Saito looked at his surroundings in a daze. He was sitting in a back alley of sorts, the dull orange of the evening sun lighting up the sky.
Where the heck am I? Saito wondered.
His head felt a little groggy but he managed to get up. His body had no injuries anymore. Sounds of horse hoofs, metal clanging and people talking echoed beyond the alley.
Saito dusted dirt off his shirt and walked. He noticed a wooden door on the earthen walls and knocked on it but no one answered.
Saito pushed the door open, surprised that it was not locked. He entered a room furnished with a simple wooden table, chairs around it and a closet at the corner of the room. The table was full of yellowish paper that reminded him of old books he bought from a second hand book store in Japan.
He rummaged through the pile of paper on the table, desperate to find a clue on his whereabouts.
Most of the paper were filled with text written by an unknown characters but he struck gold with the last piece of paper. It was so big that it took up half the table, with various lines and geographical images like mountains and rivers.
Saito's best guess was that it was a primitive hand drawn map.
He looked at a place circled on the map, surrounded by mountains and dots, which he presumed was the sign of a desert. There was an arrow leading from it to another place near something that looked like a river. Both places were labeled with the strange characters he saw before but the second place also had a cross drawn over it.
In fact, he noticed that there was a few other arrows leading from similar mountainous valleys on the map to the place marked with a cross. Saito wondered what were they supposed to represent.
Just then, he heard sounds of footsteps in the alley outside. Unsure of what would happen if he was caught messing around, Saito looked around for a place to hide.
He quickly hid himself in the closet just as the door was opened. Peeping through a hole in the closet, he saw a young man step into the room, followed by a young woman.
They didn't seem to notice the hastily arranged papers on the table, but what followed was the next strangest thing he ever saw and heard after being summoned as a familiar, getting kissed, whipped and yelled by a pretty girl.
"Sasha, Sasha, come drink with me." The young man waved a beer bottle before him, obviously drunk and depressed. His clothing was unkempt but there was something about his face that hinted nobility.
The woman, Sasha was beautiful and graceful in an other worldly way. If one looked closely, one would notice that hers ears were long and pointed, her pupils larger than normal females, and her pale skin having a slight golden tint. In other words, she was an elf.
Sasha snatched the bottle from him. She shook her head disdainfully.
"What happened to you? I know you savages drink beer to alleviate depression and pain, so what caused you pain? You've been like this since you left the Cave of Hira."
At the mention of the word "savage", the young man pointed at her.
"Exactly, my dear Sasha. Savages. We're just savages, Sasha, poor foolish savages." He laughed softly.
"W-who are you calling your dear Sasha?!" Sasha's face turned red and she slapped the back of the young man. "Ugh, to think I've actually let you experiment on me and make me your familiar. Besides, I'm not a savage,you are. Elves are the proud first born of the desert. You human magus just came of your own accord."
The young man simply said nothing. There was a hint of sadness behind that smile. He opened another bottle of beer but did not drink from it. He looked at a point far away.
"A revelation was made to me that day in Hira."
Sasha was startled by the sudden steel in his voice. What did he meant by revelation?
"You will follow me to your elven capital of Neptes tomorrow, where we will ask for help from the elves in liberating the citizens of Sunder." He said, as if in a trance.
"Sunder? Isn't that the military stronghold of the Valiag? Besides, you do know that my people will never agree to anything like that, right?"
Sasha waited for an answer from the young guy but what she got instead was light snores. She sighed.
"Sometimes, Brimir, I just hope to be able to look into that big head of yours and know what you're thinking."
She stroked the rune of Gandalfr on the back of her left hand unconsciously.
Saito wanted to walk out of the closet and ask what were they talking about, but his feet were suddenly rooted to the ground. Before he could fathom the meaning of this encounter, he was whisked away into the darkness.
Louise watched her familiar groan and turn in his sleep as she prepared fresh bandages. She sighed. Why the heck did he have to get himself in a duel? She had to get a few healers and pay for an expensive reagent to heal all his broken bones and organs.
Louise puffed her cheek and pouted.
Secretly though, she was grateful for what Saito did for her, though she would never admit that to him. Nobody called her Louise the Zero anymore, except for a few annoying classmates.
Louise wondered if she should get a weapon for Saito in case he got into another fight again. While he did have that mysterious power during the duel with Guiche, Louise wasn't sure if Saito knew anything about it.
Sometimes familiars gain new powers when they are summoned. Louise wondered if that was the case as she counted the money left in her purse.