A bright light filled the room, causing Kai to finally start to wake up. The room still looked completely unfamiliar, especially from the angle he was at.
He sat up and felt a little pain. Looking at himself, he saw that he was covered in bandages, and was in a bed.
"Jeez, guess I pushed myself too hard against that guy..."
Just as he was about to get up, the door opened, and that maid Saito was talking to came in.
"Oh, so you're awake now, Kai?" The girl had some bread and a glass of water on a plate.
"Yeah, just woke up... Wait, how do you know my name?"
"MissVallière told me when she brought you up here, she was worried sick about you for the past few days."
"Aw... that's sweet of her- Few days?" Kai's usual sarcasm was stopped by the revelation that he had slept for the past few days.
"Yes, you've been asleep for three days."
"Wow..." Kai sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "So, what brings you here?"
"MissVallière ordered me to bring food. She must be tired," Seeing Kai's confused face, Siesta continued. "She took care of you without sleeping."
"L-Louise did?" Kai stared at her for a good moment. Why...? Her of all people? As Kai thought about it more, his heart started to race. Alright! That's enough thinking for the day!
Siesta smiled at Kai, set down the plate, and left without a word.
"Ah, crap... I forgot to ask about Saito... I'm sure he's fine."
Well, Saito was... 'fine'.
Since he had woken up the day after fighting Guiche, he had to take care of the chores all by himself. He had found the fountain Kai talked about for washing laundry, and Kai was right, it was freezing!
"S-So cold..." Saito was currently washing Louise's clothes. "Damn, that stuck-up girl!"
The day after the fight, Louise didn't congratulate Saito but instead, scolded him. 'Why would you ever challenge a noble?!' and 'You're both complete morons!' was what he had to hear for the past couple of days. Louise's anger toward the both of them was directed solely toward Saito.
"Jeez man, you sure look like you've been through a bit."
Saito turned and saw Kai, still a little banged up, but overall fairly fine.
"You're finally awake! Are you okay?"
Kai waved his hand. "Yeah, I'm all good, but... do you need a hand?"
Saito's face went from being happy from seeing Kai awake to annoyed. "It's been hell since you've been asleep."
"I bet." Kai squatted down next to Saito to start helping with the laundry.
After a while of doing laundry, Kai and Saito turned to see students walking around with their familiars.
Letting out a sigh, Kai said, "We're on the same level as them, huh?"
Saito let out a sigh as well. "When are we gonna be able to go home?"
They both let out a sigh again when suddenly Kai's ear was pulled down by that damned pink-haired girl.
"Not even walking me to class? Since you're behind on your chores it's the least you could do. You're worse than a dog."
"Ow! What's with you and pulling my ear?" Kai pulled Louise's hand off of his ear. "Anyway, let me and Saito finish up here and we'll be in the classroom soon."
"You'd better hurry! Laundry doesn't take that long!"
While they bickered the students started to gossip about them, talking about how 'Louise the Zero' really did summon the oddest familiars. Amongst those students, there was one who gazed longingly at the monkey-tailed boy...
Walking into the classroom for the first time, Kai and Saito were amazed. It was a gigantic semi-circle-shaped room with rows and rows of chairs and tables. It looked almost like the Coliseum.
The trio of Kai, Louise, and Saito were situated somewhat close to the back of the room, with Kai being stuck in the middle due to a loss in another game of rock paper scissors against Saito.
In the front of the classroom was a short witch with a purple pointed hat, and purple robes going over a lesson over the elements of magic.
"The elements fire, water, earth, and wind, can be combined to create stronger and more diverse effects, and our level as mages is determined by how many of these elements we can combine. Could anyone tell me what those levels are?" The teacher looked around the classroom for any volunteers. "Ah, yes. Montmorency?"
Following the teacher's gaze, Kai and Saito saw the blonde girl that Guiche cheated on standing up while tossing her hair to the side. "If you can combine two, it's Line. Three makes a triangle, and four makes a square."
"Very good, Montmorency! Now as some of you know I am a Triangle mage, which means I can combine up to three elements together."
With a smug smile, Montmorency sat back down and crossed her legs. Saito saw that and with a lewd smile on his face tried to get a peek at-
"Guh!" Saito was hit right in the stomach by Kai.
"None of that." Kai turned his head toward Louise. "Since the teacher's a Triangle mage or whatever that means she's strong, right?"
She looked mildly annoyed, but Louise responded, "Exactly."
"So what class of mage are you?"
She didn't answer.
Ms. Chevreuse noticed the two of them talking. "MissVallière! Since you have time to chat, you must already be quite the mage. Why don't you demonstrate for us?"
The entire class went dead silent in fear. Louise could only point toward herself. "Eh? Me?"
"Yes. Why don't you try changing the pebbles here to a metal of your choice?"
Louise didn't stand up but started to nervously fidget around.
With a confused look, Kai asked, "You okay, Louise?"
"MissVallière! Is something the matter?" Ms. Chevreuse called for her once more, but that redhead girl raised her voice in concern.
"Umm..."
"Yes, Miss Zerbst?"
"I think it would be better if you didn't let her..."
"And why is that?"
"It could be dangerous to let her try-"
The redhead was cut off. "Don't be silly! A simple transmutation spell couldn't possibly be dangerous. Now Louise, if you dread making mistakes, you'll never improve."
"Louise, don't!" The redhead's face paled.
Despite her and some other student's pleas, Louise stood up.
"I'll do it."
With a nervous expression, Louise quickly walked to the front of the room. Next to her was Ms. Chevreuse. In front of them, on a table, were three small pebbles.
"Now, MissVallière, you have to visualize the metal you wish to transmute them into."
Louise gave a short nod and waved her wand. She started to chant an incantation, making her almost seem otherworldly.
Seeing her like this, Kai's heart started to race.
No! Pull yourself together! He quickly slapped his face, but no one paid him any mind, as most of the students barricaded themselves behind their desks.
As soon as Louise's incantation was finished, the pebbles started to shine brightly...
And then they promptly exploded.
Taking the full force of the explosion, Louise and Ms. Chevreuse were thrown against the blackboard behind them as people screamed. Kai and Saito, not expecting an explosion, were flung to the very back of the room from the sheer force.
The redhead stood up and pointed a finger at Louise. "That's why she shouldn't have done it! Jeez,Vallière! Save us some grief and just quit school already!"
Ms. Chevreuse was on the floor, and judging by her occasional twitching, she was alive. Next to her, a banged-up Louise stood up. She slightly patted herself off, as if she just tripped!
Saito was amazed. She doesn't seem fazed at all!
"Looks like I messed up a little..." Her voice was a little weak.
"That wasn't a little! Louise the Zero!" The redhead was beyond angry.
Oh, that's why she was called Louise the Zero.
For the past few hours, Kai and Saito had been cleaning the entire classroom. When Ms. Chevreuse woke up she was quickly guided to the nurse's office and didn't teach for the rest of the day. It seemed as though she was traumatized by the ordeal.
For Louise's, and by extension Kai and Saito's, punishment they had to clean up the room without the use of magic, so really they just had to clean the mess.
Being forced to do Louise's work, since she couldn't clean properly, Kai and Saito were fairly angry.
On the way to get their food for dinner, Saito and Kai started mumbling to each other. They wanted to go home. It sucked there. Louise was really unfair with everything. Unfortunately for them, that pink-haired girl heard them.
"If this situation is so bad for you both, you can skip dinner tonight."
Kai's eyes widened as he fell to the ground. "W-What? No... please... My only source of food..." Saito couldn't quite tell if Kai was being serious or not.
"I don't want my food ruined by your complaining." Without another word, Louise left the two of them behind, alone and hungry.
Kai dramatically sighed, stood up, and patted his pants off. "Welp, Saito... Been nice knowing you, but... I've gotta get some food and I've heard humans taste pretty good this time of year."
Saito only gave a strained smile. "Ha. Ha."
"No seriously, add some thyme, a little bit of garlic-"
Saito rolled his eyes and started to walk off while Kai was still talking. Where to? He didn't know. As he started walking he saw a familiar face.
"Mister Saito? What are you doing here?" It was Siesta.
Saito let out a long sigh. "I'm just wandering around. Since I won't be having dinner tonight, there isn't anything better to do..."
"If you need food you could always come to the kitchen. We almost always have leftovers from dinner. And you could bring Mister Kai along too."
Saito was in disbelief. Someone from this world who has shown genuine kindness. "Y-Yeah... let me go get him..." He couldn't quite figure out why, but his face was feeling a bit flushed. As he walked back to Kai, he shook his head, refocusing.
"Ooh, maybe you could even try and be fancy and marble the meat too... Man now I'm just making myself hungry." It seemed as though Kai kept going on about the food tangent.
"Well, you don't have to worry about eating me anymore, we got invited to have actual food."
Seemingly snapping out of his trance, Kai turned toward Saito. "Really?"
After being led to the kitchen, Kai and Saito were greeted with plates of delicious food. Sure, it didn't look as fresh as the nobles' food, but it was a hell of a lot better than what they were getting before.
While scarfing down the food, a crowd of people gathered around the two boys as if they were idols. A gruff-looking man walked up and patted Saito on his shoulder.
"Sorry it's all leftovers, but you should eat as much as you can Our Swords!"
With a mouth full of bread, Saito looked a bit confused. "Our Shwords?"
"That's right! You two are commoners, just like the rest of us, yet you two beat that bratty noble. You're the pride of us commoners! Our Swords!"
Saito stopped eating to think about what had happened. "Hm... When I held that sword, my body just reacted, so I don't really know what happened."
The gruff man looked toward the others around him. "You hear that? A true master never boasts his skills. That's why you're different than those stupid nobles. Impressive." When the man said 'Impressive' so did everyone around him.
"...Right... Anyways, do the nobles always eat something this good?" Saito seemed a little agitated when he asked.
The gruff man let out a hearty laugh while patting Saito's shoulders. "With my hands, I, the head chef Marteau, can give any cuisine a magnificent taste! It's my own form of magic." His voice was dripping with pride.
"You're right, I've never had stew this good before."
Not too long later, Kai was walking alone back to Louise's room. He had started to get tired after eating so much, so he waved goodbye to everyone in the kitchen, thanking them for the food. Saito still wanted to hang out with the staff, so the two boys went separate ways.
As Kai walked down the corridor to Louise's room, thoughts started to drift into his mind.
Man... what happened during that fight? In the end, I didn't feel like I was this hurt, but even after 3 days, I'm still banged up.
But at the same time... why do I feel... stronger?
Noticing the corridor get noticeably hotter, Kai looked around. "Oh, you're that redhead's lizard thing." In front of him was in fact 'that redhead's lizard thing' as Kai so gracefully put it.
As soon as he finished his sentence, the lizard ran straight at him.
Kai turned around to run, but the lizard bit onto Kai's tail. "Ack!" Suddenly, all of Kai's strength left his body as he went limp and fell face-first on the floor. He could only groan as he was dragged off somewhere. But since he could only see the floor, he had no clue where he was going.
After a few minutes of getting his body riddled with splinters, Kai arrived at a dimly lit room with an odd scent inside. The lizard finally let go of his tail, and Kai finally felt his strength come back to him. He lifted his head to see where he was.
"Welcome." Above Kai was that redhead girl in just her underwear. "Welcome to my sweet room, Kait Sura. Or was it Kaitsu Ra?"
Covering his eyes with his arm, Kai responded nonchalantly. "Kai Atsura, but just Kai is fine."
"You got it, Kai." The redhead struck a seductive pose. "I know it's wrong, but my name is Kirche the Feveret, and like a torch, I'm easy to turn on."
Kai let out a nervous laugh. "O-Oh... I see..."
Kirche lay down on her bed and gestured for Kai to lie with her. "Come here and sit."
With a gulp, Kai sat on the corner of the bed, furthest away from Kirche.
"So... Did you need something from me?"
Kirche twirled her hair while staring at Kai, and let out a long sigh. "You must think of me as a lowly woman."
Biting his tongue to keep his usual sarcastic comments at bay, Kai asked, "What ever could you mean?"
"Could you forgive me?" Kirche gave Kai a look that no normal man could resist, but Kai...
"Forgive you for what?"
Suddenly, Kirche clasped Kai's hands.
"For loving you, my dear."
...This is...
It's a prank, right?
Despite Kai's skepticism, Kirche looked at him with seriousness.
"When you defeated Guiche it was...er... like a hero of legends... When I saw you at that moment... I fell in love. Can you believe it? It was pure passion!"
"...Passion, huh?" Kai's mood soured. Sure he thought it was a prank, but that just felt harsh since she seemed to have a hard time coming up with something.
Ignoring Kai's soured mood, Kirche leaned forward, ready to kiss him.
Before she could reach Kai, her door slammed open. Kirche and Kai turned to see a pink-haired girl in a thin negligee. With murderous intent, Louise moved towards the two of them. She almost seemed like a robot with how she walked.
"Don't you see that we're busy hereVallière?" Kirche seemed a little bored with her tone of voice.
"Zerbst! Just whose familiar do you think you're laying your hands on?!"
While the two of them were occupied with each other, Kai snuck around them, trying to escape.
"Oh no you don't!" Louise forcefully tugged on the closest part of Kai, which so happened to be his tail, forcing him straight onto the ground. Giving one last glare at Kirche, Louise turned and dragged Kai out of Kirche's room.
Right outside of the kitchen, Saito and Siesta were staring at the twin moons. The cool night air felt nice.
"Please come again. They're all fans of you now Saito."
Saito let out a nervous laugh but spoke with certainty. "Now I have the confidence to live on. I thought I was done for during that fight the other day."
The two of them stood next to each other, not uttering a word. It was a nice peacefulness.
"...Um... Saito. I'd like to sit down and talk with you next time." A blush was on both of their faces. "I-Is something wrong?"
"No, ah... I'll see you again."
"Right."
"I'll head back now. Goodnight." Saito turned to leave.
"Goodnight, Saito."
When Kai and Louise finally arrived at her room, Louise tossed Kai inside and turned to close her door. Kai didn't notice it and started to blow on his tail.
"Jeez, you didn't have to grip it so hard... it's sensitive." The hair on Kai's tail seemed a little messy from where Louise gripped it.
Not hearing a response to him, Kai looked up to see Louise trembling with the fury of a thousand suns. "You... You're like a dog in heat!"
"Eek!" Kai covered his head, but no blows came toward him. "W-What's that?" Kai looked at Louise's hands to see quite the item.
"A whip for horseback riding." She said it so bluntly it somewhat surprised Kai.
"A whip?"
"It was wrong of me to treat you as a human."
Pointing a finger straight at her, Kai yelled, "You have done no such thing!"
"Of all the girls, you wag your tail at that Zerbst... DOG!" Louise cracked the whip right in front of Kai's feet forcing him to jump back.
"W-Woah... J-Just hold on a sec Miss Louise de LaVallière."
Louise stared at Kai while tapping the whip on her hand. "I was too kind with you. If y-you act like a s-stray dog, then I sh-should treat you like one."
Kai started backing up as Louise closed the distance between them. "H-Hey, just calm down, we can talk about this!"
Louise started swinging her whip, and with wide eyes, Kai did his best to dodge the strikes, letting out shrieks when he dodged them. Seeing a prime opportunity, Kai wrapped his tail around Louise's hand and yanked the whip out of her grasp.
During her momentary surprise, he sprinted toward the window and threw the whip out.
"Ha! Now let's see how you whip me without tha- Urg!" Kai fell face-first onto the floor as Louise grabbed his tail again.
As Saito was walking back to Louise's room, he heard some strange sounds. Things along the lines of, "Please, no more!", "I'm sorry!", and "AHHH!" It sounded like Kai's voice.
Rushing into the room, Saito was greeted with the sight of Louise's foot planted firmly on Kai's back, one hand gripping his tail, and the other yanking his arm.
Seeing Saito, Kai's panicked and pained face quickly turned into a casual face. "What's up Saito?"
Somewhat bewildered by the sight, Saito could only barely respond. "N-Nothing really...? W-What's happening here?"
Kai kept talking nonchalantly. "Oh nothing really, just little Miss Tempur Tantrum here is dislocating my ar- OWOWOW!"
Hearing his nickname for her, Louise pulled on Kai's arm and tail much harder than before. After hearing his screams for a few moments, Louise took a deep breath in, and let go.
"I don't care who you go out with, but it has to be someone other than her!" Louise turned her head toward Saito. "You as well. The Zerbst andVallières have been enemies for generations. It's humiliating to lose a dog or even a string to a Zerbst!" Her voice was dripping with pride. "Got that?!" Louise stomped on Kai's back to make sure he got the point.
"K-Kinda..."
After a few minutes of getting readjusted, Saito sat on his hay pile bed, and Kai sat on his, while Louise sat at the table. She took a long sip of water to calm herself even more, and she began to listen to Kai about what had happened.
"So you were picked up by that salamander and was dragged to Kirche's room?" Louise's voice was firm as if testing Kai.
"Yep, and nothing really happened after that, just her spouting off nonsense about loving me." Just thinking about it soured his mood.
"Pathetic. Why didn't you defend yourself?"
"Pfft! As if I could do that. Really that fight with that bratty noble was my first fight."
Louise looked mildly surprised. "You're kidding. What about you, Saito?"
Saito let out a yawn. "It was the first time I've even held a sword." He sounded really tired.
"Yeah, I don't know what happened. My body more or less moved on its own when I woke up. I can't even do that Kamehameha thing again."
Louise raised an eyebrow.
"The... big blue laser thing."
She rested her head on her hand and started to think. "Maybe it's tied to your special abilities as a familiar? Well... Hm... I know. Tomorrow is the Day of Void, so..."
"Yeah?"
"Just go to bed! We'll get up early tomorrow."
Kai waved his hand. "Alright, alright... G'night Miss Tempur Tantrum." As soon as the words left his mouth, Kai's face was greeted with Louise's slipper.
"Dog!"
The next morning, Kirche started getting ready for the day. Despite it being the Day of Void, she still had to look her best, as always. Since the events of last night with Kai, Kirche began contemplating a few things. That Kai didn't seem all that pleasant...
"Maybe Saito would be better?"
He had also fought Guiche, and did fairly well, even looking cool while doing it. Thinking back on it now, Kai didn't really seem that cool compared to Saito in that fight. One of them was a swordsman, while the other just used his fists and whatever that light was.
"So how should I get close to him? Today is the perfect opportunity."
From outside, Kirche heard a horse neigh and a screaming Kai.
"Hey! I'm gonna fall!"
"Hold on tight!"
Kirche looked outside to see Kai and Louise riding a horse. Obviously, with those two, Louise was angry.
"Watch where you're holding!" Louise yelled back to Kai, who was grabbing a little above the stomach.
"Sorry? Was it not your stomach? It felt flat like it." Kai really didn't know where he was grabbing.
"Do you want me to kill you?!"
Kirche looked at the two of them in confusion. Why would they be going out right now? She needed to know.
In a plain room, all by her lonesome was a girl who looked 4 or 5 years younger than she was. Under her light blue hair were glasses that covered her blue eyes. Amazingly she was even shorter than Louise, but she didn't care. In fact, she didn't seem to care about anything.
Days of Void like these were the best for her since she could usually sit back and read a good book like she was doing, but she soon heard knocking on the door. The girl grabbed a large staff by her bedside and waved it with a short incantation.
Not long after, Kirche burst into the room, yelling different things, but she couldn't be heard at all. The girl took a quick glance toward Kirche and waved her staff once more, and Kirche could be heard once more.
"Tabitha! We're leaving! Get ready at once!"
Tabitha responded with an almost cold and calculated tone. "It's the day of Void." To most, she would sound standoffish, but it was just how she sounded.
Clicking her tongue, Kirche let out a sigh. "I know how important days of Void are to you, but you see, I must know what that damn Vallière and Kai are doing. You understand, right?"
Tabitha slightly shook her head.
"That's right, you won't listen unless I completely explain..." Kirche took a deep breath. "I want to chase after those two, but I can't catch up without your familiar!" Kirche ended up at Tabitha's side. "Please help me!"
Tabitha silently closed her book and started to get up.
"You're helping me? Thank you!"
Opening the window, Tabitha poked her head out and whistled. From not too far away, a wind dragon started soaring to the window.
Before the two of them got onto the dragon, Tabitha asked, "Where?"
"I was in a hurry..." Kirche seemed rather bashful.
While getting on the dragon, Tabitha climbed its neck and whispered in its ear. "Two people on horseback. Don't eat them."
The dragon made a grunt and started flying with its two passengers safely secured on its back.
Not too long after, Kai and Louise walked through Tristainia's city streets, after dropping the horse off at the city's stables. While they walked Kai wouldn't stop complaining.
"My butt hurts so much..." His groans were really starting to get on Louise's nerves.
"Will you shut up!?"
The two of them got glances from people walking around, but Louise didn't seem to notice or care. Kai let out a nervous laugh. "A-Ah... Alright. Sorry..."
After he stopped complaining, Kai started to look around the place with interest. It was really different from the city he was from.
"Man, these streets are real cramped, huh?" Not really experiencing anything outside of the cities of Earth, Kai wasn't used to these streets.
Louise looked at him with a confused expression. "Cramped? This is one of the widest streets in Tristain."
"Really? It ain't even 15 feet."
"This is Bourdonne Street, Tristain's widest avenue. The palace is straight ahead." Louise pointed ahead.
Squinting to see further, Kai let out a whistle. "Sure is. That place is huuuge. Can we go?"
"What business do you have with Her Majesty The Queen?"
He shrugged. "Might ask for some more food or something."
His stupid joke made Louise laugh a little, and for some reason, that small laugh made his heart beat faster. In turn, he started to panic.
NO!
He quickly hit his chest, which made Louise look at him with a somewhat confused look.
"What are you doing?"
"N-Nothing!"
Soon the two of them turned a corner, into a dark-looking alleyway. The entire time they were there, Kai was worried that they were about to get mugged.
Louise lightly tapped her chin. "It was next to Piemon's potion shop, so..." After looking at the signs that Kai couldn't understand, Louise looked a little triumphant. "Ah, there it is."
The shop was a bit dark inside, with a small gas lamp being the only light source. The walls and shelves were filled to the brim with unorganized weapons. Behind a cluttered desk was a man in his fifties smoking a pipe, eyeing Kai and Louise down suspiciously. When he saw the pentagram on Louise's golden button he seemed to lose all suspicion.
"My lady! My noble lady! All of my wares are real and reasonably priced! There's nothing criminal here!" The man even rubbed his hands together.
Leaning down, Kai whispered to Louise, "Wow, he sure seems real trustworth- Hrk!" Kai was stopped by Louise's elbow in his abdomen.
Putting on a fake smile, Louise walked up to the counter. "I'll be your customer today."
"Oh... that's odd. A noble buying a sword! Quite strange."
"Why is that?"
"Well... priests wave staves, soldiers wave swords, and nobles wave wands. Isn't that how it goes?"
"Oh, I'm not the one using it. My familiar is."
"Ah... a familiar that can wield a sword, huh?" The shopkeeper looked over at Kai, who started looking at the various weapons. "I believe it would be that gentleman over there?"
Louise nodded, feeling disappointed. Why did she have to get stuck with those two as familiars, especially with this one being so troublesome?
The shopkeep turned around, rummaged through his wares for a moment, and found a small rapier.
Louise grabbed it and swung it around to see if it was a good weapon.
"Recently it's been a trend to let servants carry weapons."
Ignoring him, Louise turned to Kai. "Saito was carrying a bigger sword than this, right?"
Kai looked over. "Dunno, I was knocked out."
"Give me a bigger and broader one."
The shopkeep started warning Louise. "I'm sorry, but that size matches that person much more."
"I said I want a bigger and broader one." Her voice was much firmer now.
"R-Right away..." The shopkeeper went into the back of the shop and started grumbling.
"So, why'd you bring me instead of Saito?" Kai was still looking around while asking.
"As I told you before since this is for him, he needed to do chores. And since you both are about as weak as each other I needed to see if you could even hold the sword."
"That's rare comin' from your stingy a-"
Louise got angry once more. "Who are you calling stingy?! It would be bad for my familiars to get used to luxuries! I only give you both what you need." She crossed her arms with a huff.
From behind the curtain, the shopkeeper emerged with a large golden sword with brilliant gems embedded within it.
"This is the best blade I have. Made by the Germanian alchemist, Sir Spee, it could slice steel in half."
The blade did look like it could slice through steel like butter, but it did look quite expensive. Which is what concerned Louise.
"How much is it?"
The shopkeep raised three fingers. "Three thousand if it's with New Gold." He lowered one of his fingers. "Or it's two thousand ecus."
Louise's eyes widened. "That's enough for a mansion!"
"A good sword like this is worth as much as a castle, my lady. A small mansion is cheap compared to this."
"...I only brought 100 New Gold coins..." Louise had just made the grave error of telling a conman how much money she had.
The shopkeep turned to not show the two his smile. "Come on now... even standard broadswords cost at least 200 New Gold coins."
Louise felt her face flush with embarrassment. I didn't know swords cost that much...
Feeling a little sorry for Louise, Kai tried to salvage the situation. "Well, Mr. Shopkeeper... do you have a cleara- Er... Do you have swords that no one wanted to buy, that you'd be willing to part with for a cheaper price?"
The man sighed and pointed to a bin with rusted blades.
Kai thanked him and started looking through what was practically a sword graveyard.
"Too thin... too rusted... Why is that one shaped like that? Man, that one's weird lookin'."
From within the bin, a male voice yelled out, "Who are you calling weird-looking?!"
Kai blinked a few times. "Huh?"
"Down here, monkey boy!"
It was definitely the sword Kai called weird-looking.
"Who you callin' monkey boy?!"
"The boy with the monkey tail! You look like you couldn't even lift a stick!"
The shopkeeper suddenly yelled angrily, "Derflinger! Do not yell such impolite things to my customers!"
"Derflinger?" Kai looked at the sword in more detail this time. It was a longsword covered in a ton of rust. You couldn't say it was well made.
"Customer? This guy? He couldn't wield a sword in a hundred years."
"Could it be... is that a sentient sword?" Louise sounded a little amazed.
"That's right, my lady. It's a sentient, magical, intelligent sword. I wonder what kind of mage could make a sword speak... but it's got a rotten tongue, always arguing with my customers. Hey, Derflinger! Keep that up and I'll ask this noble here to melt you!"
"Sounds good to me! I'd like to see you try it! I'm kinda tired of this world. I'd love to be melted down!"
"Fine! Then I'll melt you down!" The shopkeeper approached. But Kai stopped him.
"Woah wait just a second. Your name's Derflinger, right?"
"Yeah, and you better remember that!"
"Alright Derflinger, my name's Kai Atsura nice to meetcha."
The sword went silent, almost as if it were inspecting Kai. After a minute, it silently spoke. "So you came... are you a user?"
"A user?"
"Hmm... you don't even know your true powers, huh? ...Oh well! Buy me, my friend!"
"Alright sounds like a deal. Louise, can we get this one?"
Louise reluctantly said, "Oh... you want that one? You can't pick anything prettier that doesn't talk?"
"You don't like this one? I think a talking sword's pretty cool, and besides he probably drives off some customers doesn't he?" Kai directed that last part toward the shopkeeper.
"See... that's exactly why I don't like it," Louise complained. But she didn't have enough for anything else, so she asked the shopkeeper, "How much for this one?"
"Eh... 100 will do."
"Isn't that a bit-" She was cut off by Kai.
"We'll take it!"
Walking back through the streets of Tristainia, Kai had Derflinger on his back. Since they left the store, the sword had been quiet.
"I know I'm probably not gonna use him all that much, but couldn't we have gotten another sword?" Kai was mostly trying to make conversation instead of complaining, but that's not quite how Louise interpreted it.
"Things have been busy, and I'm short on money because someone had to go and fight Guiche! It's a thousand years too early for you to complain about prices to your master. Got it?" There was venom in her voice.
"Hah... Yeah yeah... I got it."
Behind those two were two figures, one of whom was fuming.
"That Vallière bought a sword as a present... If I buy one for Saito, I'll win him over for sure!"
Back at the stable, Kai and Louise jumped back onto the horse, ready to go back to the academy. Since this was Kai's second time riding a horse, he readjusted his grip halfway through the ride.
"You dog!" Louise kicked him off for accidentally grabbing her chest again.
With a somewhat annoyed face, Kai looked at the horse disappearing in the distance. "T-That... damned... She's really leaving me to run isn't she?" He gripped his head in anguish. "DAMN IT!"
With that yell, Kai started running with all his might to try to keep up.
From the sheathe on his back, Derflinger poked his head out. "Wow partner, you got a cruel master."
"Yeah... that she is. That she is."
Not truly knowing it, Kai was running faster than he ever had before, and even then, he didn't feel that winded till the very end.