Since Saito's rescue of Siesta, life at the academy had mostly settled down for him and Kai. Well... kind of.
A routine of sorts had been established during the past two weeks since then. Between the two boys, Saito had a much more relaxed routine.
Saito started the day by usually hearing an argument between Louise and Kai. After their usual argument, Saito dressed Louise while Kai ran to grab a bucket of water. Once Kai returned with a bucket for Louise, he had to wash her face.
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Only three days ago, Kai decided to 'prank' her. While he wiped her face with a towel, he started lightly drawing on her face with a piece of charcoal he had found. Seeing his beautiful artwork, he could barely hold in his laughter.
In a somewhat mocking tone, he said, "My mistress, if I may say, you are the epitome of beauty this fine morning."
Since that morning in particular hadn't started with an argument, she didn't fully wake up. "...Are you plotting something?"
Kai placed four fingers on his chest and scoffed. "I wouldn't dare to dream of plotting anything! I am simply a familiar serving their mistress."
Louise was somewhat suspicious of his politeness, but she didn't pay it too much mind. With her natural looks, she never really needed to look in the mirror much. Since she didn't check herself, she had no idea what makeup was applied to her face.
When she entered the classroom, everyone exploded in laughter.
"Looking good, Louise!"
"Oh my god! That is so you!"
When Mister Colbert complimented her glasses and mustache while holding back a laugh, Louise went berserk. She ran back to her room, where Kai was laughing still and stomped on his tail a lot.
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After mornings were done, Saito usually did chores throughout the day and spent time with Siesta, while Kai did them as fast as possible and then trained all day. Since he started training more, Kai decided that he would want to learn to fight without a weapon as well since he would practically be useless without a weapon.
As of late Kai had been able to draw out simple blasts of energy, and be able to somewhat fight without the help of the runes.
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It was a regular morning. Blue skies, singing birds... it almost seemed as if nothing could go wrong. That is until a certain bossy girl started yelling.
"Straighten your back more!" Louise was of course yelling at Kai, while Saito lazily sat on his haystack.
For some reason, Kai was marching in place. "Like this?" Louise's eyes started twitching. This moron couldn't be this incompetent... right?
"No! You've got your right arm and right leg moving at the same time!"
"Huh...?" Kai looked down while marching. "Guess I am. When I think about it too hard, I can't really do it that well."
Louise pointed her wand straight at Kai's nose. "'When I make a conscious effort I am unable to move as I truly desire.' Hah..." She sat on her bed in defeat. "You've failed at marching, speaking, and everything else."
"Hey! Rude! Why don't you make Saito do it?" Turning toward where Saito was, Kai found him to not be there. "Damn it..."
Saito knew that it would eventually come around to why he wasn't doing it so he got out of there.
Turning back to Louise, Kai saw her lightly tapping her forehead with her fist. "How careless... I should have made one of you practice more for the exhibition."
"So what exactly is going on?"
Taking in a deep breath, Louise stood up. "It's an annual event. It's a campus-wide exhibition of the familiars we summoned, and I'm only allowed to take one of you."
"Then just... don't go?"
"It's mandatory for second years! Anyway, I want to avoid being humiliated at all costs. Since you can talk, I thought a nice speech would work, but..." Louise's tone sounded a little depressing.
"Yeah yeah... I ain't great with words."
Suddenly Louise remembered something. "That's right! You could do that big light thing... the Kameyahaway?"
Kai was flabbergasted. "Did you mean the Kamehameha? Besides... not a great thing to do when there's a crowd of people."
Louise scoffed. "Well figure something out before I get done with classes!"
"Damn it! You're the one that got us into this situation by not giving me a warning!"
The two of them started arguing once more.
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A few hours later Kai found himself in one of the courtyards.
"Hm... How about this?" He started swinging Derflinger around, trying to be as 'flashy' as possible.
"Partner, you ain't gonna impress anyone by swinging me around like that." Derf's input was about as bad as usual.
"Yeah, I kinda understand that! Wait a second... Since you're a sword you've gotta have some tricks for me, right?"
"Unfortunately I'm a practical model, so I don't know any tricks."
Kai let out a strained sigh. "You old hunk of junk..."
A couple of girls walked by Kai who was talking to a seemingly inanimate object.
"What in the world is he doing?"
"Is he talking to his sword? What a weirdo..."
They walked faster as they giggled about what they saw.
Letting another sigh, Kai fell flat on his back. "Damn that Louise... Could've given me a bit longer to prepare something..."
A shadow loomed over Kai's head. He looked up to see Saito and Siesta.
"So what're you doing?" Saito raised an eyebrow.
"Hah... Trying to come up with some kinda trick."
"Oh, you must be talking about the exhibition!" Siesta seemed intrigued.
Standing up, Kai started stretching. "Yeah... How'd you guess?"
"All the second years and their familiars are training hard. Especially since this year, the Princess will be here!"
Kai and Saito were surprised. "The Princess?"
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In Osmond's office, Miss Longueville was talking to Osmond about the exhibition.
"Preparations for the exhibition are complete, and under the guidance of Mister Colbert, there have been no problems."
"Hmm, that's good. What about the security?"
"The guards have been told to protect the princess above all else."
"Of course, those fools from the castle directed our security toward the Princess. Fouquet could be waiting for the perfect time to strike."
"..."
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The trio of Kai, Saito, and Siesta walked to a courtyard full of second-year students practicing for the exhibition. Some people they recognized were Kirche, Guiche, and Tabitha who was just reading a book.
"You weren't kidding when you said they were all with their familiars." Saito whistled seeing all of them. "So the Princess is coming to watch this?"
"Lady Henrietta is a symbol of hope to our people ever since the late king passed away a few years ago." Siesta seemed hopeful while talking. The Princess probably had some policies that benefited commoners or something.
"I'm guessin' she's pretty popular."
Before Siesta could answer Kai, the trio heard Kirche laughing as her salamander spit flames near Guiche, making him panic. The scene made others around chuckle as well.
"I'll have to get going now." Siesta turned toward Kai. "I hope you do well at the exhibition Kai." With that, Siesta ran off, leaving the two boys by themselves.
"Well, I got one person rootin' for me... What about you? Any vote of support?"
Saito met Kai's expectant look with a smile. "Well... Good luck, but I'm really looking forward to watching the dragon. Well... If it's anything like its master it won't be that impressive..."
Kai could only bitterly smile. "Gee, thanks, man... Wait... Hold on." Saito raised an eyebrow, but Kai ignored him. "Like their master...?" He happily put up one finger with a wide grin. "Eureka!"
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The next day started out with a bright sunny sky, but it wasn't too hot. It was a perfect day. To go with that perfect day was the arrival of the Princess.
A voice cried out, "Make way for Her Highness, Princess Henrietta!"
It was drowned out by most of the students and staff making a commotion. Everyone was excited just at the thought of seeing the Princess.
Coming out of a beautiful purple and white carriage was a young girl who wore a purple cloak over a white corset. The collar of her corset had gems that looked like they could each buy 10 mansions.
Seeing her, everyone gasped, and a few students even fainted.
Practically right next to the line of carriages that came with the Princess, Louise stood there watching Her Highness with a look of adoration and pride.
Saito leaned over to Kai. "Hey, she's pretty cute."
"Yeah, I mean royalty and whatnot."
"Quiet you two. You're just familiars so don't be rude." Louise hissed at the two of them.
"Right..." Waving his hand, Kai dismissed her, but noticed just how engrossed Louise was. He hadn't seen her with that genuine of a smile before...
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The Princess walked up to the staff of the school who had bowed before her. "Lord Osmond, I apologize for the sudden and selfish request." From how she talked she was extremely different than most nobles.
"There is no need, Your Highness. We have been awaiting your arrival along with all of the students." The frail-looking old Osmond was much more humble sounding than usual.
"I wanted to see this year's exhibition with my own eyes."
With a twinkle of curiosity in his eyes, Osmond raised his head. "And why would that be?"
The Princess gave him a smile. "It's a secret."
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Later that night, Kai was in Louise's room with a hand raised with a small blue ball in front of it, and Louise looked unimpressed. In his personal haystack, Saito was lying down seeing what could possibly happen from this interaction.
"Hng..." Focusing all his concentration on it, the blue ball of energy barely moved around.
Louise started to get a little angry. "That's it? Making a small ball is the best you can do?"
From Louise's anger, Kai started to get angry. "Aw cut me some slack! Gettin' me to come up with something on a few day's notice isn't exactly the kindest thing you could've done!"
"Kind?! You don't deserve kind!"
Just as their argument started to get heated, there was a knock on the door. Having nothing better to do, Saito opened the door.
As soon as he did, a hooded figure quickly entered the room. Almost as suddenly as they appeared, Louise drew her wand, and Kai raised his fists.
"W-Who are you?" Louise's voice was trembling.
"It's been a while..." The hood came off the figure as they hugged Louise. "Louise Françoise!"
Seeing who it was everyone's eyes widened. "Your Highness!"
"Louise... I've missed you so much, Louise."
Breaking out of the hug, Louise looked bewildered. "You mustn't Your Highness!" Louise hastily bowed. "This is too humble an abode for you to grace."
Kai and Saito exchanged a glance. It seemed they thought the same thing. Louise was being more formal than usual to an extreme degree.
"Please stop the formalities Louise Françoise. We're friends."
Louise smiled. "Princess those kind words are much more than I deserve."
The atmosphere was almost suffocating for the two boys, so Saito decided to ask what he'd been wondering. "So, how do you know each other?"
Still engrossed in the atmosphere Louise answered without a thought. "I was Her Highness' playmate when we were little."
"I'd rather think of us as childhood friends. I wanted to see you for so long..." The Princess started to tear up.
"Your Highness." Louise stood up to look at her face-to-face.
The Princess wiped her tears. "I'm sorry. Ever since father passed away, there hasn't been anyone I could openly talk to."
Taking her hands, Louise looked straight into her eyes. "Your Highness, when I recieved that letter from you, I was very surprised..."
Louise paused as if she were about to continue, but she was interrupted by Kai slamming his fist into the palm of his hand. "Oh! So that's why you've been on me bout' being good at that exhibition! You wanted to impress the Princess here."
Not a moment later, Kai found himself on the ground with Louise's foot on his tail. "Shut up you! And just what do you think you're doing by not bowing in front of Her Majesty!?" Taking a hint, Saito bowed.
"That really hurts you brat!" Louise's foot stomped even harder on Kai's tail.
"It's all right, Louise." The Princess leaned down a little to see Kai's face better. "Please make yourself comfortable."
"Aw, thanks a to- AUGH!" Louise pulled his tail this time.
"How dare you talk to Her Majesty like that?! Please forgive him, his behavior leaves a lot to be desired." Louise looked to the Princess for forgiveness.
"Look who's talkin'!"
Before Louise could do anything the Princess started speaking. "Such a fiery personality... Are you perchance Saito?"
Kai shook his head. "I'm Kai. Kai Atsura. Saito's the one over there." Kai jerked his head over toward Saito.
"Ah, so you're the one who stood up to Count Mott."
Everyone's faces froze. Were they in trouble?
She started walking toward Saito. "I've wanted to meet you ever since I heard about it. I was wondering what kind of familiar would stand up to a noble... I assume that you defended the academy from Fouquet as well?"
Saito could only shake his head.
The Princess had a somewhat interested look. She didn't expect them both to do something like that.
"Your Highness?" Louise looked at her with a confused look.
"Don't worry Louise. There was a commotion from Count Mott, and a few officials worried about the damages to the academy..."
A unique look was on Louise's face. A mix between pure horror and being 110% pissed.
"...But there is no punishment."
Louise's eyes widened. "Then... Your Highness took care of it?"
"Did you forget? I promised that I would help you when you're in trouble, right? I am a princess after all."
"Your Highness..." As Louise bowed again, she forced Kai's face straight into the ground. "I can't find words to express my appreciation."
The Princess giggled at their antics. "Oh Louise, I think you've summoned splendid familiars."
"Absolutely not! One of them is already bad enough, but this one," Louise slammed Kai's face into the ground again. "Has brought a lifelong shame from how crude, low, and ugly he is!"
Kai jerked his head up. "Hasn't been great for me either!"
"Shut up!"
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As midnight drew nearer, and the conversation between Louise and the Princess neared its conclusion, the two of them held each other's hands, getting ready to say goodbye.
"Tonight has been the most fun I've had in a long time." The Princess pulled Louise into a hug. "Thank you, Louise Françoise."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
As they parted, the Princess turned toward Kai. "Mister Familiar."
Pointing to himself, Kai asked, "Me?"
"Good luck tomorrow."
Kai shot her a thumbs up. "You got it." Sensing that he'd gotten on Louise's nerves again, Kai started backing away from her.
"You're not getting away that easy!" Louise started chasing him around the room as if it was a wild cat chasing a dog.
On his haystack, Saito yawned. This happened way too often.
Seeing the two of them running around, the Princess sadly smiled as she put on her hood. "Looks like freedom is the greatest treasure."
The two of them stopped for a moment and they all looked at the Princess with confused looks.
"Goodnight."
With that, the Princess of Tristain left Louise's room.
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The next day was bright, with only a few clouds in the sky. Everyone could feel the excitement in the air. It was the day for the second years to show off their familiars.
As soon as breakfast had ended, Louise dragged Kai off, leaving Saito by himself. He had time to kill before the exhibition, so he decided to go to the kitchen with Siesta, Martaeu, and the others. He had become quite popular with the group.
Usually when in the kitchen, he would either talk, eat, or help with things like dishes as a way of saying thanks.
Soon he would go see the exhibition. There would be some really cool familiars out there he could see performing... Kai would be up there too...
Next to him, Siesta appeared almost out of nowhere. "Saito, are you going to the exhibition?" She gave him a soft smile.
"Yeah, I think I'll head over there now to get a good spot."
Siesta put her hands behind her back and had a somewhat nervous look on her face. "Do you mind if I went with you? I have some free time."
"Y-Yeah... Go ahead..." Saito's face was a shade redder than it was a moment ago.
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Soon enough the two of them found a nice spot off to the side. The stage where students would perform wasn't too large, but it was enough to show off all kinds of familiars.
Not long after a voice boomed out, "We will now start this year's familiar exhibition."
Saito looked to his side and saw a giddy smile on Siesta's face. She seemed to be excited for this.
Ooh's and Aah's echoed throughout as the exhibition went on. Saito found a couple of interesting ones: Kirche's familiar, Flame, with its spiral flame breath, and Tabitha's dragon, Sylphid, who showed off a lot more than he expected.
Mister Colbert stepped up onto the stage. "That was Sylphid and her master, Tabitha!" A loud round of applause roared across the exhibition.
Saito leaned over to Siesta and started whispering to her. "I feel bad for whoever has to go after the dragon."
She tapped the side of her cheek. "Well... There's only one person who hasn't gone yet."
He thought about it for a moment and suddenly remembered who hadn't gone yet. "Wow... I might actually believe him about that luck thing now."
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Inside a small tent next to the stage Kai looked impressed while staring at the dragon.
Next to him, Louise's firm voice rang out. "Listen to me. Go out there take a bow and come back. Don't you dare try to do anything else."
"Wha- That's not fair! After all that practicing?!"
"It doesn't matter anymore now that the Princess knows what you're really made of!"
Before they could start arguing, Mister Colbert's voice boomed across the field. "Next up is Miss Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière."
As if bracing herself for the worst Louise took a deep breath. "Here goes..."
"Right..."
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"Let me introduce my familiar: Kai Atsura. He's a..." Louise's introduction started out somewhat confident, but seeing so many condescending stares just wouldn't let her continue.
"Go for it, Louise the Zero!" When someone yelled that the crowd roared with laughter.
With a look of embarrassment, Louise looked over to the pavilion with the Princess under it. "He's a..." The Princess' look gave her a little confidence back and she braced herself. "He's a peasant!"
The roars from before only got louder, that kind of laughter was enough to haunt someone in their dreams.
Looking over, it looked like Louise was about to cry. She closed her eyes as if she would wake up. If only she had prepared better... why couldn't she be bett-
"Oh shut up!" The sound of a sword being drawn could be heard. "I'll show you what I can do!" His right hand was pointed straight toward the sky.
Louise opened her eyes in surprise. "Kai?"
"Partner, you know you're not ready for that move, right?" Derf warned Kai, ruining the moment.
Kai dropped his hand and gripped the handle in his hands with extreme force. "Shut up Derf! Can't you see what kind of situation we're in?!"
"How could I have known? All I know is that I've been drawn suddenly."
Louise started panicking, looking back and forth between the crowd and Kai. He was making the laughter louder. Why? Does he hate her that much?
Trying to yell louder than the crowd's laughter, Kai raised his hand once more. "All of you just shut up and watch!" A ball started forming in his right hand. "Brilliant... EX-" Before Kai could finish, he fell face-first onto the ground. His tail was gripped by Louise who started dragging him off.
"You're the worst."
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In a certain tower of the school, a figure tried their best to open a door. This was the closest they've been, but still so far.
If only that boy hadn't interfered last time they wouldn't have to be here now.
The door in front of them just wouldn't budge... it was reinforced with multiple square-level spells. Of course it was...
From far away they could hear that judging was about to start and knew that they were out of time. There wouldn't be another golden opportunity after this. If magic didn't work, then brute force was the only way.
Jumping out of the tower, the figure floated to the ground. A moment later, the ground started shaking and a golem started sprouting out of the ground. It seemed to be of much higher quality than the one before.
Luckily where they were at was positioned on the opposite side of the school to the exhibition, and with all the cheering, no one seemed to notice.
The golem turned to the tower to attack it, but it was as if there were a forcefield there. Soon, a couple of voices were heard, and they sounded awfully familiar.
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"I told you to just bow!" Louise's anger was overflowing.
Feeling frustrated, Kai started to yell as well. "They were all laughing! I had to do something!"
"All you did was just make a fool of-" Louise stopped herself as a large shadow loomed over them. "A g-golem?!"
"Again!?"
This golem was much larger than before.
"Your luck has just run out!" Unlike last time there was someone on top of it.
As Kai started to draw Derflinger, the golem's hand rushed toward the two of them.
"Louise!" With his instincts taking over, Kai pushed Louise out of the way.
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"It is my pleasure to announce this year's winner!"
Everyone in the crowd waited in anticipation, but almost everyone knew who it was anyway.
"Tabitha and her dragon, Sylphid!"
Cheers rang out, and the exhibition was wrapping up as if nothing odd was happening.
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The golem's hand grabbed Kai and lifted him straight into the air. With how he was positioned, he couldn't reach for Derflinger.
On the ground, Louise yelled out. "Kai!"
Still struggling, Kai started thinking. If he powered up it might get him out, but the damage to the golem could affect Louise. "Hey! Louise, get out of here! Run!"
Standing up, Louise readied her wand. "Let go of him now!"
"The hell are you doin'?! I said get outta here!"
Louise began chanting a spell while Kai was yelling for her to run away. The golem used its other hand to reach for her, and just as it was about to reach her...
"Fireball!" Louise flicked her wand... and nothing happened.
A moment later an explosion hit the tower next to them.
"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?" Kai started squirming even more.
"Shut up! It was only a little mistake!"
The figure started to laugh. "How is that a fireball?" Hearing something, they looked toward the tower... it was cracked. "The wall... What was that magic?"
"L-Let go of Kai!" With her confidence waning even more, Louise started stuttering. "Listen, I-I'm serious this time!"
"Stop it, Louise! Just run!"
The figure started to smile. "It seems like it's my lucky break." They commanded the golem to break a hole into the tower.
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The loud sound of something crashing alerted everyone at the exhibition that something was wrong. The chaos caused students to run around, and guards to all rush to protect the Princess.
Tabitha quickly took her dragon and flew to see what was going on.
She saw a figure running out of a hole in a tower, with an odd-looking case in their hands.
"Thank you!" The figure waved their hand toward Louise. "You can have him back now."
The golem threw Kai straight to the ground. Just as he was about to become a paste, Sylphid's claws wrapped around him, and he was carried off.
With a relieved look on her face, Louise let out a sigh. "Thank goodness..."
Unfortunately, the figure got away with whatever was in that case.
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"The staff of destruction has been transferred to my hands, Fouquet the Crumbling Earth... She did us in." Osmond read some writing on the walls of the treasury, which was the room Fouquet had broken into.
There were several different types of mystical artifacts, all of which made the room have a certain magical power. The staff of destruction was rumored to be quite a powerful artifact.
A scout rushed up to Osmond. "Sir! We found no sign of the thief, just a giant earthen mound."
"My... what a catastrophe. To think, that the vault would be broken into and plundered."
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With most of the chaos having died down, most of the students were in the courtyard below the tower. Kai stood next to Louise, with a somewhat disappointed look on his face. He could have prevented this...
"This is a disaster..." Louise started mumbling to herself.
"Well, at least we survived... So things should end up alright, right?" Kai tried his best to lighten the mood for both of their sakes.
Her voice was stiff. "That's not how things go."
The two of them heard people running behind them and turned to see the princess with some guards. "Thank goodness! I'm so glad that you both are safe."
"You're Highness!" Louise knelt down, and Kai followed suit. "I'm terribly sorry for letting the treasury get robbed."
"It isn't your responsibility, Louise."
"But-" Louise was interrupted by one of the guards.
"Your Highness, please hurry." The Princess nodded.
"I have to report to the royal palace. We'll meet again soon Louise and Mister Familiar."
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Most of the school was at the front gates watching the princess leave in her carriage. Most students didn't know what was going on, and those few that did had solemn looks on their faces.
Louise had a worried look on her face. "I just hope that the princess isn't held responsible for this..."
"What? How could anyone hold her responsible?! If it's anyone's fault it's mine!" Kai didn't want anyone innocent to take the blame.
"I've heard bad rumors about the palace lately. Even though worrying won't help anything..."
Kai looked at her in a new light. She hadn't really seemed to show any empathy or worry, but... that look on her face. "Hey Louise. Earlier, when the golem was grabbing me... when I told you to run... Why didn't you?"
There was a long pause before she answered. "You really are an idiot. A mage who abandons her familiar cannot call herself a real mage at all."