Reality mode
If anyone's surprised at the sight of a human sitting in the middle of a bunch of familiars, then they must be new to Tristain Academy of Magic.
Due to the Exhibition coming soon, Wisdom has excused his mistress from following with her to classes, and instead taking his time in the schoolyard and practicing with the guitar. He was indeed not good with playing an instrument, but his musical sense is something he could be proud of. He's still making mistakes, but at least he's not making any shrieking sounds.
That doesn't stop the familiars from drawing close to him, though. Of course, the familiars would get bored overtime and leave.
Except Sylphid, Tabitha's familiar. The blue dragon would lie before him while laying her head at where he could occasionally pat her. Seeing that the dragon's interested at his work, Wisdom sometimes gives her some of the attentions.
When it's about lunch, Marteau approaches him and has invited him for a meal. Normally he would decline, but since the servants have been grateful of his work and they want to thank him as much as they can, it would be impolite of Wisdom if he doesn't repay them properly. He pats the dragon once more before following the chief, leaving Sylphid behind as she also shrieks lightly to him as a goodbye.
Entering the kitchen, Wisdom's greeted by literally anyone who sees him coming. However, behind those smiles, he could see some sadness in it. He thinks that they might feel unpleasant seeing him here. He doesn't have any evidences to prove it, so he holds his tongue and watches the chief bringing a lot of food to him. He thanks the man and starts eating them up, feeling the wonderful taste of the meal. He occasionally comments about how good the food is, and the chief just laughs in satisfaction.
…After a few minutes, Marteau sits on the chair opposite to Wisdom, and says: "My apology for giving you the food." Immediately the familiar stops eating, and he glares towards the chief with a hateful glare, causing the man to quickly explain: "My bad, my bad! The food's not poisoned, I promise!" The glare is still there, but Marteau could feel the pressure being lessened a bit. "I thank you for complimenting my food. However, since you have accepted it, please accept our request."
"…You should just ask before giving me the food." Putting down the fork, Wisdom takes a napkin nearby and clean his mouth before continuing. "Now I feel bad eating your food without doing anything for you."
"Ah, don't worry. They're just leftovers anyway." Marteau's voice then turns solemn. "It's about Siesta. She's been picked by a Noble named Count Mott as his servant, and she's been taken away from this morning."
"…No wonder." Now he can see why the servants around him feel sad. "And I thought I did something that you don't like."
"How could we ever hate you? Our work here has been easier thanks to you!" Marteau exclaims loudly.
"…Still, I don't see the point why you told me this as a request. If Siesta is picked by a Noble, then that means she has done a good work, thus giving her a chance to gain more money. Yes, she will miss her friends, but she could visit you all in the future, right?" Wisdom asks back, not seeing the point.
"Well… here's the thing. There are all sorts of rumors about that Noble. However, there is one fact that's certain: Nobody knows what happened to the previous female servants he has personally picked. He claimed that he returned them to where they were working. Of course, it might have been a lie, however, there's no evidences to prove it. And since we're servants, we can't do anything." The chief rubs his eyes tiredly. "Also, there's another fact that he's a womanizer."
"…I can see the point of worrying." Wisdom nods understandably. "I will help you, considering it as my repayment. However, once I find out that the job transferring is a legit one, then there's nothing I can do further."
"Yes! I can't thank you enough!" Marteau stands up, goes around the table and gives the familiar a tight hug. "Siesta is a very good friend of ours! We can't rest easily if something could happen to her!"
"…I understand. Please, your death grip is suffocating me."
…
Later
"Count Mott? Why do you want to know about him?" During lunch, Wisdom has come to Louise's side and asks about the Noble in question. He still refuses to sit on a chair.
"A servant here is being taken away by him. While normally I would just leave it be, the other servants have told me about the bad rumors about the Noble." Wisdom explains the reason.
"…Well, I will tell you as much as I know." Louise sees no reason to refuse giving out the details. "He is a messenger from the Palace, and comes by the Academy occasionally. If I remember right, he's a Triangle mage. But, I don't like him. He's so arrogant and cocky."
"…Like Guiche?" That's one person Wisdom could think of fitting the description.
"Worse. Even he doesn't like Mott." The mistress answers. She then turns and asks him: "Are you telling me that you're trying to get her back for the servants?"
"…Only if something's fishy." Wisdom replies. "I have also told the servants about it. There's no guarantee that I could get her back easily, considering my current position."
"Hm… you like her that much?" Louise's question causes her familiar to raise his left eyebrow in confusion. "I have seen you talking with her many times. Maybe you two have formed a good relationship with each other." She theorizes based on what she knows.
"…It's embarrassing to say, but I accepted the bribe from the chief before he told me the request."
"…That makes more sense, and less sense at the same time." Louise facepalms. Of course he can't refuse anyone if he has taken something from that person. But then, why the servants… "Actually no, it only makes sense." She then returns to her meal while saying: "That's all I could tell you. If you have another question, then feel free to ask."
"…Then I will take my leave."
…
Afternoon. Headmaster's Office
"Come in." Old Osmond speaks up after hearing a knock on the door. When it opens, it reveals Wisdom standing before it. "Ah, miss Valliere's familiar. It's a strange occasion to see you here. What do you need from me?"
"I would like to ask about one of the Palace's messenger, his name is Mott." Wisdom reveals his intention.
"Ah, I just met him yesterday. Come inside." The familiar enters the room, closes the door behind him and walks to the desk where Old Osmond is sitting in. "What do you want to know about him?"
"About the rumors around him." Facing the old man from the other side of the desk, Wisdom replies. "And, you might know about one servant that the Noble has taken away from this place."
"Ah…I know her. Miss Siesta, if I remember right." Stroking his beard, Old Osmond replies. "She's youthful with the smile she has nearly all the times. It's a shame that she has to leave so soon."
"…I would like to remind you about your position that contrasts to your actions towards young women." With an emotionless face, Wisdom warns the old man.
"…*Cough* Anyway, about the rumors. It's not that I don't want to tell, but there's nothing to talk about them, really."
"Even about the missing servants?"
"Even when we couldn't find them, we can't find a proof that the Count has done something to them." Seeing Wisdom rubbing his chin while thinking about the situation, Old Osmond then adds: "Of course, if to talk about what a person Mott is…"
"I have heard it from my mistress, and it's not pleasant." Wisdom then looks at the patch of papers before Old Osmond and asks: "…Was the deal of taking Siesta away personal?"
"No. He needs to get permission from the Palace before doing so." Old Osmond denies the possibility.
Seeing that he couldn't get more information from the people outside, Wisdom changes the tactic: "Can you show me the way to his living place?"
In response, the old man pulls out one of the maps from his drawer and shows it to Wisdom. "That's the place." He points at one location. "About a few minutes on horseback, a full hour on foot if you like some walking."
"Thank you. May I take the map?"
"Sure, I have plenty of them." Wisdom thanks again and plans to leave… "Mister Wisdom, why didn't you finish the contact with miss Valliere?"
"…Being bound with someone for an eternity? How would you feel about it?"
"…I understand. Carry on." When the familiar completely leaves the room, Old Osmond leans on his chair and says to himself: "For a boy that young to have those thoughts… he must have a very traumatized past."
…
After gaining permission to leave from his mistress, Wisdom borrows a horse and heads immediately to the mansion where Count Mott lives. Once he reaches the doorway, the guards immediately ask of the reason why he arrives. He says that he has personal matters to discuss with the Count. He then waits outside of the mansion as one of the guards enters to talk with the owner. After a while, the guard gestures him to follow, and the two head inside.
After a few hallways, the two reach Count Mott's office. Once the guard has told the Noble of the familiar's arrival, the Count looks at Wisdom from head to toe once before saying: "I was expecting a Noble to come here, but instead I'm seeing a commoner. How disappointing." He then uses his hand to sue him away. "Go home. Be thankful that I went all the way to meet someone like you." He then stands up and walks away…
"For a Noble acting as a messenger for the Palace, you sure have a lot of bad rumors around you." Mott stops on his track, and turns back to see Wisdom's emotionless expression among with the same type of voice. "If it's not the case, I wouldn't have to take a painful trip on a horseback to come and request to talk to you personally."
The Count looks at the familiar once more, before laughing once and says: "Alright! You caught my attention. Not many servants could even speak that freely even when I allowed them to." He sits back on his chair and orders: "Name your business."
"I would like to ask about a servant named Siesta." Wisdom continues. "And also, I have heard that you have hired a lot of female servants from before, so I'm curious on why you would take someone who's not very experienced in serving someone personally."
The Count smirks after hearing the request. "Of course, you commoners would care about each other that deeply. Tell me, what's your relationship with Siesta?"
"Friends, at best." Wisdom answers with no hesitation.
That makes Mott laugh out loud. "Just that and you went all the way? Fascinating! Are you interested in serving me?"
"I'm serving my mistress as we are speaking, and I have no intentions of leaving her."
"Ah, a loyal one, I see." The Count then takes a sip from his wine glass. "So, what do you really want?"
"I want to ask you to return Siesta back to the Academy." Wisdom replies.
"Ah, ah, then that's a no. I paid handsomely for her." The Count immediately denies.
And of course the familiar doesn't let it die down. "I'm not asking you to do so freely. If there's a reasonable price I could give you, then maybe we can have a deal."
"…Are you really a commoner?" Now the Count is suspicious. No commoners would have such patterns of speech.
"I'm not a Noble, if you are wondering. And I can't use magic. If yes, I would just have to fly here." Wisdom reasons.
"Hm… You have a point." No Nobles would be stupid to ride on a horseback for a long amount of time. "Alright, since I can't ask you to serve me… You know, my hobby is to collect printed matter. And there is one book that I can't cease to desire. A book that a certain mage happened to summon in an experiment. An heirloom of an established family in Germanina." He explains as he looks at the bookshelves he has in the room. "And I have heard that the daughter is also studying at the Academy at the moment."
"…Does she happen to be a Zerbst?" The familiar immediately points to one person.
"Correct!" The Count turns back with a surprised face. "You know her?"
"…My mistress has a 'rocky' relationship to her." Wisdom doesn't want to speak about Louise directly. "She tried to bribe me before… and she also told me about an heirloom in her possession, albeit I have never seen it personally."
"Yes! That must be it!" The Count excitedly says, then coughs once to gain his composure back. "If you want her back, then bring the book to me."
"…Give me three hours."
"Go ahead. I have all the time."
…
Back to the Academy
"Heh? That old thing?" Kirche pulls out the object from one of her crests. "I don't even bother opening it."
"You don't even care about your family heirloom, Zerbst?" Louise raises her eyebrows in suspicion.
After returning, Wisdom has told his mistress about the situation, and she has agreed to let him meet her rival, with her following so the Fire mage wouldn't do anything to her familiar.
"They said that object is to prepare for my wedding, and said that it has effect of stimulating men's sexual desires." Kirche explains.
"…I …might know what this object is." Wisdom gathers some of his memories to think of anything with that description, and to his own embarrassment, he knows.
"Oh really?" Louise sends him a glare of disapproval. "Why would you know something like that?"
"…Of course, my theory could be wrong. Miss Zerbst, could you open it so we could see what the book is?" Wisdom tries to avoid directly answering the question.
"Well, I don't really need it, so I will give it to you. But…"
"Of course you want something in return." Louise grunts.
"I want to go out with you, darling." Kirche smirks gleefully.
"I accept." Much to Louise's horror and Kirche's excitement, Wisdom answers. Though, the expressions quickly change from one to the other when he adds: "After I have done serving my mistress."
Seeing Louise's victory smirk, Kirche drops her intention with a sigh. "You're no fun. Here." Though, she keeps her words as she gives it to the familiar.
"Thank you for your understanding." The familiar says, then pulls out the book out of the case. "…Of course… what else could it be?"
Louise wraps her arms around her chest disapprovingly. "I can't believe my familiar would know something…"
"Miss Zerbst's parents have missed out a few things. First, this one doesn't have magic as miss Zerbst thought it could be." Wisdom then holds the book between his arm and his body. "Second, this shouldn't be kept by an underage girl like her. And third… both men and women could be affected by this thing."
"And yet you look like you're not bothered by it." Kirche criticizes.
"…Let's just say that I'm not ready to use this book yet." To both mages' surprise, a tint of pink crosses the emotionless face for a moment before it vanishes. "If you excuse me, I have to go to the mansion now."
"Wait, do you need me to come with you?" Louise asks in worry.
"No need, my mistress. It would only take a while."
Diary mode
He said that, and yet it's already over two hours passed already. He has also brought Derf with him for some reasons.
I know I shouldn't have been so paranoid. He's my familiar, and he has shown me how good he could handle himself.
But, we're talking about a higher up from the Palace. If something goes wrong, I could be gotten dragged into it. While I could make something out of the problem, it's still troublesome for my future.
…I feel ashamed. Now, rethinking about my first encounter with him, he said that he wasn't planned to answer my summoning at first, and he only did so because of my pleadings. For such a Noble to make myself so low like that… I'm thankful that he never brought that up again…
Reality
During her writing, her door opens, and she turns to see Wisdom walking into the room with a strange black bag in his right hand. "Ah, welcome bac…" She is going to greet him, when she realizes something in horror: her familiar's left face and his whole body are covering in blood! "Familiar! What happened?"
"…Follow me to the Headmaster's office." That's Wisdom's only response.
"There's blood on your body! Are you hurt?" Louise bombards the question on him, extremely worried that what she feared might have come true.
"Not mine. Will explain further." Not saying anymore, the familiar heads out, with his mistress quickly follow suit.
…
"Come in." Old Osmond looks up to see the same person he has met a while ago. "Ah young man, what news…" Of course, like Louise, he immediately stops his words when he sees Wisdom's current state, and his mistress at his back looking very scared. "…I take it that the travel is not very successful?"
"More than I expected, actually." Coming to the desk and putting the bag down to the floor, Wisdom then asks: "My mistress, Headmaster sir, do you want to hear good or bad news first?"
"…Good news first." From the tone of the familiar, which doesn't change at all, Old Osmond feels like something is going on.
"First, I managed to strike the deal and brought Siesta back to us." Wisdom replies.
"Oh, that's good news indeed!" The old man speaks up excitedly, then coughs once to hide it after seeing the glare. "Is there anything else?"
"A new messenger is going to replace Mott's position, but I need you to write a letter to someone who can replace him."
"…I DON'T count that as a good news." The Headmaster doesn't like the sound of that.
"To the commoners, they are." Louise tries to touch the strange bag, but Wisdom stops her. He then ends the good news with: "And the last good news: I found the missing servants."
"…The ONLY good news I could see here is the first one." Old Osmond speaks out his personal thinking.
"In your position, yes. The bad news, however, will be bad to all of us." Wisdom continues, making the temperature in the room drop to near zero. "First, about the missing servants… they are all dead."
Louise gasps in surprise and fear, and Old Osmond widens his eyes in shock. Then, he asks: "Where did you find them?"
"In a secret passage in Count Mott's personally room. It's… a dungeon of sort." The familiar doesn't want to taint his mistress' mind, so he leaves a small hint to the Headmaster.
The old man obviously knows about what kind of dungeon it could be, so he rubs his forehead and says: "Of course... but, how did you find it out?"
"During my first encounter with him, I have already noticed one strange book out of every other. I tested it and it turned out to be a switch disguised as a book." Wisdom explains on how he figured it out.
"…That will be in my letter then. Next, please."
"The Count is a spy." Putting his right hand into the bag, he then pulls out several bloody letters and throws them on the Headmaster's desk, which luckily doesn't have anything on it except for the golden hand statue. Though that makes the old man to back away in surprise. "Those letters are good proof for it."
"…Geez, young man. These blood isn't easy to clean." The Headmaster tries to joke, but he knows that this is not going to be okay.
"And the last thing: Count Mott is currently with us right now." The familiar then ends the news.
Snapping out of her shock, Louise asks in confusion: "What do you mean he's with us? There's only two of us…" She then unconsciously looks down to the bag, to see…
Her next scream echoes through the whole tower, causing everyone inside the structure to jump up in surprise.
Falling on her butt, Louise pushes herself far away from her familiar and then finds her back touching the wall. She points at the object in the bag while shouting at Wisdom: "FAMILIAR! What's the meaning of this?"
"…It's exactly what you think." To her horror, Wisdom confirms what is in her mind.
"…You could be sentenced, young sir." Old Osmond warns. "You better have some good explanations…"
"Very easy. Self-defense."
"That's not that easy!" Louise screams.
"Say that to Count Mott's guards, my mistress." Wisdom coldly replies. "They attacked me first, and I only knocked them off. Some of them managed to stay awake and hear the Count confessing his crimes when he taunted me during the fight. And thankfully, they don't like Mott as much as we do."
"But…but…" Louise is stumbling in her words. "But…why did you… go so far… you could just…"
"I didn't plan to kill him at first." Wisdom confesses. "However… after finding these evidences, I cannot let a person like him walk away. Even if the Palace would place a punishment on him, it wouldn't be comparable to what he has done to his unfortunate victims."
"…Even if you didn't do anything, the Palace would give him a death sentence anyway with all of this evidences." Old Osmond comments.
"Like I said, self-defense." Wisdom reminds the mages. "Either he killed me, or vice versa." Then the trio hear footsteps outside of Old Osmond's office. "Headmaster, can you cast a Levitation spell on us? I don't believe people would like to see a killer here."
Old Osmond doesn't understand why at first, but when the familiar turns his focus on the window, he knows. "Alright. Give me a moment."
The familiar nods, then walks to his mistress and plans to pick her up. However, Louise is shaking in fear, as she's trying to push herself away further despite that she's already facing the wall. Not fazed by the display, Wisdom grabs her and carries her up in his arms, letting her hitting him while trying to push him out. He walks towards to the window and turns his head to the Headmaster, who nods and chants the requested spell to the two. Once it's done, Wisdom says his thank and jumps out of the window, and with the help of the spell, he glides the two towards Louise's room without getting detected by anyone else.
The moment the two's safely inside the room, Wisdom puts his mistress down on the bed and quickly backs away, and watches the girl helplessly crawling in her bed while pointing her wand directly at him. Sighing, Wisdom walks towards the wall and sits down with his back facing it, and waits for her mistress to calm down. He also looks down so that she won't be able to look at his eyes, thus somewhat not being more scared.
A few minutes later, the sound in the bed lessens, and then the room fills in silence. Wisdom looks up to see Louise holding the pillow and placing her face into it, the wand has been placed next to her. The familiar decides to speak up: "My mistress… I know it's uneasy to watch…"
"Why?" He shuts up when Louise interrupts him. "Why? Why did you do it? Why didn't you just take that woman and return? Why did you have to kill him? Now the Princess would think that I ordered you to kill him…"
"…Mistress…"
"I don't want to hear you making excuses… Why didn't you just leave everything be normal? Even when you have found out about Mott's crimes, you could just have run away…"
"My mistress… I didn't tell the Headmaster the whole truth."
"…What?" Louise has lost all of her strength to shout, so she could only weakly ask him.
"…Mott didn't want to give Siesta back. In fact, he immediately ordered the guards to kill me the moment I gave him the book." A small silence. "I have seen the guards' eyes, and I could tell that they were only doing their work. And that's why I only knocked them down. If they're the same as the Noble, the whole mansion would be painted in blood." Another one. "I have planned to only cut his arms off so he couldn't cast spells. However, after finding out the dungeon…"
He stays silent after that, letting the girl absorb the new information…
"Why can't you just let us Nobles fix our own mistakes?"
"…You have learnt about history, and you know that the previous eras are not different to each other, including our current time. The Nobles' arrogance won't fix itself. There has to be someone who's brave enough to stand up. A commoner like me will be able to see out of the box, something that the current Nobles could never do."
Louise's grip on her pillow tightens. She wants to shout at him, she wants to hit him for doing reckless things. She wants to find a hole to jump in and just die in embarrassment. However…she also knows that her familiar has done everything right. She knows that he doesn't just serve her only, he serves also the people who need him. And… she hasn't finished the contact, so technically he's not hers.
"My mistress…" She looks up, and now the familiar sees that she's been crying the whole time. "…You remembered why I fought mister Gramont, right? It's to protect our reputation. While I will not ask forgiveness for my actions, I always make sure my actions won't taint your honor and career as a Noble. Don't let anyone fool you about me betraying you. I will never side with evildoers, and will NEVER submit to them."
Their eyes meet, and Louise sees those sincerity and loyalty still burning brightly in Wisdom's. His hatred towards the evil… his desire to serve the ones asking for his help… all of them, in the eyes of a person who never shows any emotions on his face, but through his words and actions…
A minute, which feels like an hour to the pink-hair mage, has passed. The familiar then stands up and says: "If you still feel uncomfortable around me, perhaps I shouldn't be near you for the time being. I will show up in the Exhibition, don't you worry about it." He then pulls out the sheath with Derflinger in it off his back and leans it next to the wall he just leaned in. "Look after her, please."
"You are asking the wrong person, partner. How can I move without you?" The sword finally speaks up after everything.
"I will ask another servant to help taking my place." That's Wisdom's answer. He then turns to Louise and bows down. "Excuse me. We will meet again soon." And with that, the familiar leaves the room, letting his mistress being in her own thought.
Silence returns for a moment, and Louise stops gripping the pillow and lets it fall on the bed. She then reaches towards her wand without turning, and moves it to her vision. "…I just… I just want to be a normal Noble…"
"…Hey, kid." She turns to the sword. "Nothing of you is normal. Deal with it."
"…You are just a sword."
"Which has survived thousands of years. With a person like you having the same power as Brimir, don't expect your life to be easy."
"…What did you just say?" Louise starts crawling out of her bed and walks to the sword and picks it up. "Brimir? As in, Great Founder Brimir?"
"Who else? Your summoning was also similar to his as well. He did summon a human… or was it?"
"…Great Founder summoned a human, like me summoned Wisdom?"
"That… was something I couldn't tell more. You have to find it on your own." With that, the sword shuts itself up, letting the girl think about what he just said.
"…Did Wisdom know? Is that why he keeps helping me…" … "He didn't lie… doesn't mean he has said EVERYTHING to me… but… how could I call him back?"