Chapter 3

- POV: Private First Class Brenner -

I found myself lost looking for wherever tea was kept. I asked around inside, but many of the staff kept pointing outside somewhere. I must have wandered the entire castle grounds before coming across a set of tables with students mingling - sipping cups and munching on a variety of pastries with their familiars all either minding their own business or enjoying the affection of their masters.

I juggled with the idea of asking the students themselves and risking their wrath - their utterly stubborn and snobbish wrath, before seeing someone - a maid in particular. She had black hair and dark eyes, as well as a petite body obscured by a rather slim fitting maid's outfit that resembled something out of a book, including the headdress. She was holding a plate with a slice of pie on it, heading towards one table in particular.

"Excuse me, my...ugh, my master was asking for tea and I wasn't sure where to find it," I said, once I'd gotten the maid's attention.

"Oh! I'll bring a fresh pot over as soon as it's ready," the maid said kindly before her smile faltered. "Wait, master? I wasn't aware nobles brought their own personal servants here. And...ones with an odd uniform like this."

"Oh, this is just my clothes. And I'm a summoned familiar. Louise de la...uhh, something something Valiant summoned me yesterday," I said awkwardly.

"Oh! You're that peasant familiar summoned by Miss Vallière?" the maid gasped. "Oh, I apologize. My name is Siesta - and I serve the nobility here."

"Uh huh..." I said. "And...what's the difference between peasants and nobility here? I'm...super new. Like 'been here less than a day' new, you see."

"Oh, that's rather simple. Those that can perform magic are nobles while those that can't are peasants," the maid - Siesta, said. "I can't perform any magic, so I'm a peasant."

"I see," I said. "My name's Brenner." Siesta blinked and opened her mouth before I cut her off. "It's just Brenner."

"Excuse me? Where is my cake?" a snobbish voice demanded. I turned and blinked upon recognizing the boy as the one who carried me back to Louise's room last night using his own magic, with that brown haired girl with him at the time. I didn't see her around now, so I assumed she was off somewhere else - though there was a blonde haired girl with plenty of curls sitting across from him as he waved his rose around.

"I'll take it to him," I said as I gently took the tray out of Siesta's hands - much to her confusion. "You just grab that tea?"

"Oh! Right, of course," Siesta said, quickly scurrying away as I made my way to the boy's table, both occupants talking as I approached.

Resting the plate on the table with a light clatter, I eyed the snobbish pretty boy. "We meet again, it seems," I said as I eyed what was in his lap - an oversized rounded mole.

"Hm? Oh, you're that familiar?" the boy said as he waved his rose. "Well, I suppose proper introductions are in order. It wouldn't do for a noble to explain his status to a peasant." he swept a hand up to his half exposed chest, his shirt semi unbuttoned like Kirche's shirt was. "My name is Guiche Chevalier de Gramont."

"...never heard of you," I said before turning to the blonde haired girl, who was looking very confused. On her open hand was an orange frog. Politely, I tipped the rim of my helmet to her as a rich businessman would with his top hat. "Nice to meet you, ma'am. Conversing with your brother?"

"B-brother?! How dare you! Guiche here is my boyfriend, a charming and wonderful one at that!" the girl cried out. "My name is Montmorency de Montmorency!"

"She's...your girlfriend?" I asked as I turned to Guiche, who was suddenly looking rather nervous. "Then who's that other girl? With the brown cloak?"

"What's he talking about?" Montmorency - I don't know whether to refer to her first name or last name - demanded angrily.

"He's just joking! Peasants have terrible senses of humor!" Guiche forcefully laughed before whirling and pointing a heated glare at me. "Do us a favor and bring along some more tea!"

"Sorry, I'm a...a familiar - not a member of the staff," I said, not used to the term. Why did 'familiar' mean servant anyways? "I'm actually bringing tea on Louise's behalf - and I just wanted to pop by and say hi. Though...is it allowed to be polyamorous here?"

"Polyamory? Guiche is dating me!" Montmorency squawked before turning to face her boyfriend. "I heard rumors of you seeing some first year, and this peasant backs them up!"

"As I said, he's joking! Or perhaps he's feeling petty at me coming to Louise's help in bringing him back to her the other night," Guiche tried to deflect before he flinched. "T-this way, Montmorency! Let's get away from this rowdy servant and find somewhere private."

As Guiche tried to pull Montmorency away, I turned to see what he'd spotted. Sure enough, there was that younger girl with the brown hair - as well as the brown cloak, holding a basket in her hands. "Lord Guiche, where are you? I have my homemade soufflé, just like I promised," she was saying, looking from table to table.

One thing was right about Guiche's words. I was feeling very petty. And I really hated snobby people. Grinning upon spotting an opportunity, I waved over the girl. "Excuse me, ma'am. Sorry for interrupting, but Lord Guiche is busy with his girlfriend. Mind if I take that to him for you?"

"G-girlfriend?" the girl stuttered - her smile warping into one of surprise, then suspicion. When her eyes spotted Guiche hand in hand with the curly blonde hair, the expression turned into one of anger. Without another word, she slammed the basket in my hands with surprising force and stormed over to meet Guiche and Montmorency.

What occurred next was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen short of watching a Panzer or a German built bunker explode from a bazooka to the flank. The other nobles and familiars nearby watched as the two furious girls shouted at Guiche, who was desperately trying to defend himself - failing rather miserably judging by the slaps from the crying brown haired girl - whose name I learned was Katie, and a fuming Montmorency, the two of them storming away.

One chubby student in general approached - an owl resting on his shoulder. "What's going on?" he asked.

"This guy tried to two-time a first year and his own girlfriend. You can see how that ended," I remarked.

"Heh. He deserved that," the boy said before turning to face me. "Wait, you're-"

"Yes, I'm Louise's familiar. The all green choice of outfit probably gave me away," I said, used to the sudden fame my arrival had created. "Or the helmet, at the very least."

"This is all your fault!" Guiche shouted as he got up, both of his cheeks burning brightly red from the slaps he had so rightfully received. "Not only did you mock me, you made two noble ladies cry? How heartless can you be?"

"...they were crying because you broke their hearts. Don't act like this is my fault," I said. Some of the students 'ooh'd' while others laughed.

"Hmmph! I challenge you to a duel, peasant! Meet me in Vestori Square once you prepare yourself," Guiche growled, storming off.

"I'm trembling in my boots," I sighed without much emotion before looking down at the basket. "Well, I always wanted to try soufflé or whatever that stuff is." A duel, huh? That seemed rather simple enough - especially given the fact that I had a gun and a bunch of grenades. Though if worst comes to worst, I could just use my shovel-

"You! What in the world is wrong with you?!" Louise yelled. When I turned to see her approach, she'd already grabbed my hand and yanked me away, towards where Guiche had disappeared. "Why would you agree to a duel without my permission?!"

"I mean...he was being pretty scummy. Those girls didn't deserve to be swindled like that," I said.

"That isn't the point!" Louise cried. "He's powerful in a fight! You'll be lucky if you escape with minor wounds? Do you hear me? Minor!" She let out a loud exhale. "Look, he might be willing to forgive you if you apologize as soon as possible."

"Apologize for what? Saying the truth?" I asked, before scoffing haughtily. "That's a pretty bad justice system if you ask me."

"Justice isn't going to help you survive against him! You're a peasant! You can't use magic but he can!" Louise shot back.

"I can fight pretty damn well. Have been for over a year now," I said before pulling my hand from Louise's grip - much more rougher than I intended. "Hey, is Vestori Square that way?"

"Yep!" the chubby student called with a smile on his face.

"Malicorne!" Louise cried.

"Well, I'm gonna fight," I said, walking past Louise. "And I'm not gonna get my ass kicked like you think I will." I didn't say the "Probably" in my mind.

"W-wait!" Louise shouted, but I was already on my way to Vestori Square. I could see quite the crowd forming rather quickly. Drawing my Garand, I pulled back the bolt to see that it was empty.

Right, I didn't get the chance to reload before artillery started hitting us. I was a bit apprehensive about using ammo here as well - bullets in a magic society like this? There'd be no way to replace them. Still, I wouldn't throw out the idea of needing them in a duel, especially given that I didn't know how strong Guiche would be.

"Make way!" I yelled, and the students - nobles, all parted for me - a peasant to pass. Oh, how good that felt. As I did so, I quickly opened one of my ammo pouches and pulled out one of my clips - the thin steel holding eight trusty thirty aught six brass bullets. Slamming the Garand in the opening, I yanked my thumb out of the way a mere millisecond before the housing slammed shut with a loud click.

I stopped in front of Guiche. "Well, I'm surprised. I didn't think you'd actually show up," he said. The slap marks were already fading, but they were still there.

"You thought wrong. A duel is a duel. Gentleman's honor," I said as I set the basket down to the side, before pulling my backpack off.

"Hmmph. At least you know how to treat a duel with such dignity. If only that dignity will stick with you after I pummel you to the ground!" Guiche growled as he got ready to swipe his rose.

"Wait!" Louise cried, having pushed her way through the crowd and grabbed Guiche's hand. "Don't do this, you know duels are illegal!"

"Between nobles, yes. But he is a peasant," Guiche pointed out, pulling his arm out of Louise's grip with ease. "So there's no rule that prevents this from legally occurring."

"T-that's because this hasn't happened before," Louise protested.

"Louise, trust me."

Louise stopped at my words, wide eyed. "It's alright. I'm not exactly useless," I spoke up, proceeding to push the safety lock out of the trigger guard, effectively arming my rifle. This was clearly a stupid thing, but there wasn't much to worry about. After all, a duel was just a fight between two people. So if I'm gonna fight, might as well show that I mean business - even if it meant that I was probably not going to need my rifle. "First, I'm gonna need space. A lot of it!"

"Of course," Guiche said, whipping his rose and flinging a petal out onto the ground. Before I could ask what was going on, the petal exploded in light, forming a weird shape in its place - a shape about as tall as me.

When the light died down, I saw what was clearly a female shaped knight in heavy armor, wielding a huge spear. "They call me Guiche the Brass. Therefore, a brass knight shall be your opponent for this duel," Guiche declared. "Now begin!"

Looks like I''d need my rifle.

I lunged to the left just as a huge brass fist slammed into the ground. This thing was fast! Rolling to my feet, I aimed and fired from the hip - three loud gunshots ringing out as three bullets slammed into the armor of the knight. I knew I should've been more careful around so many teens surrounding us, but I was in close range and the knight had a big target profile. As the third shot rang out, I wondered if I should've gone with my Browning M1911 instead.

The knight stumbled back - the bullets clearly embedding themselves in its armor, and I quickly ran around to its flanks, aiming carefully before firing a fourth shot at my opponent. The arm fell off, and it threw its spear at me like a projectile.

I slid to the ground, the top of my helmet grazed by the polearm as I quickly aimed up at it, firing two more shots at it. I was visibly damaging it, but the armor was much tougher than I thought. Didn't medieval knights get phased out because of guns?

The rifle was knocked out of my hands by a wild and unpredictable swing, and I rolled to the side by the next punch. I turned in time to see Guiche clearly shocked and angered. Was he seriously expecting the knight to bowl me over so easily? I had a gun, for Pete's sake.

But I didn't have my gun anymore. Without thinking, I gripped one of my hand grenades and dodged another punch before taking a kick to the gut. Holy FUCK, that hurt! Sliding away, the knight relentlessly charged, and I was barely able to roll to the side, dodging a blow to the head.

"Stop it, you'll kill him!" Louise cried. I didn't hear Guiche's response if he even bothered to give her one, because I was too busy planning my attack. Spying multiple gaps in the armor, I growled. I just...needed an opening...

Now!

I spun out of a second stomach blow via a punch, and I pulled the pin of my grenade as even more pain erupted within me. But there was no going back now. The lever of the grenade flung off with a "ping", and I slammed it in the openings of the armor's sides. Jumping back, I grabbed my Garand and quickly scrambled to gain some distance.

The knight rushed to get me, and I dodged one more punch before diving and keeping my head down. The explosion came after, bits of metal dropping on me. Quickly rolling over and getting to my feet, I aimed at the wreckage on the grass against my feet. Nothing of it moved. Smoldering metals had tears in it, and there was smoke from the explosion. It was over. I grabbed my rifle and quickly looked bsck

I turned just in time to see Guiche ready to swing his rose, likely about to summon another knight, and I instantly flung my rifle up, barrel aimed right between his eyes. The students all gasped and Guiche froze in place, his rose still by his head. "Don't do it," I said. "Don't do it."

My finger was on the trigger, and I could practically hear my drill instructors roaring at me about trigger discipline, but I couldn't afford to not fire if worse came to worse. And judging by the way Guiche trembled - fear clearly displayed on his face, he knew that. He lowered his rose before sighing. "I surrender..." he moaned in defeat. The students exploded in cheers as word of the first peasant to defeat a noble began to spread.

I turned to look at Guiche before realizing my rifle was still in my hands. Quickly, I placed the gun on safety again and slung it over my shoulder and sighed, before wincing harshly at the sudden pain in my gut. Somehow, that terrifying knight had only landed one hit on me - and it was a bad one. I think my ribs were cracked. "You...you alright?" I asked Guiche.

The humiliated noble looked up in surprise. "Why are you asking me that?" he asked feebly as I reached over and grabbed the closest empty shells on the grass, leaning over and picking all of them up, even with the awkward pain in my lower chest area.

"Because I almost shot you," I said, pocketing the shells. "I've killed soldiers before. Enemies. But I almost killed you, a kid. I don't think...I could handle that." I looked down, sitting across Guiche in the small patch of field that we'd fought. What the hell was I thinking for doing this?

I really got into a fight. And I saw magic in person. I couldn't help but wonder what warfare would be like if one person could simply summon armored personnel out of...rose petals. I couldn't really wrap my hand around it, and I looked down at the metal wrecks. Did I really waste several bullets in that? I opened the bolt of my Garand and counted what few .30 caliber rounds I had left. Two, which meant I had fired six rounds. Great.

Louise came over, falling to her knees as she gripped my shoulders. "Brenner, you idiot!" she cried, though not sounding very angry. In fact, she looked very worried. "You'd better be alright."

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a little sore is all," is what I would've said. It's what I did say if it weren't for something turning my words into mumbling.

Blood spilled down my chin from my mouth, and I coughed - accidentally splattering Louise with my own blood, causing her to cry out in shock. I didn't hear much after that as I flopped to the ground, my helmet hitting the grass as I looked up at the sky. I'd be fine, probably.

Those words repeated in my head as my vision faded into black.

- POV: Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière -

"Brenner!" I cried. That stupid duel was what got him in this situation! Why him?! The blood on my shirt frightened me more than it angered me. What if he was dying?

"I-it looks like he has internal bleeding," someone said next to me -a girl. I turned to see one of the servants with black hair next to me. "I can help him, but we need to make sure he doesn't get any more injuries."

"Bring him to my room," I quickly said. "We can care for him there." I moved to grab his shoulders, but the maid quickly stopped me.

"You might hurt him more! His bones might be broken, he might die if they break more!" the maid said, clearly panicked. "Heal him first. Then we can bring him to your room and he can fully recover there."

"I can levitate him to my room! I may not have mastered a lot of complex spells, but I at least know that," I pointed out. "Just grab his things and we can work on healing him there, got it?"

"O-of course!" the maid said, and she moved to grab the basket, the backpack, and the gun. Come to think of it, why did he have a basket before the duel in the first place?

Regardless, I helped Siesta with bringing Brenner to my room, with much of the other observing students making way all the while. The trip up to my room was a rather quiet yet stressful affair, as all I could hear was Brenner's labored breathing. If Guiche's stupid duel ended him here, I. didn't know what I'd be able to do.

Brenner was...not as I'd first expected. Sure, he was incredibly stubborn...stupid...prone to get along better with some familiars rather than his own master - though he was a peasant incapable of magic, so why was I surprised there? What surprised me was what he did this morning during breakfast. He spoke his mind, regardless of whether I would punish him or not. He rejected Kirche and simply left the hall to wait outside...

And during the duel, he said for me to "trust him". That was the first time I actually stopped, and that allowed for the fight to continue. Why did that force me to stop? If I hadn't, then I might have gotten Guiche to cease his foolish duel.

But Brenner won. He beat his duel and managed to keep Guiche from summoning more of his armored goons. He defeated Guiche...

Thankfully, after what felt like hours of rushed walking, we arrived at my room - and Siesta helped me lower him on the bed, and with that - the two of us got to work on healing him, my thoughts occupied with Brenner's foolhardiness all the while. Why was he so stubborn? So stupidly brave?

I'd need to ask him once he woke up.

- POV: Private First Class Brenner: three days later -

This sure felt familiar. I woke up with a headache - not exactly as painful as the ones before, but definitely just as annoying. Sitting up, I winced at the feeling of stinging from my chest. Looking down, I saw that I was on a bed, nestled under the covers in nothing but my boxers. Clean boxers, not sweaty from days and days of trekking before that German artillery strike.

I had several questions. One being who stripped me, washed my clothes, and bothered to partially dress me in bed. Then I noticed the bandages - wrapped tightly around my abdomen. So I actually did get some medical attention.

"You're awake. I'm glad..." I turned to see Siesta approaching, holding a tray with a plate of...something that definitely looked good, a teapot, and two teacups. "You were asleep for three days."

"Three days?" I muttered as I looked back down at my wounds. Patting them gently, I found that while they ached, they weren't actually hurting a lot. "I thought injuries like this took months to heal."

"We have plenty of students and professionals capable of magic, remember?" Siesta said with a giggle so gentle that it put me completely at ease.

I grinned back before moving to get out of bed, sitting on the edge as I swung my legs over. Next to the bed was all of my clothes - my undershirt, my regular shirt, my jacket, pants, and boots - all set aside neatly. They looked as clean as the day I'd first gotten them. My helmet sat on top of my clothing. "Well, I appreciate you helping to take care of me," I said, leaning over to grab my things - seeing my backpack and belts resting under them. "Where's Louise?"

"Miss Vallière hasn't left your side. She's the one who's been taking care of you while you recover," Siesta said, gesturing to the other side of the bed. Turning to see where she was referring to, I saw the pink haired girl herself, sitting next to the bed with her upper half resting on the covers, snoring softly. "She even purchased an expensive elixir for you to recover quicker."

So she stayed by my side the whole way? She really did care. I couldn't help but smile as I rubbed her head once. Turning to face Siesta, I saw that she was still smiling kindly.

"I appreciate both of you for this," I said as I leaned back in bed. "The medics back in my unit would probably slap some bandages on me and call it a day."

"Unit? Oh, right. You're not from here," Siesta remarked. "Where are you from? Germania? Perhaps Gallia or Romalia. I'm not familiar with the term unit in the context you're suggesting."

"I blinked. Oh. I'm from the United States of America. I'm part of the U.S. Army," I said. I couldn't help but enjoy the baffled expression on the maid's face. "It's not part of this world. That much was established pretty early."

"I...see..." Siesta muttered before the door was knocked. Louise began to gently stir as Siesta excused herself to open the door. When she did so, she stepped aside for an older balding man with glasses to enter. He wore blue robes and held a staff, which suggested he also did magic.

"Professor Colbert!" Siesta said as she stepped in the room. Louise slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes with one hand as she looked around, her other hand pressed against the bed as she saw me. "Brenner, you're alright?" she asked sleepily.

"Yeah," I said as I patted her hand. "Thanks for helping me heal." Louise tensed up and looked away - for what reason I wouldn't know - not right away anyways.

"May I speak to your familiar in private?" Colbert asked gently.

"Oh! Of course," Louise said, jerking herself awake and swaying for a bit before making her way around the bed, bringing Siesta with her out the door.

"There's the tea and the soufflé from earlier if you want it!" Siesta managed to call out before the door closed behind them.

The professor took a chair and sat down as I began to dress myself. "So, anything you need?" I asked.

"For starters, introductions," Colbert said. "As you no doubt heard, I'm Jean Colbert - a professor of this Institute. And you are?"

"Brenner. Private First Class, 29th Infantry Division," I said. "I imagine there's other things you want?"

"Not much...Brenner. Just a few answers to some of my questions," Colbert said. He leaned over and picked up my M1 Garand - which I hadn't noticed resting against the table - before holding it up. "You were said to be using this in the duel - very dangerous, and worthy of trial and harsh punishment, but the headmaster suggested otherwise. And so did I for that matter. But what exactly is this firearm? And where exactly are you from?"

I finished pulling my undershirt - gently - over my head and pulled it down, tucking it in my pants before grabbing my regular shirt. "So someone's actually acknowledging that I'm not from this world?" I asked as Colbert inspected the rifle.

"Yes. I had a talk with the headmaster of this school regarding your summoning to Louise's side, and he told me a few interesting stories of someone from another world," Colbert said, garnering my attention. "So, I'd like to know more."

I reached over, and Colbert handed me the rifle for me to inspect. Pulling back the bolt, the seventh bullet of the clip flew out before slamming shut. Pulling the bolt back a second time, the eighth bullet and the clip itself popped out with the signature ping of the Garand. "This is a semi-automatic rifle," I said as I turned the rifle over. "Self-loading and gas operated. And it's the standard issue rifle of my nation's armed forces."

"So...every soldier in your army uses this?" Colbert asked as he picked up one of the bullets - inspecting the shell and the projectile itself. "They fire...this? It's much smaller than the musket balls we have."

"Rifles fire smaller bullets," I said. "They travel faster than musket balls and are more accurate. Plus, we can squeeze out as many shots as we can pull the trigger."

Colbert took the rifle out of my hands and held it - rather well. Perhaps he used muskets before? He was getting acquainted with the iron sights, and clearly practicing how he'd aim with the rifle. "Fascinating," he muttered as he set it down. "Tell me more about your country and what it could do, if that's alright with you."

I grinned. "Sure, why not? Mind if we have some of that tea?" I asked. And the two of us talked well into the night, the teapot going empty and the soufflé being finished in the next hour.

(AN: To those who read the duel and noticed the blatant lack of proper weapons discipline in the fight, you'd also remember that soldiers aren't going to remember every single rule of war - especially given the brutality of a certain war that the main character was in. As time passes in the state of heavy conflict, you're going to be less and less aware of many do's and don'ts, such as forgetting about collateral when you're in a near death scenario.

I know this won't excuse what the duel had - especially with how reckless Brenner was, but he's not intended to be perfect - he fought for months on end, and he's still in a very high stress environment. As harsh as this sounds in this case, mistakes very much happen in the heat of a moment, and in this case - it was a very risky and not well thought out move on his part - especially given the sudden and unexpected brass knight attack.

I feel the need to explain this because I read a review that addresses the duel, even if Brenner is in a bad place at the moment. I know that the duel was avoidable and very messed up because of all that could have gone wrong, but this stuff happens in real life as well, in both world wars and ensuing conflicts. Even other movies like Saving Private Ryan show clear deterioration in human mentality as time goes in in war.)