On these days nobody would have expected to witness a miracle. A mage could be a fearsome foe, even more so if you had to fight him alone. After his defeat people started to debate if Guiche's magic wasn't that impressive if it could be bested by a mere commoner. This thought was brought down quickly as soon as they realized that this "mere commoner" didn't have any weapons on him, a shield was meant for defense after all.
His armor was remarkable as it was able to withstand a direct hit from a lance without even getting dented, but that's all it was, or so they thought. This ... familiar had strength. The students knew a bit about the capabilities of Guiche's golems because of the demonstrations he ever so loved to boast about. They weren't weak at all and if a normal human had to fight one of these it would mean certain death for him. Let alone if he had to fight more than just one. Was that proof for the inhuman strength this ... man had proven to possess? Someone claimed that he was like a figure of old tales, a hero destined to save a world from chaos. The students weren't dumb enough to believe such a childish thought, even though a seed of doubt remained in their hearts.
After a couple of moments a girl with long, blonde hair rushed past the summoned one and kneeled next to Guiche. Embracing him her worried look hinted to the two of them being in some kind of relationship, even though he was not sure what to make of it as the last girl Guiche flirted with was another one.
"Oh my poor Guiche ... " while she was trying to comfort the defeated young noble she gave the summoned one a look filled with malice. "Why are you still here? You've got your victory, leave him alone!"
"Calm down Montmorency, my dear." Guiche answered weakly as he had yet to collect his thoughts.
Shrugging his shoulders, not eager to argue with this girl, he mounted his shield back to the chest plate of his armor as he turned his back on them and went on on his way. As he walked away he could hear another girl asking for Guiches well-being, recognizing her as the girl he was spending time with last night. Knowing that this fight would be another certain defeat for Guiche the summoned one smiled as he heard the accusing words of the blonde. He did not take joy in the suffering of others, but sometimes it was simply inevitable.
The summoned one was in need of knowledge and an academy, even though it was meant for magical education, should provide him with anything his thirsty mind craved for. The so-called "runes" on his left hand provided him with the ability to understand their language, it should not prove too difficult to include the ability to read it as well.
"Hey where are you going?!" Louise, staying true to her name, once again sounded annoyed by the action of her familiar. Was this child always that difficult to handle?
"To the library." turning around he faced her once again. Her "intimidating glance" looked rather funny to him, maybe due to the fact that in his world there were things that could turn a grown man into a crying child. Or that he simply could not take a little girl serious. Proably the letter.
"The library?" Louise expected him to celebrate his victory with alcohol and ... other pleasures. The fact that he had the exact opposite in mind proved that he was not just a brute, and nothing more.
"Never mind that. You fought against a noble, and even worse you won." the summoned one simply could not understand how someone could be outraged by a victory. Why was she mad at him?
"A duel settles disputes, I could have killed him if I wanted to."
"Well this is not your world you imbecile!" she shouted at him loud enough for him to frown. "There are rules you have to follow you can't just do whatever you want because your "sense of justice" tells you to act!"
Earning herself an annoyed glance from her familiar Louise could not back down anymore. She had to stand her ground, she was his master and would not yield to something like this.
"Everything you do and everything you say you are doing in my name. I don't care what you think about all of this but there are consequences to your actions. Consequences for me. "
"I do not care about your consequences." whatever Louise expected was thorn apart as he boldly declared what he was thinking. "Judging my methods is something I would have no problem with but I will not tolerate unfair treatment if it happens in my presence."
"You ..." clenching her fists Louise had to suppress a few violent urges. "Life is not always fair, your appearance tells me that you are old enough to know that. I don't know what happened in your world but you must adapt to survive." she let out a weak sigh, seemingly disstressed by all of this. The summoned one, interested in what she might be trying to explain, simply watched her as she was collecting her thoughts.
"The common people believe that we nobles live the perfect life, free from sorrow and responsibilities." the pink haired girl said. "We too have obligations and everything we say or do will be judged by others. It will be known that a Valliere and a Garmont had fought. If the worst case comes true this will lead to a war. People will die over something stupid like that. Is that what you want?"
The chosen one, smiling behind his helmet knowing what her plan was, kept silent. He had to admit, if Louise wasn't shouting at him she could be persuasive. At least there was still hope for her. Taking his silence as good news Louise mentally nodded to herself as she entered the Academy with her familiar in tow.
"It would be a pointless slaugher. In order to ... fix our situation we will have to deal with Guiche sooner or later."
"That won't be necessary." her familiar answered in a carefree tone "He's quite the prideful fellow do you really believe that he would share the experience of his defeat?"
"We can't know that for sure" Louise answered without thinking too much about his question "We will talk to him, there is no way out of this" she gazed at the weapon that was still in her hands and gave it to him.
"You wanted to show me what this ... thing was capable of.
Checking his laser rifle the summoned one frowned behind his helmet. "You switched off the safety Louise. That's the thing that prevents shooting by accident, be careful next time."
"Excuse me for being nervous thinking that you would be beaten to a pulp." she looked away, her face slightly reddened. "There is something else I wanted to ask you."
"I will not pray to you as if you were a goddess"
"That's certainly not what I wanted to ask!" Louise shot back instantly. The summoned one realized how easy it was to manipulate his "master".
Obligations, expectations and of course pride were things that played those nobles like a fiddle. Guiches downfall was caused by this, there were many ways to resolve their conflict and the young noble chose the worst one because his "honor demanded it".
Louise, finally master of her own emotions again, turned around to him.
"I do not want to call you "familiar" all the time. So ... what is your name?"
The summoned one, not expecting such a question simply smiled at her.
"You can call me Avon. And I know, it's probably a name you've never heard of before" Louise simply nodded at his prediction and pointed at his weapon. "I guess you should demonstrate what it can do now, Avon."
"Sure" he answered almost happily. "You'll have to give me something to shoot at first"
"Do you have a minute to spare?" The two of them were interrupted by a less-arrogant and yet familiar male voice. It turned out that Guiche was standing since a few minutes in front of them without them noticing him as they were discussing things. Avon, wondering what the noble wanted from them, crossed his arms and gazed at him curiously.
"Is there something you need from us? If this is about our duel you should leave now."
"No it's ... well it kind of is about our duel. But it's not like I want to challenge you again or anything! Certainly not." it was obvious that the noble was troubled by something, Avon thought.
"It's just that ... well if my family ever hears of what happened then ..." Guiche didn't have to complete his sentence for Louise to realize what this was about.
"Forget that it ever happened, I do not wish to cast mischief upon our families either." Guiches eyes widened at her words and looked like as if a heavy burden was taken from him.
"That's certainly a wise decision Valliere!" his happiness didn't last very long as he realized that the very man he had wronged was still standing in front of him. It took a considerable amount of willpower for the prideful Guiche to admit a mistake, but in the end honor won over pride and he held out his hand.
"I want to apologize for my shameful behaviour. Pride took over my mind causing me to rage over a little mistake. "
"Are you sure that I'm the one you should apologize to?"
"If you are talking about the maid, she accepted my apology" his nervous smile indicated that he was extremely uncomfortable remaining in this position.
"Good" Avon thought, "Humility is a virtue after all"
Both of them stood still for a good minute before Avon took his hand, causing the noble to relax a bit as his opposite had accepted his apology.
"So, how did it end?"
"Huh?" Guiches confused gaze proved that he truly did not know what his former enemy wanted to know.
"I heard a second girl asking if you were okay, the one you were flirting with yesterday. I take it your girlfriend did not take it up all too well?"
"That ... I won't even ask why you know of Katy" he let out a weak sigh
"Montmorency had the wrong impression, Katy was just ..."
"You are pretty dumb, aren't you Guiche?" Avon chuckled at the trouble Guiche was faced with. Karma was still a thing, even in this world.
"I do not want to meddle but you should consider your course of action. Women are scary creatures if angered and trust me, if they want to see you in pain they'll find a way."
"I can vouch for that" Guiche replied "Nevermind my problems, you need some targets to show off your weapon to your master don't you? In that case let me be of use to atone for my sins!"
Before the summoned one could stop him Guiche spawned once again one of his golems. A laser rifle could easily burn flesh and the like but it was less effective against metal.
"Well thanks for that." shaking his head Avon executed a few adjustments on his weapon before he took aim at the golem.
"Take a few steps back, just in case." Both students, just as the summoned one ordered them to, took a few steps back, awaiting the results of this weapon's performance.
The bronze golem with its lack of sentient intelligence did not now what was about to happen, and the moment after Avon pulled the trigger of his weapon a high pitched noise could be heard, followed by a really fast red beam. As they wondered what the hell that was Louise and Guiche looked at the still standing golem, only to notice that the place where it's head should be was covered in molten mass.
"God damn it, I knew it was too much. Charging it up will be a pain in the ass ..." ignoring the perplexed glances the two of them made Avon let out an annoyed sigh.
Louise had to admit that this so-called "laser rifle" of her familiar was actually impressive. Magic was diverse and could produce the same and even better results but you had to chant a spell in order to get anything done. Time, as Louise thought, was the greatest weakness of a mage after all.
"Well ... I guess there's no shame in losing against someone as powerful as you" Guiche said, with a slight hint of relief in his tone. At least no one would be able to brand him as a weakling. "How does this weapon of yours work?"
"A laser rifle draws energy from a microfusion cell and uses an array of polished focusing crystals to focus light into a single concentrated beam." Avon replied citingly "At least that's what they told me years ago."
"Wait, so you don't know it for sure?" Louise asked baffled.
"I'm pretty sure actually. But even though I can repair minor defects on my own there's no way in hell for me to make something like this. Partly because I can't produce the components."
Louise knew what he was trying to say. Not being able to manufacture spare parts meant that sooner or later his weapon would break, meaning that one of his few advantages he had would be taken away from him. Well, at least the armor seemed to be sturdier.
"Is there anything else? I haven't eaten anything since five days and would like to change that. Death by starvation is an ugly thing." the worried look on her face vanished as fast as it came. She had seen him without his armor and he looked anything but malnourished. But he had a point, her familiar didn't get anything to eat since yesterday.
"I guess we could grab a bite. Is there anything you can't eat?" he was from a different world after all, Louise thought.
"As long as it isn't undercooked or spoiled it should prove no problem. We may be from different worlds, but my people look the same as yours."
"True enough, without your armor nobody would suspect a thing about you." Louise nodded at her own words as if she wanted to convince herself to believe that. Truth be told the girl thought differently about this man.
He was strong, she knew that. But this very fact was something that would cause trouble in the near future, that was certain.
"Well, I guess I should take my leave now. "Guiche interrupted her from her thought process. "There are a few things I have to take care of"
"Good luck with that" Avon replied dryly, knowing that the noble would try to convince that blodne girl to forgive him. Guiche brought up a fist to his chest and gave them a quick bow before taking his leave.
Left alone the two of them went back to the place where the other students spent their time with their familiars or each other. The two of them didn't mind where they would take in their meals, might as well enjoy the good weather as long as it lasted. As soon as Louise took a seat her familiar left his armor and joined her. The armor, still standing even without its wearer, didn't attract any attention. This world was blessed by the power of magic, a standing armor wasn't really impressive.
"We are here to eat, not to wage war" Louise said as she saw that her familiar wasn't fond of the idea to put his weapon away. Even though he told her that his world was destroyed this was absurd. This academy was one of the safest places in Tristain there was simply no need for his paranoia.
"I've lived long enough to know what I have to do and what not." there would be no further discussion about this subject, Avon thought. In his younger years he had been cornered often enough because of that, it was the mistake of youth. Louise, losing her will to argue with his man simply sighed at his stubborness. After a couple of minutes a maid appeared.
Recognizing the maid as the one that caused the duel with Guiche Avon simply smiled at her as she nervously grabbed her apron to keep her hands busy. Realizing that there were things she wanted to say the maid collected her thoughts and bowed to her benefactor.
"Thank you very much for your help!" she knew that he did not have any reason to help her, and even though it meant getting in trouble with a noble he still decided to help her out. It was everything but a minor favour and she had no idea how to repay that one. As she looked up again her savior stood up with a slight hint of discomfort on his face.
"Your gratitude is appreciated but there is no reason for you to bow to me." he said as he held out his hand "You can call me Avon, glad to see that you are fine."
The maid, not used to such a friendly treatment from strangers looked up in confusion. The comforting look on his face seemed to be genuine enough but on the other hand she just didn't know who this Avon really was.
"It's nice to meet you Avon" the maid answered as she took his hand with a smile on her face "I'm Siesta, thank you again for your help"
It took the two of them a moment to retract their hands, long enough for Avon to figure out how this maid thought. The stiffness on her face, the cramped handshake that lasted for a second, she was wary of him that much was obvious. He hated distrust of him like an infected wound even though he knew that one should not trust a stranger because he appeared to be friendly. She was not acting irrational, but knowing that shedding his own blood earned him not even the slightest trace of trust caused his blood to boil. How many times have people turned on him after his task of defeating a monster was done? How many slaves tried to stab him in the back because their greed could not be satisfied by their newly won freedom? Truth be told, there were far too many of them.
Realizing that those thoughts would do him no good Avon simply shook his head in refusal. Those where the old days, he thought. There was no point in ranting over these things now, the people who had wronged him were no more.
Observing the scene Louise simply sighed at their conversation, which in turn earned herself the attention of the maid and her familiar.
"Look, I really don't want to disturb your happy time but I'm really hungry" Louise said as she suppressed her urge to command the maid to actually do her work. It was by any means her right to do so but she was sure that her familiar would become a nuisance because of that, a risk she was not willing to take.
As Siesta asked the two of them what they wanted to eat Avon simply stared perplexed at Louise as she ordered ... something. Even though the runes on his left hand enabled him to understand the language he had no clue what the hell it was that she wanted to eat. It sounded french, but there was no way that this language existed in this world ... right?
At the question what he wanted he simply shrugged his shoulders and said that it would suffice if Siesta brought them two portions of whatever Louise wanted. Nodding at his words the maid turned around and left them alone. Both familiar and master continued the conversation in silence, much to the annoyance of Louise. Observing the girl Avon simply smiled at her. Did she find pleasure in being annoyed? It was of no concern, he thought. There was no need to take action. At least for now.
"You should be grateful" the girl said as she cut through the silence that enveloped the two of them "A familiar is not supposed to share the table with nobles, let alone his master."
"Be assured that I consider it a honor to be allowed to share the same table with a beautiful young lady such as you." Avon mentally nodded at himself as he could observe the effect of his words.
Louise, with a slightly reddened face, murmured a few words before looking away to calm herself. The time she spent in this academy were lonely ones and the only thing people called her was "Zero". To be considered as beautiful was ... a new experience, compared with the rest a rather good one.
"I ... forgot to mention this, but an exhibition will be held in honor for the princess of this country. We've got four days to come up with something to impress both the princess and the other students." Louise once again got a concerned look on her face. It was obvious that this matter had troubled her for quite some time. "Do you have any idea?"
"You ask someone who had to deal with death on a daily basis what he can do to impress someone?" he simply chuckled at her words, amused that such a trivial matter even had to be discussed. "You wittnessed my fight with Guiche and you know about my laser rifle. My fights aren't supposed to be marvelous."
"True enough ..." Louise said more to herself than to her familiar "Couldn't you just demonstrate the power of your weapon? It was able to melt the head of a golem after all."
"I could" her familiar replied "but do consider that it takes an enormous amount of energy to accomplish that. A single shot with that much power renders the weapon useless until I charge it up again which takes about ten minutes." Talking about it he noticed that he had forgotten to do it, so he grabbed his weapon and started the charging process.
"Which means that we can either bet on a single shot or look for something different." she sighed as she realized that this problem wouldn't be solved as fast as she would have liked it to. Why was it that even though her familiar was so powerful she had no idea what to demonstrate at the exhibition? It was truly frustrating.
"We've got four days" she proclaimed "We'll come up with something, in the meantime we'll get you a second weapon. I guess if you already have a shield you should have a sword too."
Her familiar simply shrugged his shoulders. Close combat wasn't a problem for him, even without a melee weapon. And even though he was no swordsman the thought that any weapon was better than nothing was rational enough, so he didn't refuse her "offer".
Discussing these things took some of their time, enough for the maid to return with their meals. Overjoyed that he finally got something to eat he was greeted by the worst enemy a hungry person could think of. What he looked at was some kind of fancy meat you could eat in a restaurant that would cost a normal person his entire monthly wage. As if to mock him the cook placed a few small potatoes on the plate, together with a bit of a salad and some kind of brown sauce. It looked fancy, it smelled fancy and gods be damned it was tiny. It was no wonder that Louise was so small, the familair thought, who the hell could grow up with these meals?!
Siesta, simply bowing and oblivious to the distaste Avon felt about his meal, left them once again.
It took them ten minutes to finish their meals, and in contrast to Louise, who apparently savored every bite, her familair almost refused to eat this mockery of a meal.
"We will leave the academy tomorrow morning, as soon as the sun rises. I have a few things to take care of so do whatever you want for today." Louise said as she stood up from her chair. "Don't cause me any troubles okay?"
Avon simply nodded as an answer and watched her as she left him alone. He had a whole day at his disposal to do ... what exactly? Without apparent danger there was little that could occupy him to keep him busy for the whole day and the thought to simply lean against a tree and doze off made him smile.
"Might as well enjoy it while it lasts" Avon said as he stood up and entered his power armor. Putting on his helmet and grabbing the laser rifle he began his heroic quest to find a suitable tree.
AN: A few things I'd like to mention:
1. I really really really hope that nobody has read this one yet because I noticed a major flaw in the end afterwards.
2. Writing after work proves to be difficult, mostly because I'm tired as hell. I'd like to upload short chapters (like the second and this one) instead of writing endlessly and uploading it after 3 months (note that I'm exaggerating to clarify what I mean). Tell me your thoughts on this one. Pretty please.
3. I love to write dialogues but at this point I have to ask myself (and you!) if there are too many of them. Is the amount acceptable? Do we need more?
Do I have anything else? Hm ... nope that's it! See you on the next one.