it."

A rip off, but better than nothing. "I see."

Louise's voice broke the conversation. "Hey!"

Marcus sighed. "I apologize for her. She's a little, hot headed at times."

The shopkeeper nodded his agreement. "Comes with being a noble."

Nobles were annoying. Really, they were. Child nobles even more so. "Are they all like that? I'm not from around here, so I wouldn't know."

"Yes, yes they are."

The two exited the back room, Marcus tilting his head at Louise's actions. She was arguing with a sword.

A rusty, talking sword.

"Louise, why are you arguing with a sword?"

She turned to him, clearly angry. "Because it insulted me!"

Time to ask the questions."Sword, what's your name?"

The sword moved a piece above its guard that suspiciously like a mouth. "I am the mighty Lord Derfflinger! You will bow before me!"

Of course, a noble sword. "Derfflinger, what exactly did you say to her?"

"Well, I said I expected someone a little better in the looks department as a wielder."

Marcus nodded in understanding. "I see."

"Marcus, that's it? 'I see.'? He insulted me!"

Marcus strode over, plucking Derfflinger from Louise's hand. Foolish sword, he had no idea who he was talking to. "When I get insulted, I deal with it. Usually it's in combat, but you know, dead people don't talk. When it's not, they live with the regret for the rest of their very short lives. So, Derf, you must be pretty old, right? How old?"

Derf was much more cautious with his next words. "Yes, I am quite old. I am actually around six thousand years old."

Six thousand years wasn't old at all! Marcus was old. Well, the universe was old too, but still, Marcus was pretty damn old. "So, you've really gotten around, then. This should be fun."

He looked around, picking out various weapons. "We'll take this halberd, this knife, this broadsword, this longsword, this axe, this pike, this zweihander, these brass knuckles, this other broadsword, ooh, this flamberge, this backsword, and this angon."

Derf clanked in his sheath. "What's the angon for?"

Too many explanations! "Guiche, a friend of mine. I'm going to give this to him if I think he needs a better spear weapon for his golem constructs."

"Sure, sure. How many of these weapons do you think you're going to use?"

Him? Use anything other than his trusty hammer? The very thought was outrageous. "Me? None of them. Louise is going to try these out, along with any of the other mages that want to use a weapon for non-magical combat. I particularly like the flamberges in melee combat, even if I don't use them. Have you ever faced one, Derf?"

"Of course I have. They're extremely painful. Why do you like them?"

And Derf was still in one piece. Good job, Derf. "Because a well placed hit with one can break a halberd. It's very comical to watch that happen."

"You're right about that. Have you ever seen one break a sword before?"

That sounded fun. "No, but that sounds like fun to watch."

"It is."

Louise tapped her foot in irritation. "Are you going to talk about you commoner adventures, or are you going to buy these weapons?"

Marcus rolled his eyes. She was mad, but still, commoner stung. Way to aim low, Louise. Way to aim low. "Yes, Louise. So, how much?"

The shop owner looked at the weapons, calculating the cost. "Six thousand gold pieces."

"Six thousand! You could buy a mansion and the forest behind it for that much."

Marcus rolled his eyes. Vacuous Louise. "Remember Louise, a good weapon is worth as much as a house. After all, can a mansion kill a robber on the side of a road?"

Louise pressed her fingers together. "I suppose not, but still, six thousand gold pieces is a lot."

He shook his head. Last counterargument. "Is it too much for you?"

"No, it's just a lot for some weapons that might not be used."

"Then it's fine." He turned to the shopkeeper. "Sir, let's make a deal."

The shopkeeper looked back at Marcus, intrigued. "What kind of deal?"

Marcus was in businessman form now. Nothing would stop him. NOTHING! "I make whatever weapons you want for the next year, and in exchange, you give us these weapons for free, along with a portion of the sellings from my weapons."

"Hm, I suppose I could do that. But can you make any weapon?"

He was Marcus Martel. If he couldn't make simple weapons, he wouldn't be called the Godsmith. Foolish mortal, bow before the power of the IMMORTAL GODSMITH, MARCUS MARTEL! No saying any of that, though. It was unprofessional. "If it's a weapon like these, then I can. Materials might be tricky, but I have a friend that can help with that. All I ask for is the anvil in the back, and either the weapons themselves, or accurate drawings of the weapon."

"Drawings, huh? Can that work?"

Of course it could work. "I've done it before."

"Very well, you can have the weapons, since I already have them, and the anvil. I can throw Derf in too, since he seems to take a liking to you."

The sword clanked in annoyance. "You just want to get rid of me."

The shop owner huffed, and Marcus grinned as he sheathed Derf. Clever sword. "Very well. Congratulations sir, you've just gained a weapon smith, and a rather good one at that. Come Louise, we have much to do. Here."

He handed Louise the weapons, then walked into the back room, returning with the anvil. "A adequate anvil, in the least."

"Marcus, these weapons are too heavy."

YOU FOOL! YOU DARE QUESTION MARCUS MARTEL? GET BACK TO WORK! He was being unprofessional again. Bad Marcus, bad. "Think of this as training."

"You said no training for today."

She was whining again. Why did Louise get to be unprofessional? Answer: she didn't. "Quit your whining. This is training for tomorrow, being done today. I want to go over a technique I thought of later, though. Don't worry, it's not that hard for you. You'll enjoy it, I promise."

Louise sighed, but relented.

A/N: Well, that's a thing. While Marcus can deal with most people, apparently people who whine aren't the best for his nerves. The 'action' scenes were alright in my opinion. Could have been better, but I have plans. And more chapters. That's good too. I decided to dedicate a few chapters solely to one fight to show how strong certain characters are. Like Karin, and Spirits. Maybe a Spirit Karin. I'd like to see that. Reviews are welcome, so I'll see you in the next chapter.