Storyteller Of Zero

by Kremant

For the Isekai lovers who love seeing someone else being summoned than the other guy! Louise will perform the ritual to summon her Familiar. Only this time, the one she will summon will be someone who will cause quite the shock and surprise all around him. And the only thing he brings along... Is a Tome? Just what kind of stories are about to be unleashed upon Halkeginia?

3. SOZ-Episode 2-A Storyteller's Duel

It was early in the morning at the Tristain Academy Of Magic, where a certain pink-haired young Noble has just started waking up.

Louise sits up on her bed slowly, and yawns before rubbing her eyes a bit. She then opens them and stays like that for a moment, still a bit sleepy, till they open wide as she remembers something.

She looks fast to the side, only to see... Nothing. The extra bed, her Noble of a Familiar... Are nowhere.

She stays silent like that for a moment, and then looks down a bit sad. "So, it was just a dream, huh?"

Louise thinks that it was too good to be true, even if crazy with all things considered.

A knocking on the door then interrupts her saddened thoughts, before she sees entering her room none other than the maid Cinderella from last day.

The personal maid sees Louise awake and smiles. "Ah, you're awake already, miss Louise. Good morning."

Louise's eyes open wide at the sight of the said maid.

The maid Cinderella continues. "I hope you're well and ready to face the day forward with a smile." Says kindly to the pink-haired Noble.

Louise is just now snapping out of her surprise, and looks around confused about. "What about...?"

"Storyteller Aristidis?" The maid Cinderella questions assuming, and then points at the window. "He is relaxing in the courtyard outside. If you open the window you should be able to see him below."

The pink-haired Noble looks at the personal maid, before getting herself up fast and running to the window, which upon opening, she sees down below the tower the pitch-black mouthless Storyteller, who is seen lying on some kind of chair while holding something silvery on his lap, and with a small table beside him that he uses to keep his tome upon along with the small Radio Box, which produces a distinct music too far for Louise to hear from where she is.

Upon hearing the window opening, Aristidis turns his head and looks up to see the pink-haired girl above, before he waves his hand at her. "Hey there! Good morning, Louise!"

Louise looks at him for some more, and then smiles, happy that her calling her Familiar was not just a dream after all.

She remembers herself though, and fakes a cough before turning to face the maid Cinderella. "Aristidis's maid. Bring me my clothes, and then dress me up, please."

"Of course, miss Louise." Maid Cinderella replies with a smile, and proceeds to do just that.

A few minutes later, the scene moves to where Aristidis is, showing that he was actually lying all this time on a beach-type white lounge chair, his luxurious cape still tied around his neck and hanging behind of the said chair, with him holding a long silver plate on his lap, and wearing a pair of black sunglasses, as he listens from the Radio Box the music: Beethoven-Fur Elise.

Louise, after being properly dressed to the magic academy's standard student uniform of the second year, is seen approaching the pitch-black Storyteller, with the maid Cinderella following her from behind.

Aristidis notices them as they stop beside him, but remains as he is in the same position with his face upward. "Had a proper goodnight sleep?" Says in his friendly tone.

"Y-Yes." Louise answers a bit awkwardly, seeing him being so oddly laid-back currently, but at the same time she is curious about his activity. "What are you doing with that plate you're holding? And why are those glasses so black?" Finishes with a raised eyebrow.

Aristidis pushes the button on the Radio Box in the meantime to stop the music. "First things first, these are called sunglasses." Says as he pushes them with his free hand a bit upward and back down again on his eyes. "They are made with special glass to protect the eyes from the sunlight's rays, making a sunny day more bearable."

Louise is looking at his sunglasses, somewhat amazed at how useful actually those sound.

"Still not to be looking at the sun directly, of course." He adds. "And secondly, what I hold is a silver reflector made of aluminium. People from some worlds use it to get extra sunlight on their upper body areas, and give themselves a darker skin coloration."

Louise upon hearing that, looks at the pitch-black Storyteller with utter confusion. "Wai- B- Bu- But you're already- You're blacker than black!" She eventually yells, unable to comprehend the ridiculousness of his whole action.

"That doesn't stop me." Aristidis simply answers, causing further disbelief to the pink-haired Noble at the fact he wants to try to anyway.

"Can you even get..." Louise attempts to ask, feeling incredulous about it, but gives up on it midway. "Nevermind that." Her face then goes back to her calm expression. "It is almost time for breakfast. Will you accompany me to the dinning hall, Ar...Ari..." She gets a bit troubled there, trying to remember his unique to her sounding name.

"Aristidis." He decides to help her while amused at the attempt, before letting the silver reflector down, and remove his sunglasses as he sits up on the side of his lounge chair to look at her with a normal expression. "And I-" He then gets up and takes calmy a hold of one of her hands with one of his own which he brings close to where his mouth would be, as he looks at her with a seductive look before he completes the rest of his sentence. "Would love to take you there."

Louise blushes and sweat drops at that. "Le-Let's go then." Says eventually with an awkward smile.

He nods at her in response as he lets her hand, before he takes his tome and make the objects he was using vanish completely, and then the two, along with the maid Cinderella following from behind, walk on their way through the well kept grassy courtyard.

Louise turns her head to look at him for a moment as they walk forward, seeing him reading from his open tome, but giving her a happy expression with closed eyes when noticing her looking at him, causing her to turn fast her head forward again out of awkwardness.

She still can't bring herself to believe that she managed to summon such a unique being as her Familiar. Him being attracted to her is still really awkward, though! Why couldn't he just believe that she is engaged? Is it really such a hard thing to believe?!

The pink-haired Noble inhales and exhales as she keeps on walking, trying to calm herself. It doesn't matter how much her Noble of a Familiar tries, he will never be able to seduce her anyway. No matter how sweet are his words, or how nice, supportive, and caring he is to her from the first day, she will not dishonor herself by breaking off the engagement to Wardes for the eyes of another, who that other also is pretty much ONLY eyes by the way, just like that! She is better than that.

Louise decided that she will make it absolutely clear to him later that his courting to her will have to stop. After all, he was understanding when he believed her at first in the beginning about the engagement, so he will not feel too bad about being denied. She will still have a faithful and powerful Familiar by her side in the end of this.

And speaking of which, that's actually the main reason she is bringing him along with her at the dinning hall. So the others can be jealous of the fact she has summoned a Familiar as amazing as he is. Finally, she will get to actually feel important for once! She will rub in everyone's face the fact of how wrong for her they all were, and that she is indeed a Noble in the end and not a Zero.

Louise can't help but feel giddy about it without realizing, which Aristidis notices as they walk, and feels amused as he understands the reason for it perfectly.

(How cute. If she feels great with JUST having me summoned as my current weaker self, I look forward to seeing her expression once she sees eventually how much more great I actually am.) Says in his mind while feeling pompous about it.

Not long after, they reach the outside of the wide open doors of the great dinning hall.

As they make their way to walk in, the pitch-black Storyteller turns to the maid Cinderella. "Wait for us outside. We will be out in twenty minutes or so." Tells her in a silent manner.

"Of course, Storyteller, sir." His personal maid says in the same manner with a bow, while both Louise and Aristidis proceed together inside the dinning hall.

The dinning hall is a large and wide place, consisting of three really long tables, each belonging to a specific grade of students, with chairs enough in numbers for every student currently in the academy, and probably more, and multiple small statues of strange-looking creatures in two separate lines close to both the left and right walls. There is also a second dinning floor above, which is for teachers' use only. Currently the place is almost filled with students, with most already seated, and servant personnel who are bringing foods, cakes, and more for the tables.

The current students slowly take notice of Louise and her Noble of a Familiar who have just entered the hall, with her looking pompously satisfied with herself, and with Aristidis beside her simply admiring the hall around.

They both then walk to the middle long table, past some students who are unsure of how to feel about the supposed Zero's success on the summon, and when Louise reaches her chair, the pitch-black Storyteller politely pulls it back for her, which she thanks him for, before he takes a seat himself on the chair beside her.

"I must say-" Aristidis begins. "The academy's dinning hall is rather nice to the eye."

Louise takes further pride upon hearing that the academy's standards appeal to her Noble of a Familiar. "Well, that's the Tristain Academy Of Magic for you. Expenses are nothing when it comes to housing and teaching the Nobles' future, after all."

"Oh, I'm sure about it." Aristidis says, before leaning a bit closer to whisper in a secretive manner to her. "But so you know, I have seen richer."

Louise looks at Aristidis surprised, as he moves himself back normally upon his seat. "Richer academies than this?"

The pitch-black Storyteller nods. "You will be amazed by what wonders exist within my tome when it comes to buildings and the such especially. But you will have to wait till I have more of my power back, before I can be able to show you one as such right before your eyes."

Louise just stares at him. "... You can even summon-"

"Buildings too, yeah, you better believe it." He cuts her off as he winks, before placing his tome on a small stool beside him, which appeared there at an unknown time.

Louise stays silent for a moment longer there, but then inhales and exhales. "Ok." She says with a nod as she looks forward at the table. It is literally too early in the morning for her to point out about how ridiculous that magic of his is, and she wants to properly keep on enjoying the feeling of superiority over all the others about how wrong for her they all were.

When everything was eventually ready, and everyone was seated around all the three tables filled now with the most rich foods someone could have, all the students put their hands together, and begin their small prayer in unison. "O great founder Brimir, and her royal highness. We are once again grateful for the humble meal that you have brought us this morning." Is what the students say before beginning to eat.

Aristidis after hearing that prayer looks around him at both the students and the overly decorated food on their plates, with a look of utter confusion being in his face. "Wha-" He abruptly stops himself as he gets up fast. "Stop! Everybody stop, just a moment of your time, please!" He says loudly enough to stop and draw everyone's attention on him.

Louise was looking at him troubled for the sudden interruption. "A-Aristidis, what are you-"

"Just a moment, Louise." He says in a serious, fast and quiet manner as he cuts her off, before turning his attention again back at everybody else. "Excuse me for interrupting, but did you just called the food in front of you, humble?"

Everyone just looks at him for a moment. "Umm, yeah?" Says a random student among them, confused at what the pitch-black Storyteller tries to say with that.

Aristidis looks at the student for a moment, before shaking his head in a disapproving manner. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. What manners those teachers are even teaching them at this point..." Says to himself just loud enough for the room to hear him.

Louise looks troubled at her Familiar insulting not only the teachers, but the morning prayer as well no less!

Another random student takes offense to that. "Hey, what is that supposed-"

The mouthless man points at the said student as he cuts him off. "It means that you are not taught properly how to have manners!" He then clenches his said hand into a fist, at shoulder level, in mild annoyance. "Talking down on your rich-looking food as if it was something of lesser quality when it is not. But I don't blame YOU for the important life lessons they neglect to provide you with."

Everyone has a hard time following.

Aristidis then snaps his fingers. "Bring in Greece's national!"

By saying that, a tanned man with eyes that appear closed, and wearing what appears to be a chef's white garb complete with the long hat on his head, comes walking out of nowhere from the side while carrying a deep plate with something of liquid-based in it. [The guy in the chef outfit is none other than Brock from Pokemon!]

While many of the students begin questioning among themselves about where did that man come from, the pitch-black Storyteller makes space at his side of the table by pushing some plates away, as the tanned chef approaches.

"Here you go, Storyteller. Freshly made from the campfire like you prefer." The tanned chef says as he sets the said plate down on the table, with Aristidis nodding in appreciation.

The deep plate's content, now more obvious, appears to be white beans properly bathed in a red/orange liquid, with a few carrots and potatoes also present within.

The pitch-black Storyteller looks at all around as he points at the said plate. "See this? THIS, is a humble meal. Not overly decorated, and both delicious and fulfilling without the actual need of top tier ingredients. Bring in a decent slice of bread as well, and you have yourself a deal like no other."

Everyone, or at least most, just look at the bean soup with mixed feelings.

Aristidis decides to continue, his expression serious. "You have to be ashamed for treating your food here as if it was nothing special. Humble, they say." Says the last bit with heavy sarcasm annoyed.

"Don't you think you're a bit too harsh on them about it?" The tanned chef asks with a sweat drop forming on his head the pitch-black Storyteller. "I mean, it's obviously just a figure of speech to them, so-"

"That's no excuse!" He turns to his chef as he cuts him off, and being upset about. "These people here have food of aristocratic I dare say level, when there are people out there, hungry people, who wish they were lucky enough to have even scraps from the said plates. And THEY treat it as if it is nothing special! They disrespect both the plate, AND the person who made it for THEM, not to mention their very own intellect without even realizing!"

Upon hearing that, the students start chattering among themselves about it, taking into consideration what the pitch-black Storyteller said, especially the last one.

The tanned chef looks to be thinking about it. "Well, when you say it like that..."

Aristidis turns his now more calm attention at the students around. "Now, if you're wondering about the proper way to speak the morning meal prayer to be safe of such mistakes, here is my suggestion."

He turns around and sits down on his chair normally, with both hands placed together in a praying manner, along with his eyes closed. "O great founder Brimir, and her royal highness. We are once again grateful for the proper meal you allow us to enjoy for one more morning. May you always allow us one."

With that, he opens his eyes to looks at the still looking at him unsure students.

Aristidis lifts one hand and snaps his fingers, making a large black sign with multicolored writing to pop into existence high in the middle of the hall for everyone to see, much to their surprise. Written in the sign appears to be the prayer Aristidis said not long ago.

"Now all together, from the top." He tells them with a serious expression. "Unless of course you prefer living with the feeling of having insulted yourself with a pitiful mistake like that, along with the founder himself. Who knows how he might be looking at you right now for that?"

All now look pale at the mention of the founder looking at them the wrong way. In the end, they all started reading out loud the prayer in the sign, along with Louise, from the beginning till the end.

Aristidis looks at them with a more neutral expression on his face, and then nods. "Now that sounds much more appropriate, don't you agree as well?" He turns then to Louise with a happy expression. "I am especially proud of you, Louise. I must say, you said it quite well."

Louise smiles awkwardly at that compliment. "Th-Thanks, I suppose."

With a wave of his hand, the sign vanishes. His face then goes back to neutral. "And let that always be a lesson for you, Louise. Treat everything and everyone as they are. Nothing as more as it actually is, and nothing as less as it actually is. And with the respect each deserves, of course. That way you do not only show the appropriate respect to them..." He puts a hand on her shoulder, and clenches into a fist the other close to him as he looks at the ceiling. "But to also yourself."

Louise looks somewhat entranced by his words full of meaning. It's like he has embraced completely the whole meaning of being a Noble. Even if the speech was mostly about food labeling.

Aristidis lets her shoulder and turns to his tanned chef. "That will be all, friend. Oh, and while you are here, you may go assist the chef and the cooks of the academy with the next meals, maybe give them an idea or two."

The tanned chef bows. "Sure, I'd be happy to-"

"Just!" Aristidis cuts him off. "Make sure to not flirt with any of the women. I will not have people giving me complaints about the fact, understand?"

The tanned chef looks at him awkwardly with a sweat drop. "Y-Yeah... Anyway, I'll be on my way."

With that, the tanned chef walks toward the exit, and goes to do as he was told.

The pitch-black Storyteller turns to Louise. "He is not a bad guy, on the contrary he is great, but he is trying much harder than necessary when it comes to flirting with women."

"I-I see." Louise says with a sweat drop.

Aristidis looks at his bean soup, and grabs a spoon. "Anyway, let's focus on our plates now. No point in waiting for it to get cold."

"Oh, right." Louise says, remembering her own plate as she turns to look at it. "Better start eati-" That moment she realizes an obvious fact about Aristidis. "Wait a moment, but you don't have-"

As she turns to look at the mouthless Storyteller, confused and ready to point out the fact he has no mouth, she sees, much to her utter shock, him putting a spoonful of bean soup upon the place his mouth would be, and the content instead of falling on the skin and run down, like everyone would expect, it simply vanishes as soon as it touches the surface of it. Some of the few students who noticed that were also shocked at the fact.

"Ah~." Aristidis says in a pleased manner. "Now that's a good fasolada." He turns his attention to Louise. "Apologies, I was not listening. Could you repeat that for me?"

Almost soon after, she gets up, goes fast close to him, and starts touching the skin on his mouthless area, which startles him for a second there, while Louise looks obviously incredibly surprised about. "There is nothing there! How did you even...! This is just...!"

The pitch-black Storyteller looks a bit amused at her reaction. "Louise, as much as I like you touching me, no pun intended, I do believe you have chosen an unsuitable time for it."

When he said that, Louise realizes herself, before looking around to see that everyone in the hall was watching her, though, they are looking mostly in surprise at the fact Aristidis can actually eat without a mouth.

She laughs a bit in her awkwardness as she lets his face and going back to her seat, before grabbing a fork while turning to her plate. "A-Anyway, let's eat!"

And like that, she begins eating, trying to pretend she didn't act improperly in front of everyone just a few seconds ago. (I can't believe I acted like that in front of everyone! I feel so ashamed!) Says in her mind embarrassed. (I'm still asking later though, I need an answer for that!)

The pitch-black Storyteller still looks at her a bit amused. (She is definitely asking later about the fact.) Says in his mind with a small inside chuckle.

~A Few Minutes Later~

The scene shows Louise and Aristidis walking just now out of the dinning hall's great entrance, and into the well kept grassy courtyard of the academy, with maid Cinderella following from behind like before.

"I quite enjoyed the morning meal. How about you?" The pitch-black Storyteller asks the pink-haired Noble.

Louise appears still a bit awkward from earlier. "I-It was good."

Aristidis looks forward and notices ahead many chairs, tables, and many students using most of them, with their Familiars being close as well, with some small ones even being on their laps or shoulders.

"Is that a normal gathering, or is something about the day?" He asks as he puts a hand on his chin and thinking about it.

Louise looks confused for a moment at what he is looking at. "Hm? Oh, yeah. All the second year students have the day off for the day. We are all supposed to communicate with all our freshly-summoned Familiars."

"For partners to get to know each other, in other words." Aristidis says.

A sly expression then forms on his face as he looks at Louise, before he crouches enough for his head to be beside her own as he puts an arm around her shoulders, much to her sudden surprise. "I believe you already know how much I like the thought of having an one on one with you, right?" He says seductively.

Louise heavily blushes at that, obviously thinking he means it in a perverted way.

"Conversationally I mean, of course." He then says with wink.

That makes her feel a bit more at ease, at understanding she has mistaken the meaning, but still can't help but feel nervous with the way he currently acts and looks at her.

She looks the other way while blushing and troubled. "I-I told you that I-"

"Oh?" A voice says not far beside them, which cuts Louise off, and shows to be the known dark-skinned beauty with the long red hair, Kirche, who is currently crouched and petting her Salamander and who just noticed them.

The redhead smiles. "Well, if it isn't Valliere and her unique-looking Familiar."

Louise looks at her annoyed. "Zerbst..."

The pitch-black Storyteller notices her annoyance, and lets the pink-haired Noble's shoulders as he straightens himself up while looking at the redhead. "I'll take that as a compliment. Now I can understand that Zerbst is your family's name. May I have the honor of knowing yours?" He asks politely.

That causes the redhead's interest as she lets her Familiar and straightens herself up as well. "Quite the gentleman, aren't you? You may call me Kirche. And I already know yours. Aristidis, no? Quite a strange sounding name to be honest."

"And you are most likely not the only who will think that." He says jokingly.

Louise is unsure about letting Aristidis to converse with the likes of her, but it's not like he is a normal Familiar she can just order to do otherwise. He is a Noble after all.

The mouthless Storyteller looks at Kirche's Familiar, which must be as big as a human. "Now that's an interesting-looking Familiar you have there. Though, I am unsure as to what it is exactly." Says as he places a hand on his chin and looking thoughtful about it. (Has some resemblance to a Charmeleon from pokemon. Even has the tail's tip on fire.)

Kirche is kind of surprised hearing that. "Could it be your first time seeing a Salamander?"

"Ah, so that's what it is!" Aristidis says in understanding. "A baby Salamander."

The redhead looks at him with a sweat drop, but still with a smile on. "Um, actually, this is an adult."

At the moment, the said Salamander growls at Aristidis, obviously insulted at being called a baby.

The pitch-black Storyteller looks at her with an incredulous expression on his face. "That's a fully-grown Salamander?" He then lifts a finger and shakes it in denial. "No, no, no, that's not a big one." He then opens fast his tome, walks a bit away, whispers a few words, and a large reptile-like creature appears beside him.

The thing is quadrupedal, with four long nails in each foot, eight to nine meters in length and at least two meters in height in its entirety, its head has a shape that looks like either a spearhead or boomerang, resulting in long pointy cheeks, with two eyes that look like mini-volcanos, its back and parts of the area close to it are as if made of black scorched rocks, with the middle making it look like a big hump of them, and with its lower part from the jaw, the belly, and till the tail's below glowing orange, as if filled with literal lava. [The creature is a Flame Salamander from Dark Souls 2]

"THIS, is a big Salamander." Aristidis simply says as he presents with a hand his big Salamander.

Both Louise and Kirche, along with most students that watch from a distance, look gobsmacked and with open mouths at the large creature, unable to comprehend the existence of such a big Salamander. Kirche's Familiar is also shocked by it, and when the bigger salamander notices the smaller one, it whips its thick tail upon the ground beside itself in intimidation, making the Familiar to move fast scared behind its red-haired master.

The pitch-black Storyteller turns to his creature, and then rubs the back of his own head somewhat out of awkwardness. "Well, I mean, I can summon bigger than this, but let's just say I'm a little weak at the moment."

"B-Bigger?!" Kirche yells shocked at the fact there are larger than that thing.

Aristidis closes his tome and snaps his fingers, making his Salamander to turn its attention to him. The mouthless man then looks at an empty table in the middle of the gathering. "See that table over there? Wait by it and let no one approach it. Without lethal means, of course."

The big Salamander turns toward the said table, and then walks fast toward it, almost making some of the students to get up and run in fear, before it makes a circle around the assigned table, till it lies beside it in a seemingly lazy manner.

"First the giant eagle and now this..." The redhead trails off, before pointing at the big Salamander as she looks at Aristidis. "Where are those things even come from?!"

Aristidis pats his tome. "Everything comes from this tome. Filled with so many stories it could make a normal person dizzy."

Louise snaps out of her shock, and then turns with a smug smile to face Kirche, while still having a small sweat drop on her. "A-As crazy as it sounds, my Familiar has a unique type of magic that allows him to bring literally anything he wants from stories within his tome, which he says are actually real."

"No way..." Kirche trails off, incredibly gobsmacked at the sound of such magic.

"Anyway-" The pitch-black Storyteller starts. "It is a special day for Familiars and Summoners, so I better not hold you all day with boring details." He turns to Louise. "Louise, take your time if you want. I'll go wait for you at the table." Then he turns to Kirche and nods politely. "Till next time, miss Kirche."

And with that, he turns around with a flip of his unique-looking cape, and walks toward the table, with the maid Cinderella following from behind.

Aristidis appears thoughtful for the moment. (A dark-skinned redhead with quite the body. I could dig that.)

As he walks, he stops as he spots a certain black-haired maid walking around and offering plates with cakes to the students.

A sly expression forms on his face. (And speaking of digging...) He says to his mind, before walking toward Siesta's location.

The scene moves back to Louise and Kirche, with the latter turning to the former.

The redhead smiles at her. "Quite the Familiar you have summoned indeed, Louise."

That grabs the attention of the pink-haired Noble to her.

Kirche continues. "He has it all. He has magic, he is tall, handsome, even if a bit strange-looking without the mouth, also the fact he is not really human, and quite the way with words. Personally, I still have goosebumps at being reprimanded by him with the whole prayer speech thing from breakfast earlier."

Louise smiles and is filled with pride upon hearing that. "That's the Familiar I summoned for you." Then she shows an expression full of arrogance. "I told you I would summon something better than you all, and I did so. And what you summoned? Just a mere fire lizard. So, in your face, Zerbst." Says the last part teasingly toward her hated rival to get back at her for all the times she was insulted by her.

That causes the slight ire of the redhead for a moment, but then her smile turns cunning. "That might be, but you forget a small detail."

The pink-haired Noble appears confused by that. "Hm?"

Kirche begins. "It is true that you were able to summon a great Familiar, as surprising as that still is, but that's pretty much all, isn't it? HE is the one doing the magic, while you..." A small laugh escapes the redhead at that part.

Louise's eyes widen upon realizing the implication.

With a cocky smile, Kirche leans in front of the face of her shocked, shorter rival. "Admit it. Despite that small win, you still remain the Zero we all know you as. Wouldn't be surprised if the reason you summoned someone like him, is the ritual's way to compensate for the lack of your own magic."

That shocks Louise even more, because that's what she thought about for a moment the previous night too.

The redhead understands that she succeeded, and straightens up before turning to leave, along with her Familiar. "Have fun with that thought. Louise The Zero."

After saying that, she begins to laugh at Louise's expense while walking away, with the pink-haired girl remaining in place while looking down and trembling, trying hard to hold her feelings in check.

"That's not true...! " She quietly says to herself while doing so.

While that was going on, the scene moves to the black-haired maid Siesta, who was currently carrying a plate with a cake in her hands.

"Excuse me, the maid over there!" A distant voice says which catches her attention as she turns toward the source, and sees much to her surprise the pitch-black Noble from the last day, along with a maid she has never seen before and with a different outfit, approaching.

"Ah, S-Sir Aristidis." Siesta says, but then she remembers the last day about how she was supposed to call him and feels troubled. "I-I mean Aristidis!"

Aristidis and the maid Cinderella stop in front of the troubled Siesta, with him being amused by her. "Don't you worry, I won't be mad at you just like that, Siesta." His face then turns grim. "But next time I will make sure to punish you appropriately."

At the sound of that, and the way he looks at her, the black-haired maid starts to tremble while stuttering in fear.

Then Aristidis's expression turns to that of amusement, as a few chuckles escape him. "Ju-ha-st messing with you! No need to be so stiff."

Siesta looks at him surprised as she realizes the joke. "O-Oh, it was just a..." She then puts on an awkward smile, and a sweat drop on her head. "H-How funny." She says as she fakes a laugh just to not be rude to the Noble. (That was so scary!) Says in her thoughts.

"Anyway-" The pitch-black Storyteller begins as he puts on his kind expression. "I want to thank you once more for yesterday's help, Siesta. It was much appreciated."

The black-haired maid now smiles normally at the thankful to her Noble. "It was nothing. Just doing my job as a maid should." Her attention then turns to the peculiar maid beside him. "Speaking of that, I don't remember seeing you around. Who are you?"

"My name is Cinderella, personal maid of the Storyteller, the man you talk with. A pleasure to meet you, Siesta." Cinderella politely says with a nod.

Siesta looks confused. "Storyteller?"

"It's my title." Aristidis answers. "But I will still ask you to call me by my first name. Like I said before, no need for formalities with me, Siesta."

"O-Ok." She says awkwardly. She still has a hard time understanding how casual this unique-looking Noble is with a simple commoner like her. Also that Cinderella maid looks so beautiful and kind-faced. As if taken out straight from a fairytale.

Then Siesta remembers about something very specific she heard about yesterday. "Um, A-Aristidis?" She said it right this time, good. "If you don't mind me asking, is it true that you're miss Valliere's Familiar?"

"It is." He simply answers.

"It is?!" She responds really surprised.

"It is." He says again with a nod, before his expression turns to happy. "I was summoned to be the lady's Familiar. A role I gladly accepted."

Siesta still appears surprised by the fact. "But for a Noble to summon another Noble..."

"Siesta-" The pitch-black Storyteller addresses the maid as he places a hand on her shoulder, somewhat startling her. "I am sure you already understand that I'm not just another simple Noble like the ones you know about, and no, we are not just talking about appearances here, but I will tell you about it at a more appropriate time, my good natured maid." Says the last bit with a wink.

"O... Ok..." Siesta trails off, unsure of what to make of it.

Aristidis lets her shoulder. "In any case, for helping me out the other day, and for being such a nice and polite girl, I would like to offer you something as compensation."

The black-haired maid looks troubled at him. "Y-You don't have to-"

"Let's not speak nonsenses now." He cuts her off. "And I know just the thing. Like you offered me help at that one time, today I offer you just as much as well. Cinderella?"

The maid Cinderella turns to Aristidis in response.

He continues. "Be a dear and help Siesta around with her current tasks."

The personal maid bows with a smile. "With pleasure, Storyteller, sir."

"B-But..." Siesta utters, unsure of how to deal with the situation.

"Have fun, girls!" Aristidis says, having already turned around with a flip of his luxurious sparkling cape while walking away.

Siesta now feels even more troubled. "W-Wait, I really don't-"

"Better just let it be." The maid Cinderella cuts her off, making Siesta turn to her. "Once he wants to give you something he thinks you deserve, you will receive no matter what. Quite the character, isn't he?" Says a bit amused at the last part.

Siesta still appears somewhat troubled. "But, is that alright with you?"

"But of course." The maid Cinderella simply says with a smile, before taking the plate off Siesta's hands. "After all, helping others always has a nice feel to it, don't you think so too?"

Siesta looks at her for a moment, and then smiles as well. "I suppose you're right." She then turns around. "Come. We have much work to do, Cinderella."

"Right behind you." The maid Cinderella responds, ready to help with whatever.

The scene then shows Louise walking about, still depressed from earlier. She then sees the table where Aristidis is, with the big Salamander now nowhere to be found, with a cup of tea in one hand, and waving at her with the other, expecting her with a happy expression on his face.

She approaches and takes a seat across him.

"Here we are, you and I. Sitting here outside, in this beautiful sunny day." The pitch-black Storyteller says poetically, while obviously enjoying the simple fact. "Don't you agree, Louise?"

The pink-haired Noble seems to have not listened, as she is currently looking down at her side of the table, still depressed about.

Aristidis takes notice, and appears concerned. "Louise, is something troubling your thoughts?"

That pulls her out of her thoughts. "Eh? N-Nothing. Nothing at all." She says in an awkwardly bad attempt to hide the truth.

"Did you receive words from that Kirche fellow you didn't like?" He says as if expecting something like that, which catches Louise by surprise.

The pitch-black Storyteller chuckles a bit. "Come on now, I am your Familiar. I'm supposed to be able to understand at least that much." He leans a bit forward, looking at her in the eyes. "In a case like this, you know what you should do?"

"Umm-" Louise attempts to understand what her Familiar wants to tell her, but cuts her off just as soon.

"Forget about it!" Aristidis says as he leans back on his seat normally. "It is obvious she is just jealous of the fact YOU got an amazing Familiar like me-" Says the part with a pompous air. "When she just got a meager lizard, and is now trying to hurt your feelings as a way to at least feel even a little bit superior. Quite immature some individuals can be, won't you agree?" Says the last part while feeling amused about.

The pink-haired girl looks at him for a moment, but then gets herself in contemplation about it. She still feels somewhat troubled though, knowing that she...

Aristidis sees that she is not fully convinced yet, and decides to try help her harder. "And if it is about you having trouble with your magic, then that just proves even further my previous point." He says, catching Louise's attention again. "After all, we have already talked about the fact that you will eventually find your way around the problem, and show to everyone by the end of it that it was just a... Phase. You know, like a period where your magic is affected by a factor of some kind, and have to wait till it eventually leaves you alone to perform the said magic normally. I have many stories about such subject."

Louise takes his words into heavy consideration. (Could it be that? Just a phase like he calls it? But if that's the case, how long should I...?)

"No need to think about it so hard!" The pitch-black Storyteller yells at her in a way to draw her now startling attention. She sees him adopting a calm relaxing expression. "Rela~x. It is a cloudless beautiful day, after all! Forget about all the nonsenses people want to trouble you with, kick back, and enjoy the clean day. Have a cup of tea while doing so."

By saying that, he snaps his fingers and a white cup with a green serpentine dragon painted around it appears in front of her on the table. The tea inside also appears to be green-colored.

When she looks at Aristidis, she notices that his cup from earlier has also changed to the same one she has, with him lifting it as he faces her with a kind expression and closed eyes.

That brings a smile to her face. She almost forgot how nice and supportive her Noble of a Familiar can be to her. And that brings her peace of mind back. "You know what? You're right. I don't even know why I'm getting so worked up for that stupid Zerbst."

She takes the cup in her hand, and drinks some of the tea, with the taste surprising her, before she stops to look at the content. "This is good!"

"That's Jasmine Tea for you." He says before taking a sip from his own. "Delicious, and soothing to your senses. This kind in particular comes straight from ATLA story, and is a known favorite to the most wise character of their world. I will let you meet him one day. The old man is a nice company to have."

Louise smiles with interest. "That sounds nice. Sure, why not?"

She takes another sip from her tea. She finds weird agreeing to meet a person straight out from what would pretty much be a fairytale to her, not to mention her Familiar's magic is still a bit too absurd for her to understand, but she might as well take his advice to heart, and enjoy the moments he is offering.

"Now, let's begin that talk of ours." Aristidis says. "I would start by asking you first, but I will let that honor to you. Ladies first, don't they say?"

Louise is reminded of the fact that she is supposed to communicate with her Familiar and learn more about him, like the day implies. But frankly, she is unsure as to what more to ask that she didn't yesterday.

"So?" He asks, before adopting an air of self-importance. "What else would you like to know about your incredible Storyteller."

Louise sweat drops at his pompous behavior. This guy obviously thinks highly of himself. With magic like that, she guesses it makes sense.

Then she sees him drinking once more from his tea cup, and remembers the big question she wanted to ask him. "How can you even eat and drink without a mouth?!" She pretty much snaps at him, due to it making absolutely no sense to her.

Aristidis is unfazed by her outburst, and instead looks amused by it for a moment. "Too strange for you, eh? Well, to answer your question, imagine the part where my mouth would be as a chunk of flesh, and then the normal opening that is my throat which is connected with it. It pretty much blocks it, since there is no mouth present and all. But, that's not the case with food and liquids. Once I place either of the two at the skin area here-" Says as he points at the part of the skin his mouth would be. "The stuff goes in, and then moves appropriately mashed within the throat and down. I can even taste them normally while that happens. So in short, magic."

Louise just looks at him, processing the surprising explanation. Which brings another question. "Why would that person in the black cloak make you-"

"The only answer I ever got was Why not? from him about it." The pitch-black Storyteller answers the obvious question with a sweat drop.

Louise also sweat drops at that. "What kind of answer is that?"

Aristidis shrugs. "I told you the man was an enigma from the beginning. Also quite the wacky character. I didn't even have the time to know him properly. Leaving me on my own as soon as he explained how my magic works."

"I see." The pink-haired Noble responds while thinking about how irresponsible that sounds. Then another thought comes to mind. "Speaking about your magic, what else can you do with it?"

"You mean other than summon whatever and whoever?" He asks, with her nodding in confirmation. "I can actually do most of the things people can do within the tome. As an example, look at this pearl." He says while lifting a hand below head level, and showing a small white round pearl he holds between two of his fingers.

He then closes his palm and opens it again, with the pearl now in the palm's middle. "Using a simple movement of the wind's power, I can do things like this." He puts the other hand not far over the other, and the pearl starts swirling around the middle of his palm by an invisible force with such a speed, that it looks as if the pearl multiplied and turned itself into a circling pearl bracelet.

Aristidis sees how Louise appears quite amazed as she watches the simple to him trick, and can't help but feel obviously amused by the fact.

"That is... And you really need no wand for this at all?" The pink-haired girl ask, not taking her eyes off the small spectacle in his hands.

"Nope. No wand needed." The pitch-black Storyteller says before he stops his trick by placing the palms together, and lifting them separately to show the pearl gone. "I mean, I CAN use one if I choose to." By saying that, a wand, much like the one Louise has, appears in one of his hands, and moves it around a bit as if trying to cast a spell. "But as I said, not needed." With that, he makes the said wand vanish from his hand.

Louise is stunned by the information, along with the ease he performed so far with his magic. As she comes back to reality, she gulps, hesitant about what she wants to ask next, but with hope obvious in her face. "Could I... Learn how to do the magic that you do?"

Aristidis's expression turns neutral. "I expected a question like that. I'm sorry, Louise, but the person in the black cloak was quite explicit about it. The tome is an extension of yourself. Only YOU can use its power. No, even if someone has it in their hands they can't use its power, was it not clear what I said earlier?

Louise lowers her head in disappointment. There goes possibly the only chance she thought she had at using proper magic.

The pitch-black Storyteller looks at her with his kind expression. "Come on, don't be like that now. I'm sure you will be able to do great stuff with your own branch of magic soon enough as well. Be patient, you will eventually get it one day."

She sighs, and raises her head normally again. "I really hope so too."

Both are silent for the moment, with Aristidis taking a spoon to stir the tea in his cup in the meantime.

While like that, another thought pops in Louise's head. "I just remembered something. You said your di-men-sion place is a really big library pretty much, right?"

Aristidis stops stirring his tea and looks at her. "Yes."

"And that you have read every single book in there, which had the different stories you mentioned your tome also has." She also says.

"Yes, what of it?" The pitch-black Storyteller questions.

Louise appears confused by it. "But, considering your tome already had everything from the beginning, what was the point of reading from the books there instead of just simply using the tome?"

Aristidis understand now why the confusion. "Ah, didn't explain that part yet, did I? You see, for my tome to have the said stories, I had to first know about them myself."

The pink-haired Noble's eyes open wide. "What?"

Aristidis continues as he taps with a hand his tome on the table. "It was the condition I had to go with in order to use my magic. With each different story being known to me, my tome was filling its pages with that knowledge. It took years." After saying that, he shows a pleased expression on his face. "But by the end of it, I had everything the library could offer within this tome, and ready for me to put to use."

Louise appears surprised and highly confused. "You had to read so much for your magic to... B-But how is even... I mean, the books you have read must have been thousands! One tome shouldn't be enough to hold-"

"A normal tome, no." He cuts her off, and then points at his tome. "But this is a magic tome, in case you forget." He grabs with both hands the tome. "All I have to do is hold it, think of a story, or certain item or character from said story-" He then opens the tome, and turns it around for Louise to see a page written in an unknown language, with an image that depicts a warrior fighting the big Flame Salamander which Aristidis summoned just minutes ago. "And the tome reveals the said page for me to read and use."

The pink-haired girl can't help but feel amazed at the sight of a magical item like that. As the pitch-black Storyteller closes and places the tome on the table again, Louise then thinks that something doesn't quite add up. "Wait, then how can you still call things and people when obviously not using your tome?"

Aristidis takes a sip from his tea. "As long as I touch the tome, I can use its content by using my memory of the subject, and a few words that mentions it or them. Even the most silent whisper is enough to trigger my magic, but only as long as I want the said summon to occur. The snapping of my fingers is just for show."

"I see..." Louise understands but sweat drops at how overly convenient that is. His magic is not just powerful, it is easy for him to use too. It's awesome, that's for sure, but that's a combination she finds hard accepting as fair, even with his magic being, like he said himself, weakened.

"I think that's enough from me at the moment." The mouthless Aristidis says, and then places his jaw upon his hand, with the elbow resting on the table. "Tell me about yourself."

"Eh? Me?" Louise questions.

The pitch-black Storyteller nods. "This day is about communication between Familiar AND summoner, no? And after all, what kind of man will I be if I don't get to know about who Louise is myself?"

"I suppose that makes sense." Louise says in understanding, and takes a sip from her tea. "What would you like to know about first."

Aristidis thinks about it for a moment. "Do you have any goals you want to fulfill?"

"Goals?" Louise repeats the question.

"Yes." Aristidis simply confirms. "What are your wishes and dreams in life?"

"Well..." She trails off while thinking about it. She feels rather hesitant, but eventually decides to say it. "The... The only thing I want is to someday be recognized as a proper Noble who can do proper magic, and simply live a happy life."

"Hm." The pitch-black Storyteller says as he process the information. "Any further ambitions?"

"N-No. That's pretty much it." She explains, still a bit worried about what he might think of it.

Aristidis appears sceptical. "A want to be known as someone even a bit important, and a life of peaceful enjoyment." He seems pleased at the thought. "Not a bad wish to have."

That somewhat surprises Louise. Surely didn't expect him to think much of it.

Aristidis continues. "But still, as time passes by, you will most likely gain more goals you will want to fulfill. Especially with someone as amazing as myself alongside you." Says the last part with an air of great self-importance.

Once more she sweat drops at how highly this guy thinks of himself. She drinks some more from her tea, but sees how cold it got after so long.

Aristidis notices that and extends a hand to ask for her cup, with Louise giving it to him, before he takes a hold of his own as well with the other hand. "That's all well and good, but now I need to ask you a serious question." Says in a serious tone.

That catches the pink-haired Noble's full attention at how serious her Familiar sounds.

Aristidis lowers the the tea cups and his upper half below the table, and then straightens up, with him now holding with both hands a big bowl filled with white thick cream, three cherries on the top, two halfs of peeled banana placed at the two sides, and all that being covered in net-like lines of orange-colored syrup, with two spoons sticking out beside the thing. "Will you help eat this glorious situation?" Says with a face filled with obvious joy.

The pink-haired Noble looks at it with wide open eyes as Aristidis places it at the middle of their table. It's not the size that surprises her, much, but its bright colors, as if made from first class ingredients. But the cream it has... Doesn't quite seem like the normal kind. Overall, it looks like nothing she has seen before.

Louise looks at the pitch-black Storyteller, who encourages her to try some by pushing the bowl a tiny bit closer to her, while keeping his joyful face on.

She turns her eyes at it, just looking for a moment, and then takes the spoon from it along with some of the content, and places it in her mouth. Her eyes widen and shine as she makes a surprised sound from her closed mouth after having tasted a spoonful of it.

"What's this?! It's so cold! Yet so sweet and creamy!" Louise asks with amazement while looking at it.

Aristidis appears happy with her reaction. "That's the Banana Split Ice Cream Sundae for you. Quite the delicacy, isn't it?" Says before taking a spoonful to eat as well.

Louise takes one more bite, hardly able to contain herself at how great it tastes, while also shivering a bit at its coldness. "To be this cold, yet so sweet... Is there some kind of Water Mage Pastry Chef in your tome who makes these?!" She asks with great surprise, believing that to be the case.

The pitch-black Storyteller chuckles greatly amused at that. "Nothing like it!" He then turns sceptical for a moment. "I mean, yes, there ARE a few I have who use magic to do it-" His expression then goes back to neutral. "But overall it is made through other means. I will not explain though, because it's almost as complicated as the Radio Box, and it will take time."

Louise is surprised at the sound of that. Almost as complicated as the Radio Box? Just what kind of means could those be if not through magic, to make something as uniquely delicious as this?

She takes another spoonful of it, but grabs her head in sudden pain, with a close mouthed yelping escaping her.

"Don't worry, that's normal." Aristidis says unconcerned. "Just refrain from eating for a moment and the Brain Freeze will go away. Eating or drinking anything cold too fast can cause this, so the suggestion is to take your time with one as such to avoid future pains like that."

Louise lets the spoon down while still being in a bit of pain. "Why didn't you warn me beforehand...?"

Aristidis begins. "Understanding the pain of an Ice Cream Headache, is the best way to learn why you will want to avoid causing it despite the amazing taste."

The pink-haired Noble doesn't seem really that satisfied with the answer as she rubs her head to ease the pain. At least the freezing pain seems to go away fast indeed. (I will eat from it soon again though, this is a really amazing dessert.) Says in her thoughts.

Aristidis takes another spoonful from the big Ice cream Sundae to eat. "For real now though, I would like to know about your hate for that Kirche fellow."

"Eh?" Louise says, caught a bit off guard at the sudden request.

He continues. "I have seen how you look at her, so I'm curious. How that hate started exactly? With as many details as you can, please."

The pink-haired Noble doesn't quite like the idea of talking about it, but decides there is no harm in letting her Familiar know the reason. "Well you see, Aristidis, my family, the Vallieres, and her family, the Zerbsts, have been archrivals for a long time. I don't quite know the details, but in the past a Zerbst woman seduced a husband of the house Valliere, stealing and taking him as hers." Louise lowers her head and appears embarrassed by the thought. "That was a grave insult for us, and one that will never be forgiven." She raised then her head, appearing now really annoyed as she clenches a somewhat raised fist. "Not to mention that Kirche herself is the most abhorrent person that I ever had the displeasure of tolerating in this whole academy. Always insulting me and calling me Zero from almost the first day."

At that, she takes a spoonful of ice cream and puts it in her mouth while still being annoyed about.

"I see." Aristidis simply says, but then thinks about it for a moment. "But wait, I'm confused. Shouldn't your family be angry at the man himself, instead of that house?" Says with a raised eyebrow.

Louise appears confused upon hearing that. "Huh?"

Aristidis continues. "I mean, taking into consideration what you said, the man betrayed the trust of his woman because he allowed himself to be swayed away by the charms of another. Now I don't say that what the woman of Zerbsts did was not wrong, but if we are to talk about who is mostly at fault here, that's him. He could just say no to the temptress and be done with it, but he didn't, showing that he didn't care about his wife's feelings or her family's to begin with. If it was not a Zerbst, it would have just been another woman from a different house, thinking about how unfaithful that man proved to be. So by that logic, the hatred the Vallieres have toward the Zerbsts is simply baseless, and should have been instead be focused at the man of a traitor himself."

After he is done with his explanation, he takes a spoonful from the big ice cream to eat, while Louise looks at him with wide open eyes.

"Huh... Never thought about it that way." She says as she thinks seriously about it. Her face then turns upset. "I still hate that damned Kirche, though!" Says before taking a bite from the ice cream.

"Understandable." The pitch-black Storyteller simply responds, having expected that.

The scene then moves away from them, and at the maids Siesta and Cinderella who are seen walking together, holding in their hands trays filled with cakes.

"He can eat without one too?!" An incredibly surprised Siesta asks as she looks at Cinderella.

Cinderella laughs a bit at that. "Surprising, isn't it? And wait till I tell you about-" The personal maid stops as she notices ahead a purple bottle falling from a blond student, also known as Guiche, who is currently too busy chatting with some other boys to take notice.

Siesta wonders why she stopped all of a sudden. "What is it, Cinderella?"

Cinderella smiles as she turns her head toward the academy's maid. "Looks like it's time for the first good act of the day." Says before turning to walk forward.

Siesta looks confused at her, before she follows as well.

The scene moves back again to Louise and Aristidis, with the Banana Split Ice Cream Sundae being half-eaten so far.

"So tell me, what is the reason people like Kirche call you Zero?" Aristidis asks her.

After hearing the question, the pink-haired girl lowers her head ashamed. "I... Would prefer not to say."

"It's ok, it's ok." The pitch-black Storyteller says in understanding. "No need to tell me now. You can do it once you feel ready. I'll always be here for you when you need me for anything, after all." Says the last part with a kind face and closed eyes.

Louise looks at him, and then smiles after a moment. She is so glad having a Familiar- No, someone to treats her with such respect and kindness. Such an understanding person to converse with.

The mouthless Aristidis takes another spoonful of ice cream to eat. "But speaking about families, do you want to talk about yours? What are they like?"

"My family?" She repeats the question. "Well-"

Louise is cut off by a commotion caused by a gathering of students, currently taking place at the distance.

Aristidis raises an eyebrow while taking a look at the gathering as well. "What is all the noise about?"

The scene then moves to Siesta and Cinderella, with the former looking troubled at Aristidis's maid, while the latter has her arms folded and looking with a serious expression at the blond with the curly hair Guiche.

"C-Cinderella, p-please let's just stay calm now!" Siesta says while stuttering and hoping to stop her friend from going too far.

Cinderella ignores her and keeps on focusing on Guiche. "You, who is supposedly a noble, want ME to take responsibility for something obviously YOUR fault? That's both unfair AND hypocritical. Not mentioning insulting to the two ladies you decided to trick in such an awful manner. You should be ashamed of yourself." Says totally serious about it, as Siesta freaks out at her audacity, while some of the other students laugh at the blond Noble for being ridiculed by a maid.

"You, a commoner, dare to talk back to a Noble in such a way?" Guiche questions surprised yet offended, before looking at her upset. "I will speak to the Headmaster about your awful behavior, and have you removed from this academy, you hear me, you-"

"I beg your pardon." A voice says behind of the blond Noble, with him looking and noticing standing not far from him the pitch-black Storyteller, having his arms folded, and with Louise standing right next to him, holding in her hands a smaller version of the previous ice cream, and both wondering what is this about.

In the meantime, some students were whispering among themselves things like "Zero's Familiar." or "The Noble of Zero." which the pitch-black Storyteller hears but keeps his attention on Guiche.

(Need to do something about that Zero thing later.) Aristidis says in his thoughts before he continues with the current issue. "Do you have any problem with my personal maid?"

Chatter can be heard among the gathered crowd of students about Aristidis having a personal maid, and when he even acquired one, since like with the chef from before, they don't know she is actually a character from his special tome.

Guiche looks at him a bit confused, but then seems to understand something as he looks at the maid Cinderella more carefully this time. "And I was wondering for a moment why the maid's uniform was different from the ones they normally wear here."

The blond Noble then turns his now filled with seriousness attention back to the pitch-black Storyteller. "Never mind that. Yes, I do have a problem with your maid."

"I'm listening." Aristidis simply says, wanting to hear the blond Noble's case.

Guiche begins. "You see, I was sitting there talking with my fellow Nobles, and then that maid comes, rudely insisting on giving me a perfume bottle that had fallen on the ground, when I was making obvious the fact I wanted nothing to do with it." He then takes on a more dramatic expression. "Because of that, two girls' hearts were broken due to the misunderstanding caused by her action, and ridiculed the three of us in front of everyone. OH, the shame for those girls!"

Aristidis just looks at him for a moment silent. "Yeah. Cinderella?" He questions his maid as he looks at her.

The maid Cinderella begins. "He wanted to do nothing with the said perfume because in the end it revealed that he was actually betraying both the girls' trust. He got a slap to the face and some spilled wine on his head from them for this."

Guiche flinches at that a bit, but keeps a smile on his face as he turns his head away in a self-important manner. "The nerve on that maid. So what if that's the case? All she had to do is pretend, and all would have been well in the end." The blond Noble says as if he is not in the wrong here. He looks at Aristidis again with an arrogant kind of smile. "Now as a Noble yourself, what are you going to do abou-"

"Allow me to get this straight first." The pitch-black Storyteller cuts him off with a serious tone, catching Guiche somewhat off guard. "You are pretty much telling me, that the whole situation is mainly, and I will repeat this as to make it more apparent, MAINLY... Your fault for going for both girls... Without any of them knowing, nor accepting such thing to begin with... And you are faulting my maid for simply wanting to return you your fallen perfume bottle, which was most likely gifted to you by one of them. And you now want me to punish her for that?"

Guiche stays silent for a moment, feeling a bit strange at how the pitch-black Storyteller said all that. "Um, well, I mean as we have already made clear it's not a lie, but it's her fault for causing all of this." He says that with a cold sweat, before adopting a more annoyed expression. "And as if that was not enough, she had the audacity to talk back to me. ME! A Noble! That's no way to talk to the one above you. You obviously have to punish her for that, no?"

Aristidis stays silent as he looks at the blond Noble after hearing that, expressionless. While all the others around appear curious as to what happens next, Louise has almost finished with her small ice cream bowl as she watches and wondering how her Noble of a Familiar will deal with this situation, Siesta holds her hands over her chest concerned about her new friend, and Cinderella is fully unconcerned.

The pitch-black Storyteller's face then turns serious. "Bugs?"

After saying that, beside him is seen now standing there on its two feet/paws an anthropomorphic lagomorph, more than half Aristidis's size tall, in the colors of gray and white, and wearing white gloves that show four human-like fingers on each hand, a pinkish nose of the species, and two obvious buck teeth coming from the top out of its closed mouth. [Bugs Bunny from Looney Toons has made his appearance!]

"Ehh, what's up, doc?" The smiling anthropomorphic lagomorph asks the pitch-black Storyteller as he then proceeds to look at Guiche, and then around at the understandably surprised with him crowd.

Aristidis extends a hand in front of Bugs. "Glove."

"Ah, I see." The lagomorph says in understanding. "Want the brick version or-" He asks as he brings from behind his back a brick-

But is cut off by Aristidis. "Serious."

Bugs rolls his eyes but still with a smile on. "Alright, whatever you prefer, man." Says as he takes off one of his gloves and hands it to the pitch-black Storyteller.

Aristidis nods at the lagomorph in a subtle thank you, and then looks at Guiche as he proceeds to walk toward him, till he stops right in front of him.

"Wh-What do you-" Is all Guiche could say before he is slapped strongly on the cheek with the glove.

Most of the students around gasp at the action of the pitch-black Storyteller, with Louise somewhat choking in surprise at the last bit of ice cream before she goes "Huh?!".

Guiche that moment snaps out of his own shock of what just happened, and looks at Aristidis upset as he holds his now pained cheek. "What is the meaning of-"

Before he continues, the blond Noble stops himself as he notices the mouthless man then throwing the glove in front of his feet.

Aristidis looks Guiche straight in the eyes with a more serious expression. "For disrespecting me in front of my face and everyone of importance, I challenge you to a duel."

The blond is caught off guard by the sudden challenge. "Wha-"

That causes the others who watch to chatter wildly among themselves. In the meantime, Bugs Bunny smile a tiny bit more at that, before leaving from the scene unnoticed.

Louise greatly troubled takes a step toward Aristidis. "What-" But stops herself as she looks at the empty bowl in her hands and steps back to give it to Cinderella, before going back to the pitch-black Storyteller. "What do you think you're doing?! Challenging another Noble out of the blue like that!"

Aristidis doesn't cease his serious staring at Guiche. "After what he did, it is a must to teach him a lesson in humility."

Louise is still trying to understand why he feels so insulted with Guiche to go as far as to challenge him in the first place over a maid. "L-Look, whatever the case, you can't just do that! It's forbidden for Nobles to challenge each other in the academy's-"

"Wrong." The pitch-black Storyteller says dismissively while cutting her off. "Even though the rule states that, due to my case, nobility or not, I count mostly as a Familiar. So by technicality, it is not forbidden for me to participate in such an activity here with another Noble. I have done my homework on that subject and many others just in case."

"Bu-But-" Is all Louise could utter troubled before Aristidis interrupts her once more.

"After all, it is not like he will face ME personally." He says, indicating his tome with a tap of the hand. "Of course-" He turns his attention back to Guiche. "If he apologizes to my maid here and now in front of everyone for his bad behavior, I will let it slide as if it never happened."

"Wha- Apologize to a commoner?!" The blond Noble responds upset as if being asked the unthinkable. "I have to apologize for nothing!"

Aristidis brings his face a bit closer to his. "Then the challenge stays as is. You may choose the place of the duel."

Guiche is feeling a bit nervous at the pitch-black Noble's insistence with the duel. In any case he can't back out just like that. His reputation is on the line at this point.

The blond gathers himself and looks with a serious expression of his own at Aristidis. "At the Vestri Court."

"That's where we will fight then." Aristidis says. "I expect you there in no more than ten minutes. Take that time to prepare psychologically."

With that, the pitch-black Storyteller turns around, and starts walking on the way for that place. Seeing him doing that, Louise runs after him, with Siesta and Cinderella following from behind.

The pink-haired Noble stops in front of him, still troubled and upset, stopping him as well. "Are you seriously telling me you're going to duel him for a simple maid?"

Siesta at the moment can't help but feel responsible for not putting more effort into stopping Cinderella earlier, and prevent this from happening.

Louise continues, still upset at Aristidis. "How is that even a reason to-"

"It's not only for that reason, Louise." The pitch-black Storyteller cuts her off with a serious tone, earning both hers and Siesta's confused attention. "Cinderella is one of the many people that have earned my utmost respect and trust, the two main reasons I have her as my personal maid. And then that blonde-flea comes out of nowhere, asking me to punish her for his own pitiful mistakes. By doing that, it was as if telling me that all my servants in general, are nothing but the filthiest of garbage. Those people are the ones I personally chose for the job. People I have responsibility to. And you are telling me to treat them as if they had no value? It's like telling me that I don't have value."

Louise and Siesta take into consideration his words, with the pink-haired Noble somewhat understanding now why he feels so insulted, and with the black-haired maid being surprised that he holds in such high regards his servants. Cinderella simply stands there and smiles at his words.

Aristidis continues. "And if I don't take any action and simply let this be, then everyone will see me as nothing more but a weak master of my tome subjects, and treat me and the rest with total disrespect like that guy did without hesitation. That includes you as well, Louise, since I'm your Familiar."

Louise's eyes open wide, realizing how right he actually is, with Siesta being confused at the tome subjects part and what it could mean.

Aristidis keeps on talking. "As you can see, it is not just a simple matter of answering hyperbolically to an insult. It is about making a point." His serious expression then turns to cunning as he leans in front of Louise with his hands and tome behind his back. "And after all, wouldn't it be interesting to see how I handle myself in a fight."

The pink-haired girl thinks about it a bit more. She is indeed curious about what her Familiar can summon when in serious situations. Also scaring Guiche will feel really great considering he is as bad as the rest who insults her with that shameful Zero title.

She looks at Aristidis with seriousness. "Fine, but don't kill him. The last thing I want is to get in trouble for the death of a Noble. Even if it is someone like Guiche."

"Of course. We are not savages, after all." Aristidis says as he straightens up, making Louise's worries go away.

He turns to Cinderella and Siesta. "Girls, you better go back. Not much work will be back there for you at the moment, but your services might be needed elsewhere. And I expect you, Cinderella, to keep on helping the nice and well-mannered maid beside you that is Siesta." Says the last part as he looks at the black-haired maid with a wink, causing her a slight blush this time.

Louise looks at the black-haired maid. (Siesta?) Says in her thoughts while wondering how he knows the said maid's name.

"R-Right." Siesta says with an awkward smile, before turning to the orange-haired maid. "Let's go, Cinderella."

Cinderella nods and they both walk back to get to work.

The pitch-black Storyteller looks cunningly at Siesta while they leave, understanding that he is making now actual progress with the said maid.

He turns to Louise with a more happy expression on his face. "Do you know Siesta?" He asks her, before they both proceed to walk to the opposite way. "Not sure if Cinderella told you anything, but she is a maid that helped me in my first day here with directions. A very good girl to know."

"Ah, I see." Louise says, understanding now how he knows the said maid. It seems that he is nice even to other servants instead of just his own. Being nice to servants is understandable and all, but knowing them by name as well seems a bit too... Unneeded to her. But, considering the example of a Noble her Familiar has shown her to be, maybe she should reconsider that thought. It wouldn't hurt her to follow that example of his after all, right?

~A Few Minutes Later~

The scene moves just outside of the Headmaster's office, where professor Colbert comes running, carrying nothing but his staff and a piece of paper with him, and slamming the door open. "Old Osmond!"

Once in, he sees that he interrupted a not so peaceful scene between the green-haired secretary Miss Longueville and the white-haired and long bearded Osmond, with the latter being down on all four, and the former having her foot just above his back.

Colbert decides to not think much of it, while Miss Longueville walks back to her desk as if nothing happened, and Osmond getting back on his feet with his arms behind his back and turning to face Colbert, having recovered from the previous situation fast despite his age.

The Headmaster looks at the professor seriously. "What is it to make you come running in like this, Mr... Remind me your name again." Says at the end forgetful.

Colbert looks at the old man in disbelief. "It's Colbert, you forgot?!"

"Right, right, now I remember." Osmond says as he walks and takes a seat to his desk. "In any case, what got you so worked up?"

The professor approaches the Headmaster's desk, his face serious. "It's about one of the summoned Familiars from last day. Particularly the humanoid one with the aristocratic name, summoned by miss Valliere. I searched all day the previous day through old books, even parchments, but I found not even the slightest reference to anything that resembles even a bit his full name, not to mention anything at all about the strange rune that appeared on his forehead at the end of the ritual!" He says exasperated, before sitting onto a chair in front of the Headmaster's desk, and then placing a hand on his forehead tired. "I truly can't understand this, I'm sure we would have something, anything about a subject so peculiar."

Osmond sweat drops at Colbert's current research breakdown. "I think you spend too much time with books, Colbert. So, how that said humanoid calls himself exactly?"

Colbert lets his face and looks at the old Headmaster. "He calls himself: Aristidis Aristadis O Ellin Tis Ellas."

The old Headmaster takes on a contemplating expression as he strokes his beard. "That is quite a strange sounding one indeed. Doesn't sound like the ones we know, that's for sure. Tell me more about him."

Colbert continues. "The being is tall, his whole slim body pitch-black and devoid of any body-hair. He is wearing a black luxurious cape with white twinkling spots, which is tied to his neck and reaches till his ankles. He also always carries with him a large tome, which as I understood from my first encounter with him, it's a magical item that is capable of summoning other items and beings in an instant."

Osmond appears somewhat surprised by that and thinks hard about it. "A magical item capable of such thing... Could it be an item from the age of the Founder Brimir?"

Colbert nods in agreement with the thought. "That is what I thought about as well. But I'm unsure due to the language I saw the tome's title is using. It was just... Unreadable."

"Hmm... Maybe it is like with his name. But we can't be sure." The Headmaster contemplates about it, and then remembers something. "You mentioned also a strange-looking rune. Do you remember how it looked?"

"I've made a drawing of it on this paper for my last day's research. Here, take a look." The professor says as he places the paper with the A symbol upon the table for the Headmaster to see.

Osmond's eyes open wide at the sight of the symbol before him. He finds his composure back after a bit, and looks at his secretary. "Miss Longueville, would you please excuse us?"

The green-haired woman nods, gets up, and walks out of the office before closing the door behind her.

A very serious look forms on the face of the old Headmaster as he looks at Colbert. "Are you absolutely sure that's the rune you saw on the Familiar?"

The professor is somewhat taken aback by Old Osmond's sudden seriousness on the subject. "Y-Yes, absolutely, Old Osmond."

The Headmaster's expression after a few seconds turns into that of deep thought as he stares a bit to the side. "By the Founder, so it was true."

Colbert's eyes widen when he realizes that Osmond has knowledge about this. "You know about this rune?"

The Headmaster stays like that for a moment, and then looks somewhat troubled at the professor. "You could say it's from an old story I've heard about when I was young. I can't remember where exactly I've heard it from, but I still remember hearing something regarding the strange rune."

Colbert can hardly hide his excitement that his research was not all for nothing in the end. But why Old Osmond appears so troubled by it. "So, what is it about, Old Osmond?"

The Headmaster's expression turns serious. "It is too soon to assume what I will tell you might mean for Halkeginia, but make sure it doesn't leave this room."

Colbert is caught off guard at the sound of that. Could that being be dangerous for Halkeginia as a whole?

Osmond begins. "For starters, this rune is not from the time of the great Founder. But something entirely new that was to come as I heard back then."

"Wh-What?" The professor questions surprised, not expecting that.

The Headmaster continues. "The being branded with the Alpha will appear, the beginning of many things as you will hear. The time of the approach is near, and the future days for all unclear. That's what I remember hearing about it."

Colbert seems thoughtful about it. "That sounds like a prophecy." He then remembers. "Alpha! That's how the pitch-black being called the said rune once seeing it!"

"Then that settles it." Osmond says assured. "He is the being of the so called prophecy."

"Unbelievable..." The professor trails off in surprise.

The Headmaster contemplates while looking at the ceiling. "After hearing that prophecy, I was waiting for whether it was truthful or not. The years were passing by, and eventually I concluded that it was nothing more but a made-up joke. Till you showed me that rune to prove me wrong, that is."

Colbert is having a hard time understanding. "How could the young Valliere summon something like that. Given her reputation in this academy, you wouldn't expect that from her."

"I think you're skipping the most important question, mister Colbert." Old Osmond says to him. "And that is, now that the person of that old and vague prophecy is here, what exactly could that mean for us all?"

A knock on the door interrupts their thoughts as it draws their attention.

"Who is it?" Old Osmond asks.

The door opens, showing to be miss Longueville. "It's me, Old Osmond. Excuse me for interrupting, but I have been informed that some students have gathered at the Vestri Court to watch a duel between two people. I thought you might want to know."

The Headmaster shakes his head disappointed. "For Founder's sake, Nobles these days. Who are involved?"

"One of them is Guiche De Gramont." The secretary says.

"Oh, that one." Osmond says while rolling his eyes, knowing very well the boy's skirt-chasing reputation. "And who is the other?"

"Well, it seems that it's Miss Valliere's Familiar." She says a bit surprised.

That causes the surprised reaction of both the Headmaster and the professor.

The green-haired woman continues. "Apparently Mr. Guiche did something that insulted the Familiar, which resulted in the latter challenging the former for that."

Old Osmond puts a hand on his forehead in frustration. "That idiot..." He doesn't know what the boy did, but knowing how the young Nobles can be nowadays, he bets it was stupid nevertheless.

"Should we send someone to stop them?" The secretary asks the Headmaster.

Old Osmond thinks about it, and an idea comes to mind as he strokes his beard. "You know what, let them be. That may teach the son of Gramont to not overstep his boundaries, once beaten by someone more experienced."

"As you wish." Miss Longueville says with a nod, before closing the door with her remaining outside.

Colbert looks somewhat worried at the Headmaster. "Old Osmond, are you sure about this?"

The Headmaster looks at him. "This is the chance to see for ourselves what he is capable of against a Noble of ours. Depending on his treatment, we might understand whether his intentions are good, or bad."

The professor gets even more troubled. "B-But risking the life of a student is..."

Old Osmond grabs his staff, waves it, and a big mirror set in the wall then begins magically showing the situation at Vestri Courts. "Better risk one and know how to act fast, than risk everyone and end up being too late to even do so. I'll take responsibility for whatever happens."

The scene then moves to the place of the duel, the green field of the Vestri Court. The place is filled with many students from all three grades, here to watch the impending duel. Aristidis is waiting at his side of the field, reading from his open tome, while Louise is along with the rest of the students, watching with great curiosity about how her Noble of a Familiar will perform, and what he will pretty much summon to defend himself.

Among the watchers is also Kirche along with Tabitha, with the latter reading from one of her books like usual.

"This is going to be interesting." Kirche says to herself mostly.

After a bit more waiting, Guiche makes his appearance as he walks and takes his place at the opposite side of the field across Aristidis, and still being somewhat nervous about.

"You are here. Good." The pitch-black Storyteller says as he takes his eyes off the tome to look at the blond Noble. "Know that you can still avoid this. Just apologize properly, and that's that."

Guiche laughs, a bit awkwardly, at the sound of that. "You must think really poorly of me to think I will do something so disgraceful as to apologize for a commoner."

Aristidis appears slightly disappointed. "Trust me, so far you prove me right on that one, and my disappointment can only grow with the constant showing of your disrespectful behavior toward what makes a Noble Noble. Unless you believe that having magic is enough to be considered important enough to command respect. You are not that pitiful now, are you?" He says the last part with a serious expression as he stares straight into Guiche's eyes.

That catches the blond Noble, along with many of the watchers, off guard as he finches in place, showing that to be pretty much the case.

The pitch-black Storyteller notices that, and shakes his head with a sigh escaping him. "People can be so pathetic at times that is hardly surprising anymore."

Guiche is offended by that, pointing his wand, that is an imitation of a rose, at the mouthless Aristidis. "I will not just stand here and let a mouthless black man badmouth me!"

The pitch-black Storyteller appears a bit amused by that comment. "You know, I would normally call you racist if the mouthless badmouthing bit was not a funny fact."

The blond sweat drops at that. "Seriously now, how can you even speak without a mouth?" He asks confused.

"Magic." Aristidis simply answers.

Guiche just looks at the pitch-black Storyteller, not expecting an answer like that.

Aristidis turns his head fast to the side with closed eyes. "Hmph! Amateur."

The blond gets upset at the sound of Aristidis insulting him again. "We will see who is the amateur here!"

With a wave of his wand, a petal falls from it to the ground, before starting to glow, and over a short time turning into a standing female suit of armor wielding a spear, with a long skirt covering the golem's lower area, and with small wings on each side at the top of its helmet. The suit of armor stands as tall as the blond Noble is.

Guiche smiles arrogantly as he looks at Aristidis. "I am called Guiche the Bronze. Therefore, a bronze golem, a Valkyrie, will be your opponent."

He might be smiling on the outside, but on the inside the blond Noble feels really troubled. And how can he not be? He is facing another mage who has shown to be able to summon something as bizarre as a giant eagle, and even a salamander bigger than normal ones. (Alright, stay calm now Guiche, you can do this, you just need to think strategically. My opponent is most likely to summon one of the two creatures if what he said earlier about not fighting himself was true. So, I will test the creature's capabilities with one Valkyrie, and then prepare a team of more to deal with it properly. Also, Noble or not, he is still Zero's Familiar. There is definitely nothing more to be expected from one as such.) Guiche says fast in his thoughts.

"OH, introductions before an official duel! I love those!" The pitch-black Storyteller says with quite the enthusiasm, surprising most people, along with Guiche, with his sudden change of mood.

Aristidis clears his throat, and then flips his luxurious cape fabulously as he lifts his free hand up to the air, with sparkles being obvious around him after doing so.

"Ooh, I must admit, he is quite fabulous for a non-human." Kirche says while blushing, and entranced now by the pitch-black Noble.

Tabitha doesn't says anything, but takes a peek at him from above her book curious.

Aristidis begins. "They call me Aristidis the Storyteller." He brings his open tome a bit closer to look at the page properly. "And allow me to show you why with a story. From the living dungeon, there to challenge the chosen ones of the gods themselves, a creature trained by one such challenger was turned eventually into one of the greatest challenges one had to face. With a jet-black hide in place of his old crimson one, and strength that can crush the unprepared in seconds, that creature is always ready for his next glorious challenge.

As he says that, and while the students around wonder about what is that unknown to them story and why he is reading it out loud in the middle of the duel, from the sky falls a big figure, before landing right next to the pitch-black Storyteller on its feet with a thud.

Everyone watches with surprise at the creature. Standing on its two feet more than two meters tall, taller than even Aristidis himself, is an imposing humanoid being of jet-black fur and skin, two blood-red carved horns, a head that looks like that of a bull, wears minimal plate armor at parts of the body, like your average gladiator, and huge muscles that can make any trained soldiers jealous.

Aristidis looks at the still surprised Guiche with glee. "Therefore, Guiche, Asterius from the story of Danmachi will be YOUR opponent." He turns to the jet-black minotaur. "Asterius."

Asterius looks at Aristidis.

The pitch-black Storyteller continues. "Treatment Level K. Have at him."

The jet-black minotaur turns his attention to Guiche, looking him straight in the eyes, causing great discomfort to the blond Noble, and then unleashes a powerful howl, that makes everyone to either cover their ears or shudder in place from fear because of it. Immediately after, the said creature rushes forward with great speed, barehanded, making Guiche to panic as he leads the Valkyrie to move fast toward the incoming monster.

Once the bronze golem is close enough to attack with its spear, the minotaur backhands the spear off its hands, before immediately grabbing the Valkyrie by the legs and lifting it up above his head as he keeps on running forward. Guiche watches in shock at the incoming monster holding the now helpless bronze golem, just before the minotaur starts whacking the Noble down repeatedly by using the said golem like a hammer, as all the other students scream or just watch in horror their fellow Noble of a student receiving the savage to them beating.

The jet-black minotaur stops after a few more seconds of hammering, with the bronze golem in his hands crumbling down into dirt as he steps back from the newly made crater which the unconscious Guiche currently resides in, with the blond Noble's eyes being dizzying circles. Other than that, the boy only has a few scratches but no other injury despite the awful beating he received from the monster somehow. Asterius kicks some dirt at him, frustrated with the lack of resistance, before he goes back to Aristidis's side.

"I'll get you a better fight next time, I promise." Aristidis says quietly to the minotaur, and then looks at the students around them. "He is lucky you know. If I didn't use the treatment level, he would have more than a few scratches to deal with after all that."

After witnessing all that, the students are unsure if they should cheer or not, with some looking troubled and some others being confused about the treatment level thing he refers to, and with Louise being somewhat in shock as she was with her eyes and mouth almost wide open during and still after the whole one-sided fight.

"Also!" The pitch-black Storyteller says loudly enough to get everyone's assured attention. "I've heard that you all are being mean to the one who summoned me, Louise of the house Valliere, and calling her Zero, whatever that means."

The sound of that snaps Louise out of her shock.

Aristidis continues. "As the respectful Nobles you are expected to be, I expect you to cease with that disrespectful behavior toward her. And if I learn that any of you decides to do the opposite... Well..." He closes his tome as he looks menacingly at them. "Let's just say that you'll have to find out in another chapter about what happens next."

Everyone is taken aback as they understands immediately the meaning behind his words, along with where all those out of nowhere things and beasts of his come from now.

Pleased with making his point obvious, he turns around as he makes with a wave of his hand the minotaur vanish from sight, and makes his way to Louise.

The pink-haired Noble watches as Aristidis walks toward her after not only having defended his honor from Guiche, but also having defended hers from the rest.

The mouthless Storyteller stops right in front of her, as the students that were close back away a bit in fear. "Well, that's that with this. How about you and I go continue from where we left off, and enjoy the day like we are supposed to?" He says with a happy expression as he leans forward while offering courteously a hand to her.

Louise looks for some more at him, and can't help but smile in the end. "That would be great."

She takes his hand, and together they walk on the way to where the tables from before supposedly are, with the students around just standing there and watching them leaving.

A blushing Kirche looks at him now with a smile. (I'm definitely getting that one.) Says in her thoughts, as Tabitha is simply staring at Aristidis for the duration, her thoughts unclear to the actual watchers. [See what I did there?]

As the two walk away, the pink-haired Noble can only think about one thing as she keeps on smiling. (This is indeed the best Familiar I could ever wish for!)

After that, the scene goes back to the Headmaster's office, with both Osmond and Colbert having seen the whole thing till the end through the magic mirror set.

The professor wipes with a handkerchief his sweating forehead and bald head in relief. "Thank Brimir that didn't end up badly."

"Indeed." The old Headmaster agrees. "But to think that not only he can summon incredible beings, but also manipulate the damage they can cause is just..."

Colbert looks at Osmond. "Being stricken in such a way would normally cause most of the bones to be broken at best, Old Osmond."

Osmond nods. "With this we've got an idea of his character. But we better be extra sure about it." He looks at the door. "Miss Longueville?"

The door opens and the Headmaster's secretary enters. "Yes, Headmaster?"

"Please go call that Aristidis Familiar to my office. Alone." He says with a serious expression.

The green-haired woman nods. "Right away."

She closes the door again as she leaves, and heads to do as she was told, while wondering why the interest about that particular Familiar. She brushes her curiosity off though, because she has more important things to think about. Other than her current task, that is.

{To Be Continued}

[I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and just to have the idea, I am planning to mostly follow the anime from here on, if not entirely. The chapter publishing will also be relatively slow, because BUSY. Also yes, the Treatment Level thing uses the age rating of the Fanfiction as idea for how severe the item or being of the Tome will be, but don't expect the said idea to be frequent. And lastly, don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Comment/Review about it. See you at the next one, folks.]