Next morning.

Reality mode.

"Mistress… wake up."

"Urgh… five more minutes…"

"Mistress, it is already dawn." Louise feels something poking her cheek, but she just swats it away and pulls the blanket up over her head, blocking whatever is disturbing her sleep.

"…Little Louise, you will be late for the classes. Wake up dear."

"…Big Sis Cattleya?" Immediately sitting up, Louise snaps her head to the left, expecting her sister to stand next to her bed. Instead, her groggily eyes meet a pair of hollow ones. "GAH!" Screaming in surprise, she pushes herself to the other edge of the bed, her arms waving around trying to find her wand. "WHAT. WHO ARE YOU?"

"Mistress, it is dawn." Her faithful familiar repeats his words, though his tone doesn't help calming one down in normal case.

Luckily, Louise recognizes the voice in time, and her eyes finally regain focus and look at who is talking to her. "…Familiar?"

"Yes, my mistress." He confirms his presence. In his arms, a set of clean clothes is ready. "Here's your new clothes. Do you require anything else?"

"…Dress me." Unconsciously, the pink-haired mage orders.

"Yes." The familiar answers with his monotone, as he puts the clothes on the bed…

"Wait!" Shaking her head, Louise gets her head clear and re-thinks about it.

"Yes?" The familiar replies uncertainly.

"…Just, turn away. I will do it myself." Louise decides to not rely on him once, as she feels bad on how she used his obedience too much on his first day.

"…I receive your order." Nodding once, the familiar turns back and faces the wall, his arms wrapping behind his back as he waits for his next order.

'…I'm so glad that I summoned him. If it's a pet or sort, maybe I would have my hands full all the times.' Gratefully thinking in her mind, Louise starts changing her clothes so she could start a new day. 'I should reward him for something… maybe I will let him sit next to me in the dining hall…' Once she's done, she calls for him and orders: "Let's head for breakfast."

"Yes."

"…And by the way, did my sister come to my room?"

"…No one else has entered this room in this morning. May I ask why you ask it?"

"…Never mind. Let's go." Maybe that's just her dreaming. Her sister are back in their family's mansion, and they have no reasons to come here…yet.

…

Entering Alviss Dining Hall, Louise looks around the Second Year's tables and spots an empty seat. She walks quickly to the direction, followed closely by her familiar, while ignoring the chatting around her. When she reach the chair, her familiar pulls the chair for his mistress and pushes it in enough so Louise could use the table properly. After being comfortable in her chair, she turns to her familiar and says: "Normally it's not common to do so, but I allow you to sit next to me and enjoy the breakfast with me."

To her utter disbelief and surprise, the boy closes his eyes and shakes his head while politely responding: "I do not deserve to be on the same level as you, even if you allow it. And don't worry too much about me, I'm not hungry at the moment. I'm thankful for your concern."

By the look of it, she seems to be able to order him around easily, but he also has his own rules of sorts to follow that would override the commands. Knowing that she couldn't say anything more about it, the pink-haired mage sighs and turns back to the table, while saying: "If you feel it that way. Feel free to tell me if you're bothered by something."

"Acknowledged."

Soon, every student starts chanting a pray before they could enjoy the meal, including Louise. Though, during the event, she takes a small glance towards her familiar, and sees him not reacting to the pray and his eyes closing. Though, with how he's standing still, she doubts that he's sleeping, and she has a feeling that he wouldn't do anything to humiliate her. To further proving the point, a servant walks to him and asks if he needs anything, and he immediately responds before returning to his standby state. And even when everyone is digging in, he doesn't react once.

'…Do I deserve such a familiar?' Louise lets the thought linger in her mind while eating her breakfast. Sure, with all of her hardworking, she deserves to have a proper familiar. But, he is beyond her expectations. He is… too perfect, being a servant. '…He deserves to have a better mage than me.'

…

After breakfast, she has led him towards a clear ground where the Second Year students are gathering with their newly summoned familiars. Once Louise finds an empty table, she sits on it and orders her familiar to bring her some tea, who respectfully complies. While in her seat, the mage watches him asking a nearby maid (her name is Siesta if she remembers it right), and the girl points her finger towards the direction of the kitchen. The familiar then thanks the maid and heads there to get what his mistress is asking for. She sighs in defeat as she pulls out her diary and starts writing some notes about the morning events…

"Ara ara, why are you sitting here alone, Zero? Where's your familiar?" Much to her annoyance, after a minute, her eternal nemesis notices her and walks to her table. "Don't tell me he has already run away?"

"None of your concern." Louise decides to not satisfy Kirche's curiosity. "Return to your familiar."

"Ah, he's following me since the beginning." Kirche smirks, as she kneels down and pats her familiar, which is a Fire Salamander. "But really, how much did you pay him to be your familiar? I bet it has to be a lot for him to obey you that far."

"Didn't you hear him? He said that I summoned him." Louise answers with a tick mark on her forehead. "Go bother someone else, like those fan-boys of yours."

"Ara, don't be so grumpy. We're classmates here, right?" Taking a seat opposite to Louise, Kirche sits down and places her chest on the table, purposely making it bounce up to taunt Louise. "However, even if you did properly summon him, then what did you offer afterward that would make him so obediently follow your words like that?"

"…Ask him yourself." Louise sighs. "Even I don't know why."

"Now that sounds like you doesn't care…"

"Does his expression look like he's going to speak much?" Louise retorts back.

"Maybe he's so annoyed because you managed to summon him?" Kirche smirks at her theory.

"Why you…"

"My apology, mistress." Just when Louise's about to explode (pun intended), her familiar returns with a tray of tea set. "Since there are many students gathering here, it took me some times to borrow one set." He then turns to Kirche and slightly bows down. "Greetings, young lady. I assume that you're my mistress' friend?"

"No/Yes." That's Louise and Kirche's respective answer, which makes the former glare at the latter.

Not bothered by the conflict answers, he starts pouring tea into the cups and serving them to the ladies. Once he's done, he then pulls out a small vial and asks them: "May I ask if either of you know whom this one belongs to?"

Looking up from her diary, Louise observes the object for a moment before remembering: "That looks like the ones Montmorency made. But…"

"I think that's her gift to Guiche." Kirche continues. "I saw them with each other a few days ago, as Montmorency gave something to him. It must be this vial."

"Then, I should give it back to him." The familiar concludes. "May I ask how he looks like?"

Diary mode

It wouldn't hurt to do good thing, right?

Wrong.

After my familiar asked to return the vial, I thought I shouldn't stop him from doing good things. Soon I spotted the playboy and told my familiar. He thanked me and Kirche (which slightly irritated me), and then walked to the blondie. Then Kirche started berated me more about him…

Then, a commotion started up from the direction my familiar just headed towards. I stood up and ran to the place, and saw the playboy getting scolded by his 'girlfriends', while my familiar just stood aside and watched. Then, when Guiche got slapped by both of them and everyone laughed at him, the familiar just silently retreated, expression never changed as usual.

Then, Guiche ordered him to stop, which he complied. The playboy then started ranting about how MY FAMILIAR hurt the hearts of two women, which was caused by HIM! Though, after that rant, my familiar just told him that the ending was obvious, and that Guiche had no courage to brace it. That caused everyone else to laugh at Guiche, making his face turn red in anger. The mage then issued a duel to my familiar, but he just declined and said that he had no reasons to do so.

At that point, I thought it was just that. Oh I was so wrong.

Guiche taunted him that he also has no courage to fight the playboy. My familiar just shook his head and said that he wouldn't enter a meaningless fight, and he then walked towards me and stood next to me, awaiting for my orders. However, because of it, Guiche said:

Like master, like familiar.

He then taunted about how weak both of us are, and said that we would be just failures till the end. I turned to my familiar just in time to see his right fingers twitch once. Then, he pulled his glasses out…

Reality mode

"Mistress, allow me to fight him to protect our reputation." After cleaning his glasses, he puts it back on his face and asks Louise for the permission.

"There's no need." The master declines at first, as she turns to her classmate and says: "Hey Guiche, dueling is forbidden, remember?"

"Only between Nobles." Guiche grins ear-to-ear. "What, you're scared that I might accidentally kill him off? Don't worry, I will only hurt him enough to realize his mistakes for insulting me."

"…So you want him to apologize to you?" Louise could see what he wants.

"Correct." Guiche confirms it while raising his rose up towards the pair.

Seeing that the 'alternative' is the better option, Louise turns to her familiar and orders: "You should apologize…"

"That's impossible, my mistress." The familiar closes his eyes while disagreeing on his mistress' order. "While the fight will cause me some pain, it pales in comparison to the damage your dignity would receive if I submit to him. My pain will heal overtime, but yours will cling on till you die."

"F…Familiar…" Louise calls out with pride and sadness in her voice. Proud that he's so willingly protecting her already damaged honor, but sad that he would receive some wounds because of this.

"So prideful, no wonder you are master and familiar." Guiche laughs once more. "Very well then. Two more hours, in Vestri Court. Don't be late." With that, the blondie leaves, and the crowd starts spreading out, returning to their own things before gathering again to watch the duel.

"…Familiar…"

"Don't worry, my mistress." Still with his monotone voice, the familiar tries to assure his mistress. "The moment he declared this duel, he has already lost."

"How? You're just a commoner." Louise says in a low tone, worried about her familiar's well-being.

"A victory isn't measured just by sheer brute force. You win by achieving your objective, not by overwhelming your opponent. For example, it's you, my mistress." Raising his right hand up, he gently places the palm on where Louise's heart is, causing her to blush up. "Your magic might not be the best among others, but you still can show yourself to be worthy of the title Noble. Treating others fairly, showing your intelligence being more superior and more level-headed than the others, control your actions, and so on. I help you because I believe in you, and I believe that I have chosen a worthy Master to follow."

Diary mode

It's so proud and embarrassed hearing those praises!

It's not just some normal cheering to lighten up one's mood, or just something out of instinct. I'm already used to those half-hearted statements, even though I still let myself be affected by them. And even then, some of them sounded fake.

Hearing it from my newly summoned familiar after seeing how he serves me so willingly is a completely different thing.

Sure, it might sound the same as before, even worse with that monotone of his. But, because of that monotone voice, his words sound more sincere than the others. He doesn't do many things on his own, and even if he does, those are just to help her out. Like at that moment, he didn't plan to fight until I was dragged into the matter.

…A worthy Master…you praised me too much, familiar…

Reality mode

Later. Vestri Court

"Ladies and Gentlemen! It's a duel!" In the middle of the crowd, Guiche stands proudly and announces, with his rose in hand raised high in the air, earning a loud cheer. "I, Guiche de Gramont, am going to duel! My opponent is Louise's familiar!"

"Familiar…"

"Don't worry, my mistress. I will return with your name cleaned." He assures his Master as he gently pushes the crowd aside so he could approach the playboy.

"You sure have an amusing familiar, Zero." Turning her head, Louise sees Kirche approaching her with Tabitha, who surprisingly doesn't have her eyes glued on a book. "He places too much faith in you. I wonder what makes his devotion so high."

"Don't insult him."

"I don't." Seeing Louise raising her eyebrows in suspicion, Kirche adds: "To be honest, I'm a little envy of you. While Flame is very good as my familiar, yours can serve you like a loyal servant and help you more than a pet could do."

"…Did you eat something strange this morning?" Louise has to ask, because this is too out-of-character for a person like Zerbst to say it.

"That's a little rude."

The trio then return their focuses on the pair of fighters, as Guiche taunts his opponent: "I have to commend you not running away." He says so while twirling the rose in his hands.

"Get to the point." That's the familiar's response, no changes of tone occurred.

"So you're eager to be defeated, huh? Then, let me help you with that." Waving his rose, Guiche lets one of the petals drop to the ground. When it happens, the rose shines up, and replaces itself with a bronze armor. "My Runic name is 'The Bronze'. Accordingly, my 'Valkyrie' will be your opponent." Immediately after its appearance, the Valkyrie rushes forward and raises its left arm up, then punches right at the familiar's mid-torso, creating a huge colliding sound. That earns grunting sounds from the people hearing that, and gasps of fear from the servants outside of the crowd. The familiar doesn't make a move after that, so Guiche taunts again: "What, over already? All barks and no bites."

"Hey!" He turns to the crowd and sees Louise with a fuming face and anger glares. "Don't you have any shames? Fighting a commoner with magic?"

"There's no rules about not doing so, Zero." Guiche smirks. "Don't worry, that punch might just…"

"Pathetic." The familiar's grunt causes Guiche turn his attention back to the fight, just in time to see him raising his right arm up… and he chops his hand down through the bronze armor. In a moment, the hand passes right through the Valkyrie like it's not there at all, and the artificial construct doesn't react to that. Then, to everyone's surprise, where the familiar's hand chops through, it creates a crack line on the structure, and the Valkyrie falls down to the ground in two perfect halves, no longer functional. "Pathetic." The familiar says once more, as he completely demolishes the armor.

"….EHHHH?" Everyone shouts in surprise, as they just witness a bronze armor getting destroyed so easily, and by a 'commoner' nonetheless. Guiche watches in horror as the familiar stands there, the eyes checking the chopping arm with tired expression. Guiche points his rose towards the familiar and asks in fear: "H…How did you do that? How did you destroy my armor that easily?"

"Because it was summoned by a pathetic playboy." The familiar puts down the arm and replies, his monotone adding the salt to Guiche's wound. "This is a fight between men… no, that would be me praising you too much. This fight is just between a familiar who wants to protect his mistress' dignity, and a skirt-chaser who cannot face his own actions' consequences."

That earns an 'OOHH!' sound from everyone in the crowd, excluding Louise who's stunned at how quickly her familiar dispatched the armor in no time. Then, she's worried about the punch the armor gave him. "Familiar… are you okay? That punch sounded hurtful…"

"It's nothing, my mistress." The familiar briefly turns to her and nods in confirmation, before returning his focus to his opponent. "I have heard rumors about you from the servants, about how you 'love' the girls in this school. But, let us speak the truth here. For a Noble, you can't take responsibilities for your actions. Worse, you blame your actions' failures on someone who has nothing to do with it. And the worst thing? You let the others doing your dirty works, like right now you're using the armor to fight instead of picking the sword and fight on your own. If all Nobles are like you, then I pity for this generation of magic users."

Diary mode

So… So straightforward! And he dared speaking it while the Nobles were standing around him!

But, as his Master, I'm proud!

Of course, Guiche is not pleased at how the other students started cheering for his opponent. He flicked his rose and let more petals falling to the ground, thus creating more armors. Seeing that he's in the disadvantage, my familiar picked up the spear from the broken armor, and swung it for a few times before putting it on his shoulder, then taunted Guiche with his left hand gesturing for him to come. Enraged, the playboy sent all the Valkyries towards him… and watched in surprise and despair as my familiar used the spear to deflect all the armors' attacks effortlessly. He didn't even make an attempt to attack, and he moved around the battlefield like he's dancing.

Even more cheers for my familiar, including my nemesis. Guiche was also sweating bullets. My familiar didn't even show any delays in his moves.

Then, with one correct moment, he swung the spear around him with powerful force, creating a windblast that annihilated all the armors at once. However, the spear couldn't survive the immense power, as it shattered after that.

Due to the force, Guiche has fallen on his butt, as he crawled away in fear. Unfortunately, my familiar has already walked to him and picked him up by his collar. He then ordered the mage to surrender, and Guiche yielded instantly…

Reality mode

"Good." His chilling, no-emotion voice scares Guiche even further. "Some advices to you: Go and apologize the girls you cheated on. If you want to actually date more than one girl, then you better treat them equally. Favoring one over the others will only get you to nowhere." Seeing the boy quickly nodding, the familiar then finishes: "One last thing… and that's to all of you so-called Nobles." He then turns to his mistress, who swallows nervously. "If you do not change how you treat the commoners or the ones who 'seem' to be beneath you, then you better prepare yourself for your own downfall. One way or another, 'commoners' will raise and fight for their freedom, and no magic could stop them from trying and taking the victory to themselves."

Somehow, his monotone makes the speech gain more impacts than it should be. Everyone nervously watches as the familiar drops Guiche to the ground by releasing his grip, then he returns to Louise's side and stands there in idle, waiting for the next orders.

Louise, feeling every single gaze focusing on them, takes a small glance towards her familiar, whose eyes now are closing like usual. Hesitantly, she says: "…Thank you…"

"It's my duty, my mistress."

Her face heats up once more, feeling proud of herself. Though, that slowly turns into embarrassment when she notices the gazes of the others holding some jealousy to them. Coughing once, she then orders: "Good job, familiar. Let us return to the table for some tea."

"My pleasure."

…

At night

"Hey, familiar?"

"Yes, my mistress?"

"You… do have a name, right?"

"…Yes."

"But… you don't want to use it?"

"…I have my reasons."

"Then, I should give you a new name… Should Wisdom be sufficient?"

"…Please elaborate."

"Well… From the moment I summoned you, you spoke very little, and when you did otherwise… it's usually a very long speech and full of ideals. And the words wielded so many meanings."

"…They're not that impressive."

"To us, they are. Even more when a commoner like you… you ARE a commoner, right?"

"…I'm no Noble, if you are wondering."

"…You can use magic, can't you? Destroying the armors that easily…"

"I have learnt from a… knight, of sort, in combat. He showed me where the armors' weak points are, and how to fight against dummy golems. No magic involved."

"…You must be very gifted…"

"…"

"…Goodnight, Wisdom. Wake me up like this morning."

"As you wish."

…

"Wisdom… You should call me Coward. You're better than me."